Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - More questions are being asked about the details of the Integrity Chamber agreement which was signed in The Hague last Saturday.
The agreement was signed between St. Maarten's Minister of Justice, the Honorable Dennis Richardson and the Dutch Government.
Many members of Parliament have expressed their disapproval about the manner in which the agreement was signed and the impact it will have on the authority of the island's highest legislative body, the Parliament of St. Maarten.
On Thursday night the leader of the Democratic Party, MP the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams sent a letter to the President of Parliament, the Honorable Dr. Lloyd Richardson questioning among others just how the responsibility of the maintenance of Law and Order became part of the signed Integrity Chamber document.
The full text of the letter containing the questions of the DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams on the subject, can be read below.
Honorable Chairperson of Parliament, During my stay in the Netherlands, I have been apprised of the protocol agreed upon between the governments of St. Maarten and the Netherlands respectively. This document is alleged to have been signed on behalf of the 2 governments on May 24th last. I say alleged, because it is only informally and more so via via, that I have received an unsigned copy of the document in question. Permit me, via your person as chairperson of Parliament to ask the government the following questions related to the above: The protocol regards "the establishment, organizing, functioning and financing of an integrity chamber on St. Maarten". Question: 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? In the considerations, the 2 governments have agreed to a draft of the national ordinance Integrity chamber and an amendment thereto... Question: which draft and which amendment have the 2 governments 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? Question: 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? Question: 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? Question: Please provide the agreement between the government and the locally appointed "quarter master". Question: What is the partition and or division of cost for the integrity chamber between the government of the Netherlands and that of St. Maarten? Question: Whose interpretation(definition) is that of undermining (ondermijnende) criminality, as explained in a footnote of the protocol in question? I kindly request answers to these questions post haste to finalize my faction's position on this matter.
