Dear Editor,

St. Maarten Nature Foundation released the results from a survey concerning the dump fires and the effects of the smoke. As expected the results show that up to 73 per cent suffered from burning eyes, noses and or throats and up to 50 per cent experienced problems breathing and uncontrolled coughing. I was a part of the fifty per cent. This came from approximately 500 people who responded to the survey.

Now, while I continued pressing the Honorable Minister of Health, Mr. Emil Lee on social media, to take the initiative and do something like finding a temporary solution so we do not have to go through this unhealthy predicament, the Treasurer of the Democratic Party pretty much lashed out and stated what Emil Lee said in previous comments concerning the Running & Stagnant Waste in public streets and private yards, and that all of this and the Landfill do not fall under portfolio of the Minister of Health.

However, with clear results as this, that the smoke indeed is affecting people’s health, the question is, how can anyone continue with the tone that this does not fall under the portfolio of the Minister of Health? Sure, Landfill is under the Ministry of VROMI, however, there are times that a specific issue can crossover to another minister’s portfolio.  

I’ve been saying this since February concerning the waste water. True, the Minister of Health admitted this has crossed over to his portfolio, but on that same day DP’s Treasurer’s “Nonsense” comment was posted in a response to my Facebook post. You have to wonder just how much “teamwork” there is within the Democratic Party.

Let us focus on the People of St. Maarten and the unhealthy situations we have to live through that could turn into an unfortunate epidemic, due to lack of interest and enthusiasm to work on a solution to benefit the people. Not at election time when they’ll come to you and say “If you elect me I’ll do it for you,” no, we want it fixed right now. You are in Government. Unfortunately, right now, the Kimsha Parking Lot seems to be so much more important to this “hap-hazard crisis management” type of Government.

Now, I am being challenged by DP Board Member Mr. Q. Marlin “to put my money where my mouth is” by bringing solutions to the table and working together with the government for a better community. I’ve decided not to wait any longer, but take Mr. Marlin’s challenge head on. Matter of fact, I’ll go further and invite the Hon. Minister of Health, Mr. Emil Lee to join me and let’s take a walk into several districts that are affected not just by the smoke from the Landfill fires, but also the constant running waste, that becomes stagnant in some yards.

I’ve done this on several occasions, whether it’s a quick walk-through or visiting homes and speaking directly to those who have already suffered for too long. I do hope the Minister will take time out of his schedule to join me, let’s get the Minister a real life look at what’s taking place in the various communities.

With that said, it is important for you to know that with or without the Democratic Party’s Minister, I’ll continue to visit these districts, I’ll continue to listen to the people, like I’ve been doing since September 2015.

I am ready to Lift UP St. Maarten together.

Armand Meda

Dear Editor,

Let me start with the consensus. “Parliament has to convene meetings to determine who is a St. Maartener before the very next elections.” I have been getting reactions from a whole lot of people especially those who have lived on St. Maarten for years and have children born here as well as the French side.

The majority of them have similar stories. They are treated like foreigners when they go back home, especially if they have a Dutch passport. In their country, which they left and came to St. Maarten to make money and send back home to help their families and help build up, they are treated like strangers. If I am not mistaken one of the problems of the Caricom countries is migration between the member countries.

By now we know that no matter which government you support, if things are good in the country it is good for everyone. The same goes for the contrary – if things are bad in the country it is usually bad for everyone, which brings me to the question what would be the difference between a Member of Parliament who did not get re-elected and a person who lost his job.

My answer to that is the reason for the difference in compensation. I will always be against that policy, because none and I will repeat none of those Members of Parliament could prove to me that they have worked the equivalent of 40 hours per week during their tenure as a Member of Parliament; contrary to the average 12 hours a day of the average workman.

Government should know that that one per cent story is hogwash. If we are contemplating independence, we definitely have to determine who is a St. Maartener. I would suggest that voters especially start demanding from government to begin the process now. Yes, before elections because we are sick and tired of election promises which are never complied with and we are also not accepting the fall of the different governments as a reason for non-compliance.

There are several models as we know, and government should invite all who desire to submit their model of “who is a St. Maartener” before June 15, 2016, in order to get the process in an acceptable advance stage or completed before the elections.

I hope that that bloggers and twitters would jump on the band wagon and decide not to vote for anyone if nothing is done to determine “who is a St. Maartener.” This is vital for the future of especially the young people of St. Maarten.

Beware I am not talking about independence that is going to take a while; I am talking about government determining who is a St. Maartener in order for “the St. Maartener” to be counted in his country, starting with the labour department doing the right thing when it comes to salaries for locals as opposed to those who accept less than the minimum wage. When foreigners, who have lived here for years and have acquired a Dutch passport, want for the St. Maarten people to take back St. Maarten I also think it is time.

