Dear Editor,

In the past weeks l have called on Parliamentarians and ministers to lower their salary and allowances by June 30, 2018.

And if there's any delay l know the Dutch will give our Parliamentarians a date and time.

Really, l rather see this opposition get a lower salary as soon as possible. Because their performance in the past years as opposition was very poor and never up date.

St. Maarten now has a stable government but we also need more price controllers, more roads and a small claims court.

Cuthbert Bannis

Dear Editor,

This letter is geared towards MP Christophe Emmanuel and the article that was in the newspaper dated Tuesday, May, 8, 2018. And his talks on Sint Maarten going independent. The question I’m posing to MP Christophe Emmanuel is: Independence? Where? How? And are we even ready for such a monumental step?

I don’t know if you’ve taken a look around, Mister MP, but Sint Maarten is in no way ready for independence. So many things need to be put in place for this island to be ready for independence. Right now we’ve barelyed scratch the surface on recovery from Hurricane Irma. Roofs are still blue and people are still to this very day displaced.

We were hardly ready for 10-10-10 as it is. And now you’re dropping this atom bomb in our lap? What are you thinking? Our economy needs to be stable. We import more than we export. Our tourism sector needs a speedy revamp. We need more diversity when it comes to sources of income because all we have right now is tourism. There’s so much that needs revising.

Everyone always speaks of independence.

How would independence affect our travel? Our monetary system? Security? Travel restrictions from European- and American-based airlines, cargo lines, cruise lines? What about pur open borders with the French side? Would this affect our long-standing treaty that has been in effect for all these decades?

Look at what’s happening in the UK. We need to observe and learn from what’s happening there. We are not ready for independence! Don’t put the people through unnecessary hardship that can be avoided. I plead with you to use common sense. Think this through and plot a better path. Your intentions may be in the right place or maybe it’s not. But this move is a “No Bueno”. We have nothing but tourism and as you can see from the disgruntled looks of store owners and vendors alike. WE ARE NOT READY!

Now, as for the talks on cannabis I am all for it. I’m not a smoker myself. But it’s high time we legalize marijuana. Done properly as you said yearly income can be great and a further boost for our economy. You’re on the right path with this. So I suggest setting up a department to deal with this new venture into the 21^st century is amazing. That department can create more jobs for the people. So focus on that for now and let’s take this one step at a time. Marijuana has many benefits especially where health is concerned. Recreational use is never a bad thing. Which will help remove a lot of the social stigma attached to this natural herb.

But Independence? Let’s put this on the far, far, far back burner for now. Elections were called and I saw absolutely no sense in that. 10-10-10 we were in no way ready for it. And now independence? I plead insanity.

Name withheld at author’s request.

Dear Editor,

Much blame has been cast on the executive branch of Government for failing to present a budget that reflects the island’s dilemma after the passing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Some members of Parliament expressed dissatisfaction in not receiving a financial statement that forecasts realistic measures of how to generate additional income to steer the island out of this seemingly endless quagmire.
Who is to blame? The responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of Parliamentarians and the Council of Ministers. If MPs were monitoring the Council of Ministers throughout last year, they would have been compelled to be accountable to the people and their supervisors. Is it not that the budget for the following year be completed by the 1st of September of the current year? If this is so, why was it not finalized then? So why put all the blame on this interim Government that took office only in mid-January?
Even after the passage of the hurricanes, why was the budget still on hold? Is it a strong possibility that the budget couldn’t be finalized because the then government had no clue where it will get monies from to substitute for the tremendous loss from the private sector? And is it not so that parliamentarians sat back and accepted this lack of accountability to the people? This is why it was so comical to listen to the two MPs who were part of that Council of Ministers.
If MPs were working earnestly, there would be no need for the torrents of useless questions. They would have had pointed inquires and dialogues on Friday, that would have forced the Ministers to return on Monday with precise answers for the people. This Council of Ministers presented a mediocre budget because MPs of the previous government did not do their job. They were too busy making sure that their Ministers stayed in power, instead of holding them accountable to the population and country.
In the same breath, when I listened to the budget debate, the conclusion is that it was just a boring presentation with hardly any substance. It showed that the Ministers did not prepare themselves well; neither in the presentation nor answering segments. They knew what the budget debate entails and so there was no excuse for this extremely poor performance.
I was amazed to hear how the majority of Ministers just rattle everything from a paper. It was clear that most of them had no connection to what they were presenting. But they need to understand that this population is alert and there is a huge difference between reading and just calling words. They also need to be aware that there is a major disparity between speaking to the population and just conducting a lecture.
If I were to grade each one of them, they will all get an F, with the exception of the Minister of Education Jorien Wuite. Although she spoke extremely fast in the beginning but slowed down in the end, one could follow the direction in which she wishes to lead her Ministry. What was lacking in her presentation is not speaking from heart when she could have done so. Also, consideration should be have been given to all listeners, even those who cannot read. So the information should have been presented at a slower pace and in simpler terms.
But as I have indicated in my preceding article, MP Theo Heyliger would be making the biggest mistake of his political career if he continues on the path of selecting amateurs to run the country. More was expected from the Minister of Finance, but I guess time will tell why his performance did not meet that expectation.
What continues to be confusing is to watch MPs reject the same budget that hosts their salaries, Parliament and the very Government. If there is no financial statement, then how can they monitor the Government?

