Dear Editor,
What has transpired over the past two months surrounding the appointment of Rolando Brison as the first ever Director of the St. Maarten Tourism Authority (STA) is, to put it mildly, a travesty and clear persecution of a young St. Maartener who simply wants to contribute to his country. This persecution and public defaming of Brison has been meticulously executed by a class of people, or I should say people who placed themselves in a social class, who believe it is their God given right to control and dictate policy for the hospitality sector as if it’s an exclusive boys and girls club. It is time the general public thinks about the people behind this attempted take down.
The latest proclamation by the Supervisory Council of the STA that it cannot support the appointment of Brison has finally exposed this very council or at least some of its members of the personal vendetta they have against Brison who does not fit into their class of people. Why do I say this? Because when you examine all of the legal steps Mr. Brison has taken and all of the obligations laid down by government that he has fulfilled in relation to the STA, you will quickly realise there is no reason, other than personal feelings, to deny Mr. Brison the position for which he has already been appointed.
It is important that the public not lose focus of what is happening here. This is pure, unadulterated persecution based on bold-face lies. The people who are adamant to keep Mr. Brison out of the STA Director’s chair understand very well that on St. Maarten you only need to cast a small dye of doubt to taint a person or a process completely. While Mr. Brison is fully capable of defending himself (and he should do this through a court of law), I thought it was important to remind the public of the following.
A Selection Committee was established, which consisted of the entire five members of the Supervisory Council of the STA; the same council which is now backtracking on Mr. Brison’s appointment. Minister Ingrid Arrindell as well as a person appointed by her also sits on this very same council.
An advertisement for the position was placed in the newspapers in early May 2016. A total of 11 applications were received of which Mr. Brison’s was one. Following the first round of interviews three of the highest scoring candidates were moved on to the second round of interviews; Mr. Brison was one of the three. In the second round of interviews, these three candidates were given a hypothetical case study to present to the council as a final “measuring stick” so to speak, to test their approach as director to a situation that he or she would face once appointed.
Up until the STA Supervisory Council made its recent remarks, it was reported by the Minister and others that Mr. Brison, after the scores were tallied, scored the highest of all three finalists and as such was offered the position of STA Director on August 12, 2016, in writing.
To assume the role of Director of the STA Mr. Brison also had to resign from any company/entity in which he had a managerial/director role, which he proceeded to do.
Once that was done, the Minister signed Mr. Brison’s offer letter and announced to the public that Mr. Brison was selected as STA Director after going through all proper procedures. Again, focus good people – he was appointed after going through everything as outlined by government. This is where the certain class of people I referred to earlier sprang into action, and boy, was it a collective effort.
Here we had this young spring chicken of a fellow bright, brilliant and educated, son of Franklin Brison, who outshone everybody and was preparing to take the reins of the STA and guide the direction of St. Maarten’s tourism outreach in collaboration with stakeholders, but “who he tink he be?” He isn’t part of the social class who feel they control the industry, “he can’t sit with us!”
First, out of a dark and devious corner came allegations of “misappropriations of funds” at Mr. Brison’s former employer Winair. Mind you, Winair itself to this day has never said a word about Mr. Brison, but out came an avenging champion riding a holier-than-thou high horse basically calling Mr. Brison a thief. On cue, this was followed by the other class minions who took to social media to question his character, accuse the Minister of not being serious, proclaim that St. Maarten tourism sector needs “serious people” and on they went.
All through the Parliamentary elections the class minions insinuated that if Brison was appointed the STA would somehow lose credibility. Mind you, these were some of the same people who had reigned over a sector that has been stagnant for a decade. The way they were talking you would swear that St. Maarten is surpassing its competition by leaps and bounds, when in fact they and their outdated approaches to tourism and hospitality are part and parcel the reason for the stagnation. None of these persons had any reason, any proof, nothing upon which to base their negative opinions of Mr. Brison. All they had were the unfounded allegations of a member of their class; one man.
So what happened next? Stay focused people. Follow me. After he had already been appointed and after the allegations made headline news, Mr. Brison was told that he had to be screened. Mind you, no mention of screening was ever made or ever stipulated in his offer letter. Nevertheless, Mr. Brison, again wanting to do everything by the book underwent the screening.
What were the results of this screening process? He passed the required drug and alcohol tests. He passed a complete a physical check-up. He produced a clean police record. He authorized the Minister of Justice to do a thorough background check. The Prosecutor’s Office has provided a positive advice on Brison making it clear that he has no criminal record or pending investigations against him. So much for allegations of theft huh? Finally, Brison provided multiple positively glaring references from entities for whom he worked in past. He did everything the right way. There was nothing left for the STA Council or the class elite to use to prevent Mr. Brison from taking up the position for which he was appointed, or so we thought. Then came the utterly ridiculous and transparent press release from the STA council backsliding so fast you would swear they were devils in a church.
The “jokiest” part was the spin they tried to put on it. The spin came from two directions. First, they claimed that “not all six members of the selection committee independently scored Brison highest.” Cute. This is an attempt to confuse the public. They attempted to add more weight to individual scores of the committee members rather than the collective overall score. It is the overall score that counts not the individual, and if the STA is so confident in making such bold claims, then be transparent and show the public the scores.
Well, the STA did not show the scores, but an online media outlet has and the documents that are now in the public domain is clear about who scored the highest – Rolando Brison! Just one member of the STA Council, its chairman, scored Rolando lower than all other members leaving one to wonder what his ulterior motives were and if he has a personal vendetta underway; again, the class elite strikes back! In various competitions the world over the rule is if you have a “judge” whose scores are completely out-of-whack with the other “judges” that out-of-whack judge and his scores should be disregarded. It is clear from the lying and the spinning about Rolando something is amiss here.
The second spin by the STA Council was: “it should be noted that the STA still has no budget as funds have not been transferred from the ministry’s marketing budget for the purpose of the day-to-day operation of the STA, as originally discussed.” In other words, we can’t appoint him because we can’t pay him. As if the funds haven’t been already ear-marked (they have), it only takes one Council of Ministers meeting to transfer these funds. Mr. Brison in the meantime should receive his contract and get the ground work going. But no, the STA Council, again based on nothing but personal feelings, wants nothing to do with Mr. Brison or it now seems, the current Minister.
This statement gave them away: “The Supervisory Council looks forward to meeting with the incoming government and seeking their input in identifying the marketing needs and/or objectives for the country and to tackle these through the efforts of the STA.”
An incredible statement. They do not want to sit with the person who was appointed and who legally went through all of their processes nor the Minister who is still in office and has brought the STA further than any Minister before her. The STA Council, upon which the current Minister still sits, wants to wait on a new minister with the hope that this new minister provides them with a way to get around Mr. Brison. Simply astounding.
If I may offer Mr. Brison some advice, please use whatever legal measures are available to you to fight this injustice. I have never, ever seen such a coordinated attack on someone to prevent him or her from progressing through life. Mr. Brison resigned from everything he was a part of to take up the role as STA Director. He basically gave up everything he has worked for, for an opportunity to work for his country.
The zeal of certain people to cheer the news of the STA not wanting to support Mr. Brison’s appointment is most telling. They want something, anything to say aha! You see! He is the wrong person. Think about it good people. This young St. Maartener has done nothing wrong. Nothing. He has followed the rules but because he is not one of them, all of them would prefer to ruin him than assist in seeing him succeed.
Whoever is the next Minister of Tourism this saga is going to be a good indication of where he or she stands. Will it be with our young professionals who simply want opportunities to contribute, or will it be with the class elite who persists in keeping our people out or subservient while they alone move forward?
Michael R. Granger