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Mr. Editor,

On April 26, 2016, Minister of Justice Edison Kirindongo along with representatives of the various unions that represent the civil servants working in the Justice Ministry appeared in Parliament to respond to the questions posed to him on the insurance policy for police officers.

Minister Kirindongo showed the Members of Parliament a PowerPoint of what he has been doing in order to have a suitable insurance package for the justice workers. He said that the unions in collaboration with his Ministry already selected an insurance company that will provide insurance for the justice workers.

The cost of the insurance policy will be NAF. 35.00 per worker per month a total of NAF. 420.00 per year per employee. Coverage for all justice workers will cost the Ministry NAF. 19,250.00 monthly for the 550 workers in the Justice Ministry, which brings it to NAF. 231,000.00 yearly.

The Minister was given credit by most Members of Parliament for being able to work with the unions and to find a reasonable solution to provide life insurance for justice workers who place their lives on the line on a daily basis.

I very much support the Justice Ministry in having a suitable insurance for personnel that put their lives at risk in the line of duty, but I have a couple of issues.

1) This should have been done for the Ambulance and Fire Department personnel also. How does this insurance compare to what the Ambulance and Fire Department has?

2) This insurance goes beyond the civil servants that put their lives at risk in the line of duty in the Justice Ministry; it also includes the rest of the personnel in the Justice Ministry. What about the rest of the civil servants in the other ministries? There seems to be an imbalance within the Government structure.

The Council of Ministers should realize that upon approving this insurance for the Justice Ministry it will create an imbalance within the government organization and also could have legal implications for government from the civil service. I would advise the Council of Ministers to think very carefully on approving this insurance as is.

Jason Peterson

Dear Editor,

I know that it is usually said if you do not bend the tree when it is small you have to chop it down when it is big. My philosophy is we can prune it and often times the garden looks good. I believe the same for the youth.

Where do we start? I am thinking on those of us who call in on talk shows. Could we not start by dedicating time in bigging up those who are involved in “Shoot hoops and not guns” and continue doing so just as we are constantly, (what I consider wasting time), talking about our inconsiderate if not incompetent politicians. I am sure if all of those talk show hosts go back in their archives they will only find five or six topics that are not the same.

Now I will go out on a limb and declare that every mature person on St. Maarten is either a mother or a father. Meaning that we should stop wasting valuable time that we can dedicate to raising, disciplining, educating our children on, I would candidly say it, useless politicians. Probably if we do that then we will be on our way in forming a society of which we do not have to open the newspapers anticipating negative local news.

Meeting on medical Marijuana to determine who is going to get the biggest cut from the profits? What about all those other drugs that are prescribed, did the ingredients have to be legalized before they were approved. I thought it had to be proven that they would cure the disease or sickness and you would be advised of the side effects. I did not know the ingredients had to be legalized. If that is so why do we have to reinvent the wheel; this is being done and accepted for centuries.

I stand to be corrected on all of this but if I have understood well when advertisement is made for a new drug or medicine, the side effects are mentioned and not the legality. So are we beginning another avenue by starting to legalize everything in order to be able to continue greasing palms. Should we not start by determining who is a St. Maartener so that if we decide to legalize Marijuana that at the least it will only be farmed by St. Maarteners so that at least the money will stay on St. Maarten and that we would be able to limit whatever is to be limited to St. Maarteners. When we determine who is a St. Maartener we can determine which jobs or permits are limited to St. Maarteners, for instance public transportation. And as I always mention, a transition period can be added to every law that is made or changed.

Legalizing Marijuana, who are we fooling? We should let Government know that they should not waste our time and money trying to legalize something that is already legal because it is widely used by both public and law enforcement. People, get up in the morning, say thank you to the creator, give your children a hug and kiss them, tell them that you love them, have good advice for them, encourage them to learn well, teach them good manners.

Let us big up shoot hoops, start demanding organizations like the YMCA, whose motto is to develop mind, body and spirit. By the way, Government should organize public transportation by starting to lay out bus stops and bus routes. When the public is guaranteed transportation to and from their destination by Government most of the gypsy problems will be over. The tax department could also help because these people rent cars daily to do their gypsy work so they earn a good dollar, which is not fair to the legal bus drivers. Because Government does not want to interfere with those bus permit holders, Government is up to its old tricks again. Trying to employ the hackers to stop them from hacking Government. A otro perro con ese hueso.

Russell A. Simmons