Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
HARBOUR VIEW--St. Maarten finally will have a new cabinet as of 3:00pm Friday when six new ministers are sworn in by Governor Eugene Holiday at his office.
The cabinet will be headed by veteran politician Marcel Gumbs as Prime Minister. He will also be ad interim Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI.
Current Justice Minister Dennis Richardson will continue in his post as well as serving as ad interim Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labour.
Finance Minister Martin Hassink also will continue in his post.
School Manager Rita A. Bourne-Gumbs will be Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports.
St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry Executive Director Claret M. Connor will be Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication.
Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary Josianne Artsen will be Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague.
Governor Holiday received the final report of formateur United People's (UP) party leader Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger on Wednesday.
The swearing-in of the cabinet comes some four months after the August 29 Parliamentary Elections.
The first coalition was formed by the National Alliance (NA), Democratic Party ((DP)) and United St. Maarten (US) party directly after the election results were announced in the early hours of August 30. This coalition fell apart a few weeks later without having named ministers.
The current coalition hit a snag when there were issues with the integrity and security screening of four of the minister candidates two weeks ago. That led to the addition of Hassink to continue in his post.
According to the Governor's Cabinet, Heyliger accepted the commission to form a new government that has a majority in Parliament and that consists of ministers "who are committed to the promotion of the wellbeing of St. Maarten" and dedicated to jointly execute the UP/I-2 Governing Accord, agreed on by the coalition partners UP and independent Members of Parliament Cornelius de Weever and Leona Marlin-Romeo.
The six ministers were nominated by Heyliger.
The vetting of the nominated prime minister, ministers and minister plenipotentiary, based on the pertinent regulations regarding the appointment of ministers, "has not produced any data that could impede their appointment and swearing-in," according to the Governor's Cabinet.
After the swearing-in ceremony, the governor and the newly appointed Ministers will hold the constituting meeting in Dr. A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall.
