Dear Editor,

If an elected official cannot represent the people’s interest, then it’s time for him to step down and quit blocking the growth of this country! For far too long, we are being forced to endure the nonchalant behaviour of this minister, who feels like he has no obligation to the community in which he was mandated to serve. Every issue that warranties his support is either pushed aside or shrouded with excessive speech, only to highlight his inept and selfish attitude.

There are no more questions to determine if his real personality is the one that emerged during the election campaign, or what is being displayed at present. The pretence has been shattered by his inability to handle the social and labour issues that are plaguing the country. Then it calls to mind: Why do Parliamentarians and the population continue to tolerate the incompetence of Minister Emil Lee? Can’t they see that this Minister has no interest in tackling the labour and social situations on St. Maarten? Then why keep him in his current position? This is a total waste of tax payers’ money and a consistent black eye to the economy.

Speaking of labour, some time ago Minister Emil Lee had a discussion with the personnel of that department. The main purpose was to have a name change. When the staff came up with an alternative, even though reluctant to do so, the Minister chose to disregard their efforts by erasing the name from his phone and offered, “Office of Opportunity” instead. How ridiculous! Then the nagging question is, opportunity for whom? All over the world the office is named exactly what it is. But as usual, everything the Minister does is about boosting his ego.

To add insult to injury, all of a sudden Minister Lee realized that the signing of work permits must be halted to accommodate locals. It would be interesting to know who he refers to as being locals. The ineffectiveness of the Labour and Justice Ministries is what has caused the island to plunge into total bankruptcy.

Besides the hot pursuit of a new hospital, this Minister tends to focus on petty things that his subordinates at the Health Department can handle. First it was the bats, now the mosquitoes. What’s next? Is he going to teach the kindergarteners how to tie their shoes? Minister Lee needs to man up to the Justice Minister and demand immediate collaboration to bring back stability to the labour industry.

It was so intriguing to hear Minister Lee confirm that the new hospital is just a

building. He had to go to St. Lucia to learn this fact - a reality that was conveyed to him repeatedly by journalists and conscious minds within the community. Why is this minister so hell bent on building a new hospital, when there is no money available for such an elaborate project? Would his construction company be involved in the building process? A Health Minister, who cares about this community, would make it a priority to invest time and money to research what is causing this health situation to deteriorate so badly.

Something is not kosher. To view the new hospital as a means of alleviating the hefty cost to fly patients abroad, or even to accommodate the surrounding islands is just a fallacy. The reality is: the others Caribbean islands lay wait to capitalize on ideas that will propel them as the leading destination. So by the time the hospital is finished, the broader vision would have become obsolete. My biggest contention is: What is the real trade off of this mission? Is it to set up another empire like the Harbour or to invest in prevention, which will lead to a robust SZV reserve?

Nothing is surprising anymore. Imagine Minister Emil Lee recently announced that he was unable to fix the roof of a senior citizen because the gentleman did not have the title for the land. What lack of empathy and cruelty to the highest degree! Then Minister Lee proceeded by saying that someone from another political party repaired the house. The Minister lamented further that shortly after the man’s roof was fixed, he sported a T-shirt in support of the party that aided him, and that the gentleman compromised his integrity by selling his vote.

This is very strange! How does the Minister know that the senior sold his vote, and if he is so certain, why didn’t he come forward when the prosecutor was asking for assistance in the vote-buying case that involved members of that same party?

Besides, why does the Minister think that he is so squeaky clean in the eyes of the public, when it was rumoured throughout the campaign that he too was engaged in the same thing. And, when it became known that his votes were tripled from that of 2014, the rumour was intensified. Why didn’t he refute this?

The performance of any politician is an accurate reflection of his or her philosophy. It is very clear that Minister Emil Lee is a reactive politician. This further demonstrates that he is not the appropriate person for the position of Social and Labour Affairs. Therefore, he needs to do the honourable thing and make his position available!

Joslyn Morton

Dear Editor,

Last week, yet another annual report was added to the long list of reports that Parliament has in its possession. The General Audit Chamber, one of the High Councils of State, submitted for the seventh time, its annual report in both the Dutch and English languages. Hence Members of Parliament, who are not versed in the Dutch language, have no excuse about not being able to read or understand the Chamber’s annual report. I would like to commend the Chamber for producing a very good report. It’s critical, yet objective and minces no words as it lets the governor and parliament know what is going on in government as far as the areas of responsibility of the Chamber are concerned. Since the annual report is a public document, the Chamber may want to consider a friendlier layout.

If Parliament is serious about executing its supervisory task then the Chamber has supplied Members of Parliament again with an excellent instrument to do such. Unfortunately, the previous annual reports have been blatantly ignored by Parliament. SMCP truly hopes that Parliament will do something about this report. Our government and even our Parliament have grave objections to the establishment of an Integrity Chamber because they believe that integrity assessments can be carried out by our High Councils of State. Yet all the annual reports of the High Councils of State thus far have been totally ignored which is an indication of great disrespect for the Councils as institutions as well as for the research and hard work carried out by the personnel of these Councils.

