Dear Editor,

I love reading letters to the editor, they are the first things I look for when I buy a copy of The Daily Herald. Unlike news articles, they relate the opinions, thoughts and experiences of the writers. They often expose things that need to be exposed; inform their community of things they need to be made aware of. And….. no better time to read them than before elections.

Last week, there were two very informative letters; one from the board of the National Alliance concerning a particular Member of Parliament, and the other …. well, the response from the offended MP in question.

Bear in mind that these two letters were written by career politicians, people who know what’s going on behind closed doors; namely, things they don’t want the public to know.

We have learned the following:

Whenever multi-million-dollar purchases take place, it’s never done directly with the manufacturer; there is always a go-between when certain politicians are involved. And, if a

spouse or another family member or friend of the politician is not involved; the deal – even though it would be beneficial for “their” people – does not go through.

The same is obviously true for every major project. “If there’s nothing in it for me, it won’t happen.” I have often heard this before, but this time it’s been confirmed in writing

by two honourable politicians which makes it a lot more believable.

Many millions of guilders (dollars?) in loans to pay off a court case that was due to the negligence of government.

From the response of the offended MP, we learned about:

A two-million-dollar Falcon switch that was bought for GEBE and never used (this took place 18 years ago and is only now coming out into the open. At least I have never read or heard about this matter.) The Holy Book says: “Whatsoever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatsoever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.”

A 50-million-dollar loan to complete the government administration building. (The building that will go down in the history book of St. Maarten as the biggest waste of taxpayers’ money ever.) Since SVB bought this building, I wonder if that multi-million-dollar loan has been paid back.

Given all of the above, where is all the transparency they are constantly talking about? I can’t imagine that the other commissioners and ministers did not know about these obscure dealings.

I wonder why the then Ministers of Finance did not open their mouths. Were they afraid of being intimidated by the one who appointed them in that highly-paid position, or was it because of an unwritten agreement they have with each other, namely: Don’t expose my wrongdoings and incompetence, and I won’t expose yours! That way we all get to continue enriching ourselves and…. remain honourable in the eyes of the people.

The fact that they failed to establish an Integrity Chamber and to introduce electoral reform before the upcoming elections does not come as a surprise to anybody. Being restricted from jumping ship is not in their favour. Not being allowed to buy votes would have an impact on the number of votes their party gets. Anything that would have a negative impact on their political career is not going to happen.

They can’t even come up with a valid definition of vote buying. How convenient! Do they really need a written law to keep them from doing what they know is unlawful?

Let me give them a few examples of what every reasonably thinking person considers vote buying.

You are guilty of vote buying when – in exchange for a person’s vote – you offer him or her:

cash money. I have been told that the going rate during the last election was US $300, which, admittedly is a lot of money for a needy household.

A highly-paid position, whether or not he or she is qualified to hold that position; a paid position as a board member of a government-owned company, again, whether or not he or she is qualified for that position. A licence to operate a taxi or a bus, a business or whatever else requires a licence to operate. Rewarding someone who has campaigned well for your party with a parcel of government (the people’s) land in long lease. I’m sure there are a lot more concrete examples of vote buying that I am not aware of.

Any honest and true representative of the people should not have to be forced by law to be honest or to have integrity, or to be of moral character or transparent, or to refrain from buying votes and from enriching himself with ill-gotten wealth. He or she should want to earn their votes. They do so by actually pursuing the well-being of the people, especially the families in our community who are in dire need of help.

