Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG:--- The notion that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and the other members of the council of ministers gave reporters on Thursday is nothing but farce when he said that the only thing that would bring the stability to the country is new elections. Calling for new elections now after the Gumbs cabinet was fired by motion of no confidence is just fighting fire with fire because there is no guarantee that new elections will solve the problems of instability in government which country has been facing for years now.How can anyone assure the people of St. Maarten that new elections will curb this problem when politicians in parliament and government chose not to amend the constitution of St. Maarten, the only weapon which would stop politicians from jumping left, right and center when their personal needs cannot be met by their party leaders? History has shown that politicians would leave their party and drop the government even when the island was part of the Netherlands Antilles, yet no one saw it fit to plug the hole when they were writing the constitution for country St. Maarten. The way it is right now even if new elections is held and one political party manage to get ten seats there is no guarantee three or more of them will not jump ship when they are not happy, so to stand boldly and tell the people that new elections will solve the problem is nothing but farce from a Prime Minister who wants to fight fire with fire after his cabinet has been fired.The statements above might be harsh but it’s time for the voters and the people of St. Maarten be told the truth since most of them do not read their own laws and tend to believe what they are told by politicians and or elected officials that are earning a huge salary while building their pensions on the backs of the people who could hardly survive or pay their bills at the end of each month.One must realize that St. Maarten owed millions of guilders to SZV and APS thus causing the Kingdom Council of Ministers to issue an instruction to the government of St. Maarten to settle its arrears within a specific time frame. It is known that both APS and SZV are working with government towards finding a solution for the debts owed to them, one being “selling the government building†on Pond Island to either of the insurance entities. Doing so will only offset government’ debts by 40M guilders because that is the market value of the building as is right now. However, government still have to find other ways to settle its debts, maybe by giving these entities much needed land for them to build their own buildings for both SZV and APS.Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs said new elections or new government will cost the country monies. Well the current cabinet consisting of eight Ministers have six Ministers that are already on pension. This cabinet does not have one year in office as yet, so sending them home will not cost the country one red cent since those six Ministers will not be entitled to a salary or extra pension monies. Of the two other Ministers one is a civil servant who could return to her job at any moment while the other is from the private sector. His job is still reserved at the Chamber of Commerce. So based on that information the only thing that will cost St. Maarten extra monies is the new elections the Gumbs cabinet wants in a year that is not an election year with no monies is in the 2015 budget for new elections.The move by the eight Members of Parliament came as a surprise to everyone, however, most of us know that these MPs were not at all happy and they were working on moving away. When SMN News wrote that negotiations were taking place we were accused of “yellow journalism†seemly the yellow journalism has become real investigative journalism because what we said was happening finally materialized on Wednesday on the floor of parliament. As a warning to those that are now forming a new government it is imperative that the new government if given the chance, should put their own interest aside and work in the interest of the people, provide jobs for the youths that they so often talk about and create a safer environment with safety and security.The move on Wednesday by the Members of Parliament already hit the Chief of the National Police of the Netherlands who resigned on Thursday morning. Hopefully, the Attorney General of Curacao, St. Maarten and BES Guus Schram will follow his friend Bouman.Hopefully, the incoming Members of Parliament would consider filing a case with the United Nations against the Netherlands for arbitration in order for the United Nations to intervene and mediate in the disputes St. Maarten has with the Netherlands, since there is no dispute committee in place to settle the disputes St. Maarten has with the Netherlands then the only place left to deal with these matters is the United Nations.For those that those that does not understand the meaning of the word arbitration then below is the definition from dictionary.comnoun1.the hearing and determining of a dispute or the settling of differences between parties by a person or persons chosen or agreed to by them:Rather than risk a long strike, the union and management agreed to arbitration.2.International Law. the application of judicial methods to the settlement of international disputes.
