Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
Dear Editor,
It is the first time in the history of St. Maarten that it has taken such a long time to form a government. Nevertheless, we are at a point where the country is in serious need of a government that will work in the interest of the people. The campaigns are over and now it is time to work for the people.
Since the instruction was given to the Governor of St. Maarten on October 17, 2014, the Parliament of St. Maarten has met on numerous occasions to debate this issue. During this debate many statements were made by many Members of Parliament, but the statement that stood out was the one made by the leader of the UP Party, Mr. Heyliger, where he stated that the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten should meet in St. Maarten to discuss the treatment of the Dutch towards the islands, and that part of the budget of Parlatino should be used to bring the other countries Members of Parliament to St. Maarten.
What is very ironic about this statement is that not too long ago the same Kingdom Council of Ministers issued an instruction to the Governor of Aruba not to sign the 2014 budget. Where St. Maarten then and what was her position on this issue? St. Maarten did not see it fit at that time to rub shoulders with their comrades in Aruba, and why should Aruba and Curaçao come to St. Maarten's aid at this time.
The leader of the UP, Mr. Heyliger should man up to his position as the leader of this country as did Mr. Eman in Aruba who went on a hunger strike in protest of the measure issued to the governor of that country. Nobody is asking Mr. Heyliger to go on a hunger strike for St. Maarten, in as much as he indicated that he has taken a lot of blows for this country already. We'll tackle this issue at a later date and time.
The OSPP is hereby issuing an instruction to Mr. Heyliger to form a delegation consisting of the leaders of the various political parties in Parliament to visit the First and Second Chambers in the Netherlands to present St. Maarten's case. During your presentation to these chambers you should challenge them to present you with facts that they may have about integrity issues regarding your performance in government or any other members who are slated to become ministers in the new cabinet.
But, before leaving to the Netherlands kindly finalise the task given to you as "formateur" and present the names of your proposed candidates to the governor for the various ministerial posts. Let them go through the present screening process and announce the names of those persons who have passed our screening process and let this be part of your presentation in the Netherlands.
St. Maarten needs a capable government now and one they have voted for, and we don't need a business cabinet that could come about because of the Kingdom Council of Ministers instruction to our governor.
A ship without a rudder is doomed to go ashore and the passengers will certainly perish. The people of St. Maarten have been suffering for too long and any further delays in forming the next government will result in this ship called Country St. Maarten going ashore on the rocks.
Lenny Priest, Leader
One St. Maarten People Party (OSPP)
