Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG:--- Denisio Conner a senior civil servant for the Government of St. Maarten for the past 20 years has decided to postulate himself for the Presidency of the Windward Islands Civil Servants and Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU). The election is slated for Friday May 29th 2015 at the WICSU/PSU head office on Walter Nisbeth Road from 7am to 4 pm.Running alongside Conner is Henrietta Doran York, someone that has been in the political arena for years and has even served as deputy Minister of Plenipotentiary. However Doran York does not have any experience in Unionism compared to Conner who has been a member of the WICSU/PSU for over 18 years, ten of which he spent as member of the GOA.Conner said that one of the main reasons he postulated for the Presidency of the union is to save the WICSU/PSU from further detriment. He said that the incumbent president who cannot postulate for the presidency has destroyed the credibility of the union and is even accused of stealing from the union. He said the current board members is a clan that was chosen by the incumbent president who sent a letter to the former Minister of Labor claiming that she vacated her position as president in order to take up a position she was offered at the Department of Labor. Connefurther stated that some of the board members of the WICSU/PSU are related to the incumbent president.Recently the General Secretary of the WICSU/PSU and former President William Reed penned a letter to Derie Leonard which was copied to all members of the board and the Minister of Justice. In the letter Reed outlined several discrepancies that took place during Leonard's tenure. One being mismanagement which led to GEBE disconnecting electricity from WISCU/PSU office. Reed further stated in his letter to Leonard that funds she accumulated during various fundraisings was not turned over to the WICSU/PSU and neither was it deposited in the union's account. Items the WICSU/PSU purchased for a planned Bingo which was to be held on the island of Statia disappeared, thus leaving him no choice but to ask her to resign immediately. The letter sent to Leonard was the second letter given to her since she held the post as president. The first one addressed missing funds from the WICSU/PSU. Connor said that since Leonard and the other members of the board cannot postulate they recruited Doran- York in order to hold on to the power of the union but that he said will not work because the membership of WICSU/PSU are totally unaware of what was happening to the monies they paid as union dues.Even though that letter was given to Leonard and the entire board Leonard chose to stay on as the President of the WICSU/PSU and has decided to call for elections even though she did not put an election committee in place when the election was called the first time around and even up to today because she is the one that sent out the notification to the members informing them of the election and not the election committee. While the election will go ahead on May 29th 2015 it is totally illegal based on the union's bylaws. One of the reasons Connor said this happened is because Reed recently underwent a surgery and he could not be in office to handle the affairs of the WICSU/PSU.
Click here to read the letters sent to incumbent President Derie Leonard and her board.