Joslyn Morton

Dear Editor,
I was stopped on Sunday after church by someone who after greeting me told me that he had not read anything from me in a while. I told him that there was not much more happening that I did not write about in the past.
“So you don’t know that they say ’tis VROMI [Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI – Ed.] people who building those bus stops right there in the Government work shop across from TelEm?” Indeed I did not know.
My question to him was if they were building them during Government working hours? He was not exactly sure how it was done but he knew for sure that if they were not being built there there they were been assembled there.
What I had already assumed with the little knowledge of technology that I have is that I did not believe that a whole solar system would be used to only generate electricity for charging of cellular phones. When I scrutinized the commercial signs closer it confirmed my suspicions that something fishy as usual was going on.
I do not believe that Government is going to get involved with commercial signage. So this is, even though not surprising, a bit confusing as well as suspicious to me. Because if this is a private enterprise, why are these bus stop huts being built or assembled in the Government premises and probably by Government employees on Government time?
So in view of transparency of Government I would request of the Minister of VROMI to, via this news medium because it has become common practice for members of Government in their official capacity to use this medium officially, let the people know what is the situation with those bus stop huts.
For instance who is to profit from the revenue generated through those propaganda signs? Is VROMI involved with the placing of those huts, which if nothing is done concerning the placing of official bus stop signs will become bus stops?
Public transportation should be of Government, so my question would be is Government involved in some kind of a partnership with whomever the owner(s) of those bus stop huts are or is?
We live in the hurricane belt, and those bus stop huts with propaganda signs have material value as well as the financial value which those propaganda signs will generate. I believe if Government is in partnership with the owners some kind of a contract is signed. The material value is a set price, but my concern would be the value of the financial revenue per month, per year etc. What kind of a revenue are we talking about here and how far would Government be liable for the guarantee of this let us call it commercial value?
This reminds me of that US $70.000 which Government is paying for water not produced. Like I mentioned before, once those bus stop huts are placed they will take on a life of their own, whether in strategic places or not; whether conducive to the traffic situation or not.
My take on this is that I and a whole lot more than myself believe that since 10-10-10 all of Sint Maarten’s governments have not lasted due to the fact that half of the time the members of Government were busy planning how to topple each other and the rest of the time they used trying to make themselves look good in order to secure votes.
All this while the country is deteriorating. And Irma is no excuse. I believe that in time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act, which reminds me of what my mother seriously expressed to me when I was not yet a teenager. I can still hear it distinctively. She said “ Ah can’ hear what you sayin’, because what you doin’ is gettin’ in the way. So don’ try to take trick to make luck.”
I did not quite understand what she meant, but as I had been doing for years I would write them down, because questioning your parents under the circumstances was completely out of the question in my days growing up.
Over the years I came to understand what a lot of those sayings meant, and you know what? Almost all of them were interpretations of what is written in the Bible. For too many years now every last Island Council member and since 10-10-10 every member of Government has avoided regulating public transportation because that would be in the interest of the people. Less traffic congestion, getting to work on time, less wear and tear on private vehicles. less gasoline consumption.
All of this was and still seems not to be in the interest of any of those who have been in Government for years. Especially when it concerned gasoline and bus permits. Some who are no more in Government still own bus fleets.
“If you don’t reveal what I did, I will not reveal what you are doing” is still the unwritten rule among members of government, so I foresee that whoever is involved in placing those bus stop huts will single-handed create bus stops while Government is turning a blind eye to the situation.
Am I to accept that year in year out people in Government are being locked up by the RST as if nobody on Sint Maarten is allowed to stop its own people from going too far? Who is actually in charge of the supervision of good governance?
I cannot recall seeing any legislation concerning the placing of bus stop huts or bus stops of late. Bus stops which I consider not to be there because buses stop whenever and wherever they want and nothing is being done about it.
I always ask myself if the Prosecutor’s Office does not notice that despite the erratic behavior of the bus drivers, no fines are issued to them?
I continue to repeat that we are consistently supplying Holland ammunition to use against us. Knowing that as long as there is nothing in it for me ,my question is: “Is there really nothing in it for whoever is so interested in installing those bus stop huts supplied with solar system and commercial signs? And on whose land are these bus stop huts being placed?”

Russell A. Simmons