Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
St. Maarten – “A vote for Frans (Richardson – ed.) and the US Party is a vote for another unstable Romain Laville government,†Terry Peterson, the number 8 candidate on the list of the United People’s party (UP)  stated in a press release yesterday. Peterson observed “that the dejected Laville has been circulating the media and misleading the community of St. Maarten that he is not running, when in fact he has subtly repackaged and rebranded himself in his parliamentary staff member, US Party candidate #7.†The candidate Peterson refers to is Richinel Brug. Laville has indeed promoted Brug on Facebook.
“You will recall that the night of the Calypso Coup April 28, 2012, Frans Richardson (aptly clothed in his US, New York shirt) and Romain Laville held hands and celebrated the fall of government,†Peterson added.
“They were celebrating that the coffers of government were about to be depleted of our hard earned US dollars making it difficult to increase the minimum wage and old age pension, and tough to pay teachers or to bring relief to the people. At the beginning of 2012, before the UP was thrown out of government, St. Maarten’s liquidity position stood at 84 million guilders. By the time the NA/Frans/Laville government fell, government coffers were down to 18 million guilders. Where did the money go? Just like the disappearing asphalt at the airport and sand at the pond, nobody knows. What do we have to show for it? Nada,†Peterson notes..
Peterson further stated that as they celebrated, “Frans and Laville would later issue an instruction to their appointed Minister to fill the eastern part of the salt pond for a drag strip, a place which had been designated as a historical monument. As they celebrated our tax dollars were being flushed down the toilet of neglectfulness to satisfy their personal greed.â€
Every time government fell its cost us nearly 2 million guilders. SXM also lost approximately 1.5 million guilders due to uncollected road taxes because of their ill-conceived road tax collection policy, Peterson stated. “During the same period newspapers were reporting soaring inflation in consumer prices and basic food items, as prices went up by 4% and the average price level in St. Maarten was almost 17 per cent higher than in Curaçao and almost two per cent more expensive than Bonaire. To top it off they were asking almost 200 million for a tunnel after we were already saddled with $96,000 monthly for a parliament building in which they hardly show up for work.â€
Peterson now wonders who could you trust to make the right decisions for the economy and establish the right conditions so that small business and citizens can grow and invest. “I agree that the past 4 years of Frans/Laville should definitely not look like the next four years of more Frans/Laville. I am ready and committed to not let this sad chapter of political and economic instability in our history repeat itself. Voting for the US Party and Frans Richardson is another term for Romain Laville. We do not need another unstable 4th advent of Frans/Laville cloned in US Party candidate #7.  We can do better. And when better is possible, even good is not enough.â€
