Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party ((DP)) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams said she will be lobbying her fellow opposition members to bring about an investigation by the General Audit Chamber into the security contract between St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies and Checkmate Security.
Wescot-Williams said that to get answers Parliament has the powerful instrument of a parliamentary enquiry as mandated by the Constitution, and outlined in a national ordinance. However, she will first lobby to get the audit chamber's investigation into Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor's "handling" of the security contract.
Two weeks ago, Connor had presented what had appeared to be a copy of the security contract for MPs to peruse during a meeting of Parliament's Permanent Committee for Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunication. The copy showed a price crossed out and another written in with pen.
Reacting to questions from MPs, Connor apologized for the confusion caused by the two prices on the contract, indicating that he penned in the second amount as a note and it should be disregarded.
Connor's apology and admission that the notation was made by him has "complicated the issue" and puts government "in the middle" of the security contract issue, said Wescot-Williams. This action is motivation enough for a call to the audit chamber to investigate Connor's handling of the issue.
Parliament has been asking questions about the contract for several months now, but has come up against a stone wall. MPs have not even been able to ascertain whether the proper procedures were followed in awarding the contract, or who the shareholders of the company are.
Government seems to have put off the submission of answers about the security contract between Harbour Group and Checkmate Security, Wescot-Williams said in a party press conference held in Parliament House on Thursday afternoon.
Connor had to submit answers to parliament's questions within two weeks. That period expired yesterday, Thursday, and nothing had been received by Wescot-Williams at the time of the press conference.
Parliament consultation
Wescot-Williams will travel to the Netherlands in the coming days as part of the delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation IPKO. She called for government and parliament to refocus their efforts to be on the same line on issues to be more effective in the future.
Dutch Kingdom Affairs Minister Ronald Plasterk has recently stated that trade agreements will be discussed at the upcoming Kingdom Conference that will be attended by all governments in the Kingdom.
Trade is an area the IPKO is slated to discuss, she pointed out. The way the system is set up, the MPs will have to come back and ask government its trade stance, while it really should be that MPs and government are fully informed and have a collective stance for the betterment of the country, she said.
Similarly, government and Parliament have to look into the adoption of the competition regulation. The country, unlike Aruba and Curacao, is not ready with a competition regulation to standardize open and fair public bidding, among other areas.
Wescot-Williams called on government to update Parliament about the progress to establish competition regulations.
Many areas covered by IPKO's agenda and that of the Kingdom Conference are "overlapping," said Wescot-Williams. "It is a pity Parliament has not been able to sit with government and synchronize approaches."
Cohesion between government and Parliament is also very much needed on the push for the establishment of a dispute regulation for the kingdom, she said. It is clear that the Dutch Government and the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament are one line. "If St. Maarten wants to act strong ... government and Parliament need a clear agenda."
Integrity law
Wescot-Williams said she was still baffled by government dropping its hot pursuit to get Parliament to pass the national ordinance to establish an integrity chamber. She recalled that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Justice Minister Dennis Richardson were "peeved" that Parliament appeared to be dragging its feet on the law. It has been almost a month since government was to be back in Parliament with the law and nothing has happened.
Quarterly reports
Finance Minister Martin Hassink has informed Wescot-Williams that he will not deliver monthly financial reports on government's revenues and expenditures, but stick to delivery of the legally required quarterly reports to Parliament. The first quarter report should be sent to Parliament this month.
The MP had asked the minister to present monthly reports in the debate on the budget earlier this year. The reports, whether monthly or quarterly, are "an important instrument" for parliamentary oversight.
Wescot-Williams intends to continue to press the chairman of the Parliament's Permanent Finance Committee to hold meetings on the 2013 annual reports of government-owned companies. She had been pursuing meetings for the longest while to no avail.
"I will continue to sit on this matter," she said, adding that past lawmakers did not put in the law that annual reports should come to Parliament "just to put them in a drawer."
Opt out
Wescot-Williams has once again opted out of attending a committee meeting of the Latin American Parliament Parlatino. The committee of which she is a member is slated to meet from June 5-7 in Cuba.
After reviewing the agenda, the MP said there was nothing on it that was "of significance to St. Maarten." Therefore, she has "politely declined" to attend.
(DP) fraction advisor Emil Lee said it was laudable that Wescot-Williams opted not to attend the meeting. She is being "fiscally responsible" with this, more so, as Parliament has not yet balanced its budget for 2015, he said.
