Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake has issued a call to his coalition partners that it is "high time" the two missing ministers be appointed to the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet "to get this country moving."
The Gumbs Cabinet, sworn in in December 2014, has had two ministers carrying double portfolios. While this is not unacceptable under the Constitution, which does not state that each ministry must be led by a separate and different minister, Lake said the additional two ministers were needed.
"It has been eight months [since the parliamentary elections – Ed.] and we need to set our priorities in order. We need to get back on track to move this country forward together as representatives of the people. Are we listening to the cries of our people?" Lake questioned in a press statement on Thursday.
The first-term MP said he knew some of his colleagues would not like his statement, "but I got to take a stand for the people who call me and are asking what is going on."
The UP-led coalition needs to "appoint the remaining ministers" and the Council of Ministers needs to start "executing our priorities," because "currently nothing is happening other than talking integrity and questioning each other in Parliament," Lake said.
The coalition MPs have to set the priorities for the appointed ministers. "Sometimes, we make the ministers feel that we are working for them," said Lake.
He wants to see the Council of Ministers adopt some of his main priorities: upgrading the hospital, creating work and providing incentives for businesses, building a solid waste facility and other projects in the draft Governing Programme.