In the 2016 annual report the Chamber points out many instances where the government and specifically ministers have failed to do their jobs. The report states that when government is made aware of weaknesses and deficiencies in the organization and even draft plans to deal with these, “the implementation is found wanting”. The Chamber also reports that several ministers and ministries did not cooperate in providing the requested information, which impacted the audits that were carried out in 2016. The Chamber even wonders if lack of cooperation and failure to provide information are “becoming the standard practice in government”. If ministers and ministries are unable or unwilling to provide information to the General Audit Chamber which has the legal authority to request such, can you imagine the refusal and resistance that the High Councils of State will encounter if they are charged with integrity investigations?

The Chamber also pointed out serious shortcomings in the way government manages its finances. Government spent money that was not available, particularly in the area of hiring personnel. This was pointed out in the previous annual reports as well, but has been totally ignored by government. In addition, appointments by government-owned companies lack all form of transparency. Furthermore, according to the National Ordinance Promotion of integrity of ministers, the government must seek the advice of the General Audit Chamber when appointing new ministers. It appears that for the screening of all of the ministers in the current cabinet no advice from the Chamber was sought.

During 2016, the Ministries of Justice, Finance and General Affairs were guilty of not cooperating and not providing the requested information to the General Audit Chamber, even though the ministers charged with these ministries were notified of such, the Chamber never received any reaction to their notification.

The above are just some of the problems listed in the General Audit Chamber’s 2016 Annual Report concerning the functioning of government. Since the reports of the High Councils of State are meant to help Parliament carry out its supervisory task, the report at hand contains enough material to enable Parliament to call out government and ministers on a number issues such as: a lack of transparency regarding appointments, hiring personnel when there is no money allocated for such, the inability to present a solid and auditable financial statement, providing proper insight about how public funds are used, etc. Parliament, there is a lot of work to be done!

I must say something here about the blatant disrespect on the part of Parliament for the General Audit Chamber. During 2016, a delegation of the Dutch Parliament and a delegation from the Dutch Ministry for Interior and Kingdom Affairs visited the General Audit Chamber. Yet our own Parliament did not see the need to even meet with the Chamber to discuss its 2015 annual report.

Unfortunately, our Parliament also shows a similar disregard for the other High Councils of State as well. The Advisory Council as well as the Ombudsman have, over the years, diligently submitted their annual reports but Parliament has yet to discuss these and additional interim reports in a Central Committee and follow up on these reports by calling government and ministers to Parliament to give an account for the problems and failures listed in these reports. To date Parliament has received 16 annual reports from the three High Councils of State, but they have never yet been discussed in Parliament. How or when does Parliament plan to tackle all of these reports?

Wycliffe Smith

Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party

Dear Editor,

We are at a point and time, where we have to seize the momentum and exercise our right to demand of our government that they do the right thing and if they chose not to, and if they choose not to, then it’s also our right to remove them from office. Maybe it’s time for a Henry the second moment here in which he says of Becket, “Will no one remove this meddlesome priest?” And I say to you my fellow Anguillians, will no one remove this incompetent government?

In the coming months we are faced with several possibilities, many of which will determine where we go from here. It is obvious that we are mired in a downward spiral from which we can’t seem to emerge. Those tasked with looking out for our well-being have been standing on the sidelines while the ship continues to flounder on the rocks. We are contemplating a new constitution and electoral reform, and from the looks of things probably won’t get anything accomplished. We have a government that continues to function in a way that’s not conducive to our well-being.

We have a press whose coverage is at best very spotty, with the advantage going to the government. It is the job of the press to keep the government honest, and when you see major events happening as was the case during the Anguilla Day week, with hardly any mention, then one has to ask the question, were these events not newsworthy? Is it not the job of the news media to shape public opinion and not follow it? It is the job of the newspaper editor to not suppress the news because it might upset some people or the government in power, but that it might force the government to reconsider its policies. That there were several notable events occurring without any mention by the local press, speaks volumes. Shame on you!!

There are many things going on right now which ought to raise all kinds of red flags. Our country is being sold out to the highest bidder. We have lost our moral compass, and as one citizen said on the radio that: “we are selling out our right to existence.” There are those who are fronting for foreign entities, a practice that former Chief Minister Sir Emile Gumbs admonished us about exactly ten years ago in the Anguilla 40th Anniversary Commemorative Magazine. He said: “The wholesale importation of foreign labour, the “fronting” by our people for foreign business, coupled with the impression that all of Anguilla is for sale, does not bode well for our future. If these trends are not arrested, we may soon become an endangered species in our own home.”

We surely didn’t listen then and for all intents and purposes we are not listening now, and as the old saying goes that he or she who doesn’t listen surely will feel.

So the question to all stakeholders is this, do you really care what happens to Anguilla?

Will the efforts of people like my father, Walter Hodge, Atlin Harrigan, Jeremiah Gumbs, Ronald Webster, Ruby Gumbs, Bevan and Cardigan Hodge, John Webster, Etienne Gumbs, Peter Adams, Bob Rogers and a host of others be for naught. Can we tell them if they ‘don’t like it they can lump it?’

