Dear Editor,
Article 45.2 of the Constitution of St. Maarten has to be amended to immediately reflect the current makeup of the population of St. Maarten.
In its current state, it reads as follows: “Any increase or reduction in the number of members of the Parliament arising from changes in the number of residents in the country shall only take effect at the next periodical election of the Parliament. The words that should be omitted or taken out are, the words “only” and “periodical”. The article should read: Any increase or reduction in the number of Members of Parliament arising from changes in the number of residents in the country shall take effect at the next election.
It has been confirmed that the population of St. Maarten has exceeded the 60,000 threshold, so in actuality government is functioning with a deficit of 2 Ministers. An argument can be made, stating that it will cost the taxpayers more money. At the same time, however, it can also be said that the taxpayers are being underrepresented.
This brings to the forefront the matter of people/businesses paying their share of taxes. What needs to be seriously addressed also is “The National Ordinance on Tax collection”. It is outdated and has to be amended to deal with the compliance issues, among others, and the taxing of pensioners.
The reason for again mentioning the compliance issue has to do with the WODC report in Dutch “Wetenschapelijk Onderzoek en Documentatiecentrum” that came out sometime in 2007 in which it lamented the fact that although the economy of St. Maarten showed consistent growth over the years, this growth was not reflected in government coffers. So again this matter has to be looked at posthaste.
As to the increase in the Parliament from 15 Members of Parliament to 17, I believe, after the elections on January 9, 2020, serious attention should be paid to this. I would suggest that after the necessary amendments are made, that the Health Ministry be separated from that of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and that Education should be separated from Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs.
One of the reasons for increasing the numbers of the Members of Parliament from 11 members that made up the Island Council (Curaçao and Aruba maintained the numbers, 21 each) to 15 was to create, and I quote, “A good broadly-based and well-equipped system in which the checks and balances can be realized to the full” end of quote.
George Pantophlet
Voice for the children/kids/teens of SXM
Dear Editor,
As most of you know that I started my business Coffee Lounge for the love of all the children of St. Maarten when I saw someone trying to sell the wrong stuff to a teenager. I realized that we need a nice safe chilled out place for them.
When I went to drop a 17-year-old at 7:00pm she told me that she could walk from the supermarket to her house which was right behind the supermarket. I insisted to take her bags and drop her to the house in my car. It was pitch dark and in an area (Sucker Garden) where there are many houses, but all the road lights were off at 7:00pm. On asking her she says it’s always this dark. I was shocked because these teenage girls are walking up and down and what if something happens to any one of them. Who is responsible? Is this the kind of security we are giving our children walking on the streets?
Secondly, Three Palm Plaza is an area where teenagers hang out after the movies to grab Domino’s pizza and I realised that a lot of them are sitting again in the car or standing in the open and smoking the wrong stuff. Other smaller kids are being exposed and influenced to second-hand smoking.
Can someone in authority please make it a safe better environment for the children since they are our future and next upcoming generation for the betterment of our Country St. Maarten.
Seema Mirchandani
Dear Editor,
Today is a bitter/sweet 30th Anniversary Celebration for my person as a long- serving family member of our local university, University of St. Martin (USM). I have seen the university from its infancy grow into an adult educational institution over the years. I am very passionate to see our local university grow, but it is still to be recognized as our national university.
I am happy to see that our local university has graduated more than 750 alumni who hold key positions in the public and private sectors of St. Maarten. USM has produced some of St. Maarten's top Directors, Managers and Leaders within our community and government. USM needs to aggressively market its success rate through its Alumni Foundation.
Mr. Editor, I am very happy to celebrate such a big achievement, but the question that’s still lingering in my mind is the vision of where does USM go from here? Where would USM want to be in the next 5 to 10 years? Is government serious about moving forward to recognize our own national institution of higher learning on the island?
I can't understand why government finds it so hard to recognize and support our own institution. I was very amazed by government’s decision not to run all of the World Bank funded hospitality training programs through USM in collaboration with another foundation. I have seen our own USM family who was very vocal on these same abovementioned issues forget their own university’s struggles. While they moved into government, they just left USM in the hands of the government bureaucracy with no end results.
