Dear Editor,
By now anyone who follows what has been happening in our politics should know that there is no love lost between the Dutch and Theo. It is a while now since Theo Heyliger was appointed formateur after the last election and it is taking a while to form the government. Screening is being used as the hold-up.
The Prime Minister of the Kingdom decided to come to St. Maarten, that is when I started speculating and I decided the Dutch Prime Minister is not telling us the real reason why he came to St. Maarten. Not the reason we read in the paper, but the real reason which was conveyed to our Ministers. Because unless my understanding of the English language is far below average I do not think what i read was pleasant news.
I believe that Theo Heyliger being the formateur and the delay in forming the government provoked a face-to-face confrontation and not the visit to the senior citizens. We were told for a wihile now that money from the World Bank is forthcoming, and I thought that the Prime Minister was doing what politicians do, show up on such occasions, but everything is hush-hush. Hence my concern.
My other observation or rather question is what is the story on the screening? What happened to nominating the Ministers first and then screening them after? Would not that help to minimize chance-takers? I believe that the possibility of being embarrassed would also be a motivation for parties to put qualified people on their lists. Taking a chance and then being rejected is going to automatically delay the process because a new candidate has to be submitted with the possibility of also being rejected.
While we are on this topic, can I request of you to publish the oath that ministers of government and members of Parliament swear to. The intention for this request is in order that the vast majority of the people on St. Maarten (your readers), who I am sure do not have a copy of the Constitution of the Netherlands Antilles nor google it, will have an idea what the people who are responsible to them have committed to. Hopefully this will encourage them to pay a little more attention and be motivated to pick up The Laws of Sint Maarten at a bookstore.
In the constitution is stated that everyone ought to know the law. My father used to tell us “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” which was a deterrent for saying “I didn’t know.” So in this case I think it is good for us to know what was the real reason for that flash-in-the-pan visit?
Russell A. Simmons
