Sometimes things happen in politics that trigger me to question. The media brought the issue regarding the island of St. Eustatius taking Holland to court. As a result, St. Eustatius decided to start legal proceedings against the Dutch government, after the Netherlands removed the legally elected Members of the Island and Executive Councils of Statia from office.
Based on their argument for their decision, I had expected Holland to take legal action against one or more of these government officials in St. Eustatius and charge them with wrongdoing or neglect of duties; however, this did not happen.
So, I would like to know if Members of the Island Councils who were duly elected by the people of St. Eustatius can be taken to court for wrongdoing or neglect of duty.
When the Lt. Governor and the Commissioners were put out of office, the salaries for those functions were also stopped, and according to information, those persons are not receiving a salary.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of four countries, namely Aruba, Curaçao, Holland and St. Maarten. Saba, St. Eustatius and Bonaire have been embedded in Holland, and even though this has happened, it was always the case that the six islands of the former Netherlands Antilles would always have the right to determine their constitutional future.
Recent news reminds us that Holland cannot pull out of this relationship and leave the islands by themselves. In other words, Holland cannot put any of the islands out of the Kingdom without the permission of other countries.
In the past, the Kingdom government and or Holland would levy higher supervision on an island. This would happen together with a plan of action, which would contain a budget and a timeframe.
Can we say that Members of the Island Council are hired and/or elected by the people?
Can Members of the Island Council be put aside and be replaced by persons who were not elected by the people?
Now that this has happened on St. Eustatius, can it also be repeated on another island?
Can this be done on Aruba, Curaçao or St. Maarten? Is this article 43 at work?
Those questions I can ask to Members of Parliament, but. I would like to hear the opinion of our legal minds as it pertains to this issue. St. Maarten consists of so many law firms and/or lawyers, and I am sure there must have been someone thinking of this, while paying close attention to the situation.
Do we have to wait until a professor emerges from across the Atlantic and he/she writes an opinion, after which we comment, or do we have enough legal minds of our own to have a healthy exchange?
Your input/opinion is important.
Rodolphe Samuel
Dear Editor,
I would like to extend my congratulations to the residents of Dutch Quarter with the upgrading of their district and the official start of the “DQ Sewerage Upgrading Works”.
This project has been in the making for a while and I am proud to have contributed as former Prime Minister in making this a reality in Brussels on December 5, 2013, when the Financing Agreement for securing the funds was signed between the European Commission and the Government of St. Maarten in my capacity as Territorial Authorizing Officer (TAO) for St. Maarten.
The main focus is to improve the living conditions of the residents of Dutch Quarter by eliminating running sewerage water that is currently present on the roads and side roads. The following will be dealt with in improving the living conditions of the residents; sewerage lines will be installed, streetlights will be placed, all overhead cabling will be placed underground, sidewalks will be installed and the side roads will be paved.
President of Parliament,
MP Sarah Wescot-Williams
Dear Editor,
The majority of people feel that Johnson must complete his full term in office. The performance of the St. Maarten opposition has still not yet improved. Both NA and US Party members love to go after parliamentarians and ministers; so many times we ask ourselves what kind of opposition are they?
It is time NA and US Party be wise and please look out for the needs of the people, such as talk about the recovery of the Island, talk about poverty, talk about increasing the minimum wage, talk about the high house rent on the Island, talk about buses to run Middle Region and the rest of the east side of the Island, talk about the locals being able to have their own businesses, talk about a ballpark and community centre in every district, talk about the need for more roads and public toilets, talk about the needs of the pensioners in St. Maarten.
All over the world you can hear the opposition very constructively seeking to meet the needs of the people. NA and US need to be wiser and more creative. All they can do is go after Theo, parliamentarians and ministers, and not coming forward with the needs of the people.
NA and US, it’s a shame about the minimum wage, high house rent, high cost of living, help buses to run Middle Region this year, traffic problems on the Island, more roads needed, lack of public toilets, the needs of the people and pensioners’ recovery. These are the areas you all as opposition need to talk about and leave the minister alone.
This is our first stable government since after 10-10-10.
Cuthbert Bannis
Dear Editor,
We have taken note of the announcement by VROMI Minister Giterson to re-evaluate the daytime road work schedule after bringing the country to its knees for 2 days. Literally to a crawling standstill with hours of lost time to countless citizens and businesses; simply to save on night-time differential wage tariffs.
It is high time the powers that be learn from past experience, as this is not the first time such an attempt at savings has occurred with exactly the same results. Government should understand the value of productivity and take into consideration the irreparable cost of lost productivity in any cost analysis. In infrastructure, it is never as simple as how many bills do I have to pay now; there is always the coefficient of how much improvement do I get over how long and when do I regain the cost of my investment.
It would be even better if the various ministries cease operating as independent silos and start working together on planning and coordinating, so that before a decision like this is taken consultation should be held among VROMI and TEATT and determine the economic and social impact of such decision, for example.
If our government does not begin to appreciate that the citizens of this country also have value, that their time is money and that we as a country need to put our best foot forward to our visitors if we want to regain any market share in our ever-shrinking economic condition, we fear they will find they are only in control of a welfare state without any possibility of economic prosperity.
St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA)
Dear Editor,
On several occasions I have mentioned that St. Maarten is not growing. This is usually in connection with the increasing intensity of the traffic. Lo and behold, what I have written in a few sentences in the past now appears in two articles from two different people.
