Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
THE HAGUE--"Does the government consider the maintenance of law and the other judicial parts in the document part of the Integrity Chamber? If not, why are those agreements part and parcel of the protocol regarding an Integrity Chamber?" was one of several questioned posed by Democratic Party ((DP)) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a letter to the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet via Chairman of Parliament Dr. Lloyd Richardson on Thursday.
Wescot-Williams was referring to the protocol signed between the Dutch and St. Maarten Governments on the establishment of an Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten and assistance with law enforcement from the Dutch Government on Saturday evening.
Wescot-Williams said she had only "informally and, more so, via via" received an unsigned copy of the document.
In the considerations of the protocol it is stated that the two governments have agreed to a draft of the national ordinance Integrity Chamber and an amendment. The MP questioned "which draft and which amendment" were agreed to.
"Is it the same draft that Parliament was so critical of and to which the Democratic Party proposed several changes? Were these changes taken up? How will the Government live up to the agreement to advance the acceptance of this law by the Parliament of St. Maarten? Does the Government have the approval of Parliament for such?" she asked in her letter.
"Where does the Government believe it gets the right to thwart the Parliament's right of amendment in an agreement with the government of another country in the Kingdom? What is the partition and or division of cost for the Integrity Chamber between the government of the Netherlands and that of St. Maarten? ... Whose interpretation (definition) is that of 'undermining (ondermijnende) criminality,' as explained in a footnote of the protocol in question?"
The MP requested a copy of the agreement between the government and "the locally appointed quartermaster."
Wescot-Williams has requested answers from government "post-haste" to finalise her faction's position on the protocol.
