Dear Editor,
I have been a prison officer for 22½ years and have been through many hurricanes while working.
As Hurricane Irma was coming, being the main breadwinner of my family I did my best to prepare. However, the roof of the apartment that I am renting blew off. My family and I covered the roof and tried to secure what was left of our belongings.
Having done so, I reported to work and reported my situation to my superior officer. Actually, after not coming to work no one came to see what was going on.
Having worked for a few days and no one had approached me to enquire about my situation I asked one of the directors if the Ministry had anything in place to help those of us who had received damage. His response was the Minister of Justice was aware and had not met with them as yet, nothing is in place for us.
As Hurricane Maria came and went, due to the fact that my roof is tarpaulin I again got damaged so this was a big setback which I reported to my superior. To say the least, up to now no one has offered temporary shelter, social aid or at least counseling for my family and me. Being a civil servant should have its benefits. This has not taken place.
There are quite a few of us at the prison who have been affected one way or another and we need help.
My reason for writing this letter is 'to get some attention for those of us that need.
It’s not easy to be working and having to worry about your family, when it rains, if another hurricane is coming, if your landlord is going to fix back the place that you are renting, the health of your family for those members that are already sick, etc., etc.
To my colleagues who stayed at the prison until relief came: GREAT JOB.
To those inmates that assisted in the time of need, Thank you all.
Antoinette C. Blanchard
Dear Editor,
And the people and the Churches fear God. Turn your lives to God. Remember the time of Noah and the cities of Sodom and Gomorra. The people have to turn away from their evil way. This is what no one would like to hear: Stop their wicked ways.
Three hurricanes that take down an island that was number one on the map. People, open your eyes to the Lord. Give your hearts to Him.
One lady went to the Government for help last year September and this year so they could help her and her family since she was homeless because she lost her home on auction. Look around and see the hands that hit this island. They could not find a way to help this lady and her family. She gave all her life to Government, 45 years of service.
But today, one year later, the same Government has 40,000 people homeless. What are they going to do? The same lady is begging the Government to help her and her family. They know who she is. They really need to help the people of this island, the ones who really can’t afford to help themselves.
Turn away from color to people. God bless the people who are homeless and hold on to the hands of the Lord. He will see us out of this. Believe in the Lord Jesus.
I know what it is to be homeless. God bless the people of St. Maarten. We need Him in our lives. Thank You, because I am holding on to His hands. I am not going to let go.
Rosalind Avril Gumbs
People of Sint Maarten,
Monday, October 2, will be four weeks since school was rudely and violently interrupted by the most powerful storm ever recorded in the history of the Atlantic hurricane season. It has been four weeks of a gruesome, life-changing, traumatic experience and some may even question the wisdom of going back to school now, so soon after our island was so severely devastated by Hurricane Irma which, in seven horrifying hours, turned our lives upside down.
Dear Editor,
We all passed thru Irma and living this aftermath, is great to see we have all this high energy and self-esteem to move on, we are proud to stand by ourselves and start moving without help, but we cannot miss the focus and act like a town with no rules or law.
I know there is the feeling we have to survive and do it because no help is expected, but we need to channel this energy in a positive way, with respect for each other if we want to rebuild the island properly.
Business owners, professionals and commercial community, take the right way. Showing the spirit on high, with a positive attitude that inspires others, they start cleaning up and open their businesses by themselves, making a big effort with their own pocket and working hard to move SXM forward.
We cannot take this survivor energy and use as excuse to disrespect all, loot, drive aggressively, park wherever, take land or spaces not belonging to us, build bar and block the street. The anarchy just drives you to lose more, your next job or the future of your family.
We need the effort of each one to revamp the island and we have just one way: hard work, decency and respect. The good ones will be on top at the end, be “The Friendly Island” again.
Douglas Hernandez
Pointe Blanche
Dear Editor,
The Parliament of Sint Maarten finally convened last Monday, September 25, to be updated by the Minister of General Affairs, William Marlin, on the passing of hurricane Irma. An update after 2½ weeks, to the highest representative body in the country, is unacceptable!