As a former MP, I tried my best to complete the legislation process to recognize our USM which is just stuck in the long administrative process. I am very disappointed on how we have treated our own local university over the years.
We can't just say we love our local university and have USM struggling for 30 years with their image and to be recognized by government, while still producing the best professionals in the region. Government needs to stop the patchwork and implement a structural solution of funding to our local university. USM has lost over the years some of its best Management Team members because of the lack of vision, seriousness and sense of direction of where we want to take our local university.
USM Board and Management also have a big role to play in revisiting their vision and social responsibility to our community. We need to get back to the vision instead of being all over the place with our curriculum and the future development of USM.
We need to get our successful Alumni Foundation more involved in marketing our university. I find USM is too passive in their approach of marketing USM to the public. We also need to stand up to any government to recognize and invest in their own educational institution.
USM’s Board also has to reactivate their Fundraising Committee to look for donations as other universities do with their Alumni Foundation. USM should get in contact with its Co-Founder, Ambassador Dr. Husang Ansary, and find out why he is donating millions to other universities in the United States and not helping his own local university that he helped co-found with the late Dr. Claude Wathey.
I find it amazing that none of our local representatives, who are close to Ambassador Dr. Ansary, never questioned him why he doesn't care about his own university. We need to stand up for our own local university!
In closing, as we celebrate our 30th Anniversary, let us start thinking of getting back on track of finally making USM the key to a brighter future. USM should be the corner stone to educate our people to become leaders of the 21st century. USM must be a top priority and not just a vision with a lot of talk without action by any government.
Maurice Lake
The public has the right to know.
Dear Editor,
It is incomprehensible how politically-driven decisions hamper progress of our country. The business community and all our citizens are convinced that tourism is our biggest source of income and that a well-functioning airport is the cornerstone of the rehabilitation of tourism and the growth of our economy. Everybody talks about it and sees the urgency to rebuild PJIA.
The Minister of Finance had already arranged for the financing of the reconstruction of the airport. He did so by means of a loan with the European Development Bank, the Trust Fund and the Netherlands. A deal was reached with the bondholders to release the insurance pay-out for the reconstruction. The only pending item was signing of the contracts with the lenders and the agreement with the bondholders and jumpstart the reconstruction.
So not so!
Here is where political games are played in parliament against the interests of the country and the people. The highest political institution that ought to act on behalf of and for the people of St. Maarten, is now boycotting its progress.
First and foremost a motion that was passed against the Minister of Finance prevented him from signing any agreement with third parties, including the lenders for the reconstruction of PJIA. Because of this impasse and uncertainty, the bondholders now required that parliament give instructions to the minister to sign the agreements. Without those instructions they would not be willing to sign any agreement and release the insurance pay-out. Subsequently, a motion was submitted to parliament by MP Claude Peterson to give the minister that mandate to sign all contracts and agreements, in the interest of Sint Maarten.
What happened next is mindboggling and nothing short of sabotage. During the handling of the motion the current coalition MPs played down the motion in a purely political attempt to prevent the minister from starting the reconstruction of the airport. They told the minister that he had already received the mandate when the budget for 2019 was approved. Again, completely ignoring the requirement of the bondholders, that parliament pass a motion that mandates the minister to sign. During the voting of the motion the coalition MPs simply walked out, confirming their self-interest, dishonesty and disloyalty with the country’s priorities and best interests.
As a consequence, the reconstruction is delayed once again for months.
I am appalled with these elected officials in our highest chamber, willingly sabotaging the reconstruction of the airport and the rebuilding of our economy.
Skledo Kirindogo
Dear MP Emmanuel,
Please, show a bit of respect towards the taxpayers of St. Maarten by showing some interest and sit up properly during Parliament sessions. I believe our tax money is paying you well enough to at least do the bare minimal of showing some professionalism.
You are not in your home or on the beach. Stop lounging around during public sessions. This applies for all Parliamentarians. Please, you are a representative of your people. Show some respect and some interest for your job.
Thank you.
A tax paying citizen
