Dear Editor,
I am responding to some of Russell A. Simmons’ remarks in the opinion page of “The Daily Herald” on Monday, August 17. He claimed that, “The Minister of Justice should not be praised if the majority of the community is not satisfied with the conduct of the inhabitants of the country.” He further explained that, “A pothole in the road, which is neglected, does not weigh as much as the murder of someone, which was solved within a week.”
Simmons, I have a lot of respect for you, and because of this admiration, I choose to respond to you, but more importantly, in the manner that maintains respect. Having said that, let me get down to the core of the matter. I love history (one of my best subjects in school) and so I like to go back to the origin of any situation. When Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling entered politics on November 26, 2024, her jump-start hit a snag, due to two major challenges:
First of all, she was given a staff that was practically no use to her (dead weight) – a team that was unable to complement her educational background, in order to execute her vision for the ministry, effectively. Second, Minister Tackling has never served in the political arena before, to have that moderate understanding of the inner workings of government. So, just like the rest of the Council of Ministers, she acquired that additional knowledge on the job.
As you can see, Minister Tackling is not a politician. This means, she has no interest in wheeling and dealing. She is a professional, who values the rule of law, no matter the circumstance and to whom the situation applies. Simmons, I don’t believe that you are part of the community who loves corruption. But as I stated in my article on Monday, August 3, this community that wants solutions, always rejects anyone who makes decisions according to the rule of law.
Oh, how I missed the period before 10-10-10. As I recall, there were eight Justice Ministers before Minister Tackling. Show me their report card, in comparison to this minister’s accomplishments thus far – previous Justice Ministers, who were directly involved in politics before, and should have fixed the many challenges within the ministry. It is because of this negligence that Minister Tackling is catching hell, trying to clean up the mess that was left behind.
To demand solutions is anyone’s prerogative. The question is: how long has the island been plagued with this chaos, due to this non-stop importation of poverty – people who have no respect for other human beings nor for the rule of law? Two of the worst decisions that were made within the ministry since 10-10-10 were the Brooks Tower initiative and the choice to change the period to obtain permanent residency from 10 years to 5 years.
Back then, the original laws were established to safeguard the future of this country and its people. But the Ombudsman, Gwendolien Mossel, proudly announced on air that she supported these adjustments, when she worked in the Ministry of Justice. She completely overlooked the implications that these changes would have on the school system, health care, transportation, workforce, housing, and the new norm of birthright citizenship.
Pay attention to who is making children. It’s only the Indians, Chinese, Guyanese and Jamaicans. St. Maarten people are overrun in their own country. The culture has become so diluted that it would be difficult for a first-time visitor to identify the culture, at a glance. If the community were getting solutions in the past, Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling would not be catching hell, trying to clean up all the mess that was left behind by the previous Justice Ministers.
If immigration was functioning as it should, the offender would not be on the island to murder the motor cycle rider. How is it possible that someone (anyone) is deported today and returned to the island in a couple of days? How is this possiblel? For years, the people wanted solutions! Is this not a fact?
Every day I see motorists driving in the opposite flow of the traffic, no headlights when they supposed to be on, trailer trucks speeding through the traffic as if they are on the highway, loud music bellowing from vehicles, scooter riders wheeling in and out of the traffic, guns and drugs have become common commodities throughout every neighbourhood of St. Maarten. What do you want Minister Tackling to do?
Should she stand by the roadside and search the vehicles or put on an immigration uniform, go to the airport and decide who enters or who is sent back? How come you did not focus on your ex-colleagues – the ones who are tasked to perform their duties diligently, and with integrity? If integrity was practised throughout the justice chain, the island would not be saturated with hooligans, who commit crimes, and exhibit total disrespect for the law.
I wonder what the data would be like, if a comprehensive report was compiled of all the crimes that were reported since 10-10-10, and the punishment that accompanied those crimes. It would be interesting to know the crimes that were committed by persons from that Brooks Tower programme, because after that initiative was implemented, the island went into a tailspin and hasn’t recovered since.
Where are the drugs and guns coming from? Have you encouraged your former colleagues to focus more on the ocean, where there is a high possibility that these illegal contents are dumped with trackers for easy retrieval and quick distribution? The population is being threatened and we want solutions!
Joslyn Morton