It took the Dutch Parliament less than a week (they met on September 12) to deal with the hurricane situation in Sint Maarten. Two days after Hurricane Irma, Minister Plasterk of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations had already informed the Dutch Parliament by letter of the situation. In addition, the Dutch government has made preliminary plans with regard to recovery and financial aid while the Parliament of Sint Maarten is still to get a full and true account of what transpired pre- and post-Irma.
After a two-hour presentation by the Minister of General Affairs, which did not give Parliament and the people a lot of new information, parliamentarians posed their questions to the Minister, who then needed two full days to prepare the answers.
One would have then expected that after responding to Parliament’s questions on Thursday morning, the parliamentarians would have gone straightway into the second round of questioning. But no, this was not the case! The meeting for the second round was scheduled for Monday, October 2, four days later. If Parliament continues with this schedule, it will take them two whole weeks to be updated on Hurricane Irma.
Is Parliament aware of the fact that, after the passing of Hurricane Irma, the country has already moved from crisis and emergency modes and is now in recovery mode? One would have expected that a disaster of this magnitude and gravity would have been given greater priority. It is time that parliamentarians hear from the Minister of General Affairs what plans are being drafted by Government for the structural, emotional, financial and economic recovery of the country.
According to the law, disaster preparedness and management are totally in the hands of the Minister of General Affairs. Article 8 states that he is authorized to give any and all instructions that he deems necessary. However, once a state of emergency is declared, the Prime Minister shares his authority with the Ministers of Justice and Telecommunication.
Hence, if the Prime Minister is unable to answer questions concerning the curfew, the looting, poor communication and the blocking of the borders, then Parliament should call in the other two ministers for questioning.
Since the Minister of General Affairs, does not know who gave orders to close the borders then the Minister of Justice ought to know, because police officers, under his authority, were at the borders carrying out instructions. Something as serious as blocking an international border with a trailer and leaving that trailer unattended is extremely worrying. If the Minister of Justice cannot provide answers then Parliament should use its right of investigation to get to the bottom of this dispute.
Observing the meeting of Parliament, I noticed a disconnect with and a disrespect for Parliament by the Minister of General Affairs. After all, in the chain of command, Parliament is the higher authority, yet the Minister does not seem to take Parliament very seriously.
It was disrespectful to wait until after his presentation to inform the President of Parliament publicly that he will not be available because he has another meeting. Proper protocol dictates that this should have been done prior to the public meeting.
It also appears to me that Parliament was not officially included in meetings after the passing of Hurricane Irma. I have seen videos and photographs of the King, the Governor and the Prime Minister touring the island, but the President of Parliament seems to be missing in action. Am I to conclude that our President of Parliament was perhaps wearing high-heel leather shoes and therefore was unable to traverse the debris and the slippery hills?
Also, the Minister of General Affairs should not take the questions posed by the MPs personally, but should answer every question objectively and factually without chiding and belittling the questioner. No question should be considered a stupid question! I commend MPs Tamara Leonard and Perry Geerlings who stood firm and insisted that their questions were not answered satisfactorily.
According to the Disaster Management Law, the Minister of General Affairs should have presented the Disaster Management Plan to Parliament as well as to the Collectivité of Saint Martin one month after its finalization. In this context, I commend MP Ardwell Irion for acknowledging, on behalf of his fellow parliamentarians, that Parliament was not as vigilant as it should have been regarding this matter. Furthermore, the law states that the plan should be synchronized with the Collectivité. Had this taken place, the closing of the borders would not be such a mystery today.
The Minister of General Affairs is obligated to present an evaluation report to Parliament six months after a disaster has occurred. However, to get the country back on its feet as quickly as possible, our Parliament should not drag its feet any longer on the Irma issue, but should insist on receiving weekly briefings from the Prime Minister.
Neither should Parliament have to wait until the National Recovery Plan is completed in order to find out what Government is planning for the country and the people.
Wycliffe Smith
Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party