Folks the whole world is in turmoil right now and it can’t be business as usual. A change has got to come sooner rather than later. Mr. Banks keeps talking about his mandate and the margin of his victory and he’s right this is about his victory, a victory that he was able to achieve under false pretenses.

We the people are not sore losers, we are angry as hell sore losers, because sir you won under false pretenses, and not only did you win under false pretenses, you proceeded to destroy our homeland and we will not forget or forgive you for that. You have probably won your last campaign and you probably won’t have to face an electorate again, so you could care less, but let me remind you sir, this is still supposed to be a democracy and as such we the people still have the ultimate last say in what happens to your government, and as we said in our letter to the Governor General of the West Indies back in 1958 and I quote that: “a people cannot live without hope for long without erupting socially.”

So here it is, that in the fiftieth year of our existence, despite the rosy pictures that have been painted by some, we seem to be headed in the opposite direction. Our people are starving; many households can’t afford to pay for the modern conveniences of simple everyday existence while our government spends money like drunken sailors at liberty on shore leave. We have work to do and the sooner we get down to it, the better off we’ll be, so again, if we don’t step up to the plate, no one else will and Anguilla as we once knew it will cease to exist and our homeland will be nothing more than a mirage. It’s up to each and every one of us. Don’t follow the party line. God gave each of us a brain to think, let us do that and make our own choices.

The bible tells us that we are our brother’s keepers and as such we ought to care for each other. We used to be that way at one time or another, but we are badly misguided right now. When I think of the effort that was put forth back in ’67, the hard times that we had to endure as young people growing up with no future on the horizon, that a lot of us, under the age of twenty were fortunate enough to find a host country that willingly opened its arms to take us in, it pains me to see that our leaders have brought our pigs to fine market, and yet we continue to allow this unfettered abuse of power to continue.

Folks in the words of the calypso by The Mighty Gossip, “the revolution ain’t done.”

Tyrone Hodge

Dear Editor,

Built on pseudoscience, alarmism, and propaganda, “Climate Change” is a global scam, a monstrous flawed edifice that is bound to come crashing down sooner or later; the sooner the better. Meanwhile, it is also a stealthy, powerful new narrative, a global new faith with its alarmist high priests; its special interest groups (government and private), its fat cat lobbyists, a Jesuit Pope in Rome and on papal visits worldwide, Anglican, Episcopal, Protestant Archbishops and Bishops “for Climate Justice” all over the globe, and most of the member states of the United Nations.

Like most religions, “Climate Change” does not tolerate dissention: its leaders politicize normal scientific debate, and label skeptics as “Climate Deniers” no matter how well-qualified they are. These climate alarmists are crusaders who view themselves as morally superior to everyone else. They accuse the industrial world of “polluting” the climate, and they demand reparation (redress) for developing countries, which accounts for the “justice” in their “Climate Justice.”

Their gospel, roughly put, is that the earth is warming perilously due to human activity. We must, therefore, limit this deadly, global menace. Never mind that “human-caused global warming” is a hypothesis, not a fact, and a weak one at that, given the mind-boggling scope of the premise, and the astonishing complexity of the data involved in the verification/validation of this hypothesis. Their devil is Carbon dioxide (CO2). But CO2 is essential to life on earth, and, according to a number of eminent scientists, CO2 levels do not present any danger to our existence. Google “CO2 Coalition” and read about this colorless, odorless gas that looks and smells like Satan!

Years ago, when “Global Cooling” was debunked, there was a recess in climate scaremongering. If you research “Global Cooling,” do not trust Wikipedia, for alarmists have altered most articles of the period to fit their narrative. Start with Andy May’s “Global Cooling and Wikipedia Fake News,” Dec. 25, 2016. And, by all means, visit “Myths/Facts” at “Friends of Science”. You will begin to grasp the extent of the disinformation, along with the true nature of these climate zealots who have, nevertheless, managed to enlist so many powerful acolytes in their global scam.

Indeed, their alarmism is aided and abetted by the first Jesuit Pope in history, a man who, like all Jesuits, took a special vow (an oath) not to seek higher office in the Roman Catholic Church. But throughout their history, some Jesuits have been renegades, rebels and formidable advocates. Arturo Sosa who praised Fidel Castro, and welcomed him to Venezuela is now the “Superior General” of the Jesuits. At the Vatican, he may be trying to do for the world what Castro and Chavez did for Cuba and Venezuela. Regrettably, Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now “Pope Francis” after St. Francis of Assisi) and other important religious leaders, worldwide, are rallying large numbers of devotees, adherents to the new faith.

“Environmentalism is the new Marxism,” so states Drieu Godefridi. He is dead on. As for “Climate Change,” it is all about securing massive global government funding for special interest groups while promoting global climate governance through the United Nations: another deadly utopian adventure, like communism. Hopefully, sunlight and science will prevail, and the crooked edifice will implode.

Gérard M. Hunt