Clive Hodge

Dear Editor,
Even if the opening up of the Cuban economy does not have a huge negative impact on the tourist economies of the Eastern Caribbean, these economies will continue to be challenged by the tapering off of their tourism success due to a variety of other reasons.
These other reasons are (1) new developing destinations worldwide, including Central America , Kenya, West Africa , Sri Lanka, etc. are taking increasing market share.
(2) Our difficulty in competing with new destinations due to an ageing infrastructure and quality of properties.
(3) The inability to boost the economy through new Greenfield tourist developments, as has been the methodology in the past.
(4) Our need to tax at a high level in order to allow us to keep growing a large government apparatus.
We can do nothing about the growth of competition. Our best response is to make our own offering as competitive and well marketed as possible. Ageing properties and infrastructure could be ameliorated by government facilitation and stimulation; if we could ensure that such efforts were efficient and did not lead to corruption, which would only worsen our situation. Present examples of government supervising commercial matters is not inspiring.
In respect of Sint Maarten does not have much left as far as undeveloped land for the traditional new hotel expansion. It does not have what St. Kitts has. St Kitts has been developing the Southern Peninsula, which has helped create the fastest GDP growth in the Eastern Caribbean in the last few years .We simply do not have a “southern peninsula” that could be used as a springboard to resuscitate our economy .
Our taxation is not only high, but it also holds back our economy in a structural manner. Ironically, we had great growth when our taxation was low and many of our competitors had destructive tax structures. The design of our present tax system is mainly based on short-term budget deficits that needed quick fixes without incorporating considerations for long-term economic functioning.
So where will Sint Maarten find itself in 20 years’ time, when the conventional stay-over tourism, cruise ship tourism and second home tourism have all become significantly tougher than they are now, the population has increased a little more than it currently is, and our expectations for higher quality living have gone up another notch ?
The challenge is not new. Many people have addressed the problem, if not for the longer term interest, but because in the shorter term our immediate growth, budget management and revenue shortfalls are calling for action in the shorter term.
The most significant point to note about future planning in Sint Maarten is that we have not yet taken on board any plan for solving the fundamental future economic problems, and the need to replace activity and grow activity. There is absolutely no shortage of efforts to identify the problem and broad descriptions of how to work towards solutions, but no actual solutions are being worked on. No shortage of consultant reports that reviewed all options. But in spite of this, no significant allocation of resources with a game plan to really set the ball rolling on any significant plan.
Every single broad plan that has come in the form of a document has defined that diversification of the economy would be wise and probably essential. But not one plan has been adopted and converted into a real serious effort to make it happen.
Most Caribbean islands claim to be doing future planning, but in actual practice the real activity only starts when a foreign investor shows an interest. Could it be that the lack of such foreign investment interest is the real reason for nothing much happening in Sint Maarten? Could it be that without such investor interest nothing much will happen? Could it even be that if nothing much happens by the time an investor does come, we will be so desperate for investment, we will accept any investor profile no matter what the long-term risks associated?
Almost all of the diversification options involve investment with a likely considerable lead time before benefit will accrue to the country. In order for them to succeed, it would require political will that would remain constant for the lead time required to achieve success. It would almost inevitably require sacrificing short-term projects that would provide immediate employment to current voting blocks. It would require a tax system that inspires confidence to the investor that it not only is competitive, but structured in a manner that is long term sustainable.
What is the likelihood of finding a political coalition that will commit (not just agree to how good a plan it is), allocate resources with the necessary sacrifices and stay in power long enough to ensure success of any essential significant diversification in Sint Maarten?

Robbie Ferron

Dear Editor,

I strongly condemn the string of violent terror attacks in Germany over the past weekend. I stand in solidarity with the victims’ families and friends. Every life is special and unique in the eyes of God, be it you’re black, white, mulatto, Christian, Muslim, Jew, atheist, rich or poor, straight or gay, Conservative or Liberal, Right or Left, Blue, Green, Red or White.

One life taken is too many. There is no excuse to open fire on innocent men and women; neither is there to place explosives on oneself and detonate in a crowded area. There is no excuse to use a machete as a weapon of choice to slay an innocent woman, pregnant with an unborn child. There is no excuse to take another’s life. Hatred around the globe has grown to an all-time high, and as a result innocent lives are being lost and families are being destroyed. We have become an unsafe world filled with hatred at every corner. This needs to be reversed; it must be reversed. We need to stop the venom of hate that is destroying our communities and families, and we have to start the healing so we can move on to live and let live.

On St. Maarten, believe it or not, we may be just 37 square miles of green hills with blue water surrounding our island. We may have serious economic problems and social issues that need attention. We may not have the best electricity company or the greatest politicians, with a crime rate at an unacceptable level. However, we are a perfect and prime example of different cultures, different religions, different races and different lifestyles living together as one in peace.

We have a Dutch side and a French side. We have residents and visitors from as far as the Orient and Australia, and as close as our neighbours across the border living together. We share moments together on New Year’s Eve. We compete and party together at events like Heineken Regatta. We drink, eat and experience life during our Carnival celebration/season.

We work hard together and help our neighbours during the Hurricane Season and times of natural disasters. During tragedy, we mourn and pray together. We argue politics and then turn around and laugh together.

Make no mistake about it, we are a unique island, unmatched when it comes to diversity yet being able to live in harmony. I pray that it remains that way. Let us be the little island the big countries can learn a lesson or two from, on how to live together.

Together on St. Maarten, We can lift up the World.

Armand Meda

First of all I would like to commend Minister Meyers for giving GEBE a deadline in regards to doing something about renewable energy. The truth is that the Honorable PM Marlin, MP Lake and former MP Marlin, now Board President and MP Wescot-Williams at some point have spoken in favor of solar power and other renewable energy.  The new head of the board former MP Roy Marlin went even further by drafting legislation when he was last in parliament,  so the deadline of 8/15 should be very easy to meet, all he needs to do is find the drawer in which the document was thrown in and ignored by all MPs and factions. Let’s hope this is not just political noise prior to the next election but actually a real move.  We all know the benefits of embracing solar but once again let me highlight a few I mentioned on my 2 letters to GEBE management and board and to the head of VROMI that went unanswered and ignored back in December 2015:

-It is good for the environment.

-By embracing and stimulating micro production from the clients that invest in solar the clients are the ones making the investment on the infrastructure instead of GEBE.  All GEBE has to do is use the new digital meters to determine how much they would like to pay for the excess energy produced by these clients.

-Job creation.  The solar industry can create jobs for the economy by incentivizing young professionals to go into the solar installation business since there would be a new demand for it.

-Provide an incentive program of rebates for clients deciding to invest in solar energy this will result in immediate results for those that have been considering making the move but were afraid since they knew that until today GEBE persecutes and penalizes solar clients instead of embracing them.

Roy please show the island that it was not just talk and that it can be done if we all work with the same goal in mind.

 Ricardo Perez