Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party ((DP)) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams has "opted out" of attending meetings of the Latin American Parliament Parlatino slated for May.
Wescot-Williams said at a (DP) press conference at Parliament House on Monday that she had decided not to attend the meetings.
She called for Parliament "to discuss the effectiveness of the meetings" and the benefit to the country. "We need to scrutinise this as Parliament," she said.
Wescot-Williams has attended Parlatino meetings in the past. Her current stance comes after her repeated calls for Parliament to review its 2015 budget that was scaled back by Government to allow for a balanced country budget.
In the last parliamentary term, now-former (DP) parliamentarian Roy Marlin had called for a cut to the budget allotment for Parlatino travel. He had suggested the money be reassigned and used for legal assistance to Parliament.
The faction leaders of Parliament will meet today, Tuesday, to discuss the 2016 budget for the legislature.
Wescot-Williams also called for an urgent meeting of Parliament's Finance Committee. Chief to be attended to are the annual reports of government-owned companies. "I believe this committee needs to get cracking," she said.
During the press conference Wescot-Williams also reiterated her suggested amendments to the draft law to establish an Integrity Chamber for the country. She has requested in her letter to government, among other points, a better definition of integrity breaches, especially "informal informational network." This network, as government terms it, is more describing culture, rather than an integrity breach.
After many queries from MPs in the meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament last week, Government has removed the date of 10-10-10 as the date from which the Integrity Chamber, once established, can begin its research. However, that removal has left the situation "open ended" about the starting point of the Chamber, said Wescot-Williams.
Government can deviate from the Chamber's advices, according to the draft law. Wescot-Williams called for more "built-in" checks and balances to be put in the law.
While Government has signalled its intention to remove the Council on Law Enforcement as the Chamber's supervising body, Wescot-Williams has included the need to change this in her letter, as a matter of record.
She also has recommended in her letter that Government facilitate "more frequent" reporting to Parliament by the Chamber, in particular during the start-up phase. In the law, the Chamber is to give Parliament biannual reports.
Wescot-Williams said she has called on government "to don't rush it" on getting the law approved, due to the shortcomings of the draft law. The law is awaiting Parliament's approval.
Government needs to better explain the role of the Ombudsman and how it relates or not to the Integrity Chamber. Wescot-Williams said this was necessary, as many people were interested in understanding the process better.
She also called on Government to address concerns about needed regulations, as pointed out by the ombudsman in a letter to Government recently. That letter was copied to Parliament.
She said she was "not amused with the explanation of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs about why the governing programme of the United People's (UP) party-led coalition is still not ready."
Gumbs told Parliament last week Monday that the coalition had been on "an expansion drive" and with new additions came new changes to the programme. Wescot-Williams said that in spite of Gumbs' claim, the expansion had not yet produced a full cabinet of seven ministers.
(DP) intends "to reach out" to stakeholders in the public transportation sector to help "guide its position" on needed changes, said party advisor Emil Lee, who was at the press conference with Wescot-Williams. The same approach will be used to gather information on changes to the country's beach policy.
Wescot-Williams said she still was pursuing electoral reform, a path on which she started during her time as prime minister. A legal advisor is again revising her suggestions for reform.
Government is still lagging behind on supplying a number of answers on issues such as St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies' security contract, the counterpart policy, St. Maarten Tourism Authority and the Corporate Governance Council's advice regarding board members for St. Maarten Laboratory Services (SLS).
