SXMElections.com

CUL DE SAC--The owners of Industry and Golden Rock Plantations, commonly called Emilio Wilson Estate (EWE), want to know from Parliament, in particular the United People's (UP) party, when the amendments to the 2014 budget that includes the funds to purchase a significant portion of EWE will be handled by Parliament.

Owners met with the Council of Ministers on July 10 and agreed they would still consider the payback of US $1.5 million to government from the sale price for community projects, if the budget amendment were passed through Parliament by today, August 15.

The amendment originally was scheduled for handling on June 30, but the meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament never took place due to lack of a quorum. That meeting has not been reconvened to date in spite of the Rules of Order stipulating that a meeting without a quorum has to be rescheduled and held within four times 24 hours.

The owners asked President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell on August 8 why a second meeting had not been convened, according to information from their attorney. They never received a reply.

The owners also approached the UP faction leader in Parliament to clarify why the party had chosen not to sign in for the meeting, but were refused an explanation other than, "The UP party's presence is not required to handle the budget amendment."

The owners queried whether the meeting had not been rescheduled "because the UP party doesn't want to handle the budget amendment to protect the environment and the people's heritage."

The owners had offered a donation of $1 million for charity purposes in return for a speedy execution of the sale and purchase agreement prior to July 15. Environment Minister Maurice Lake requested a payback of $1.5 million, which was accepted by owners under the specific condition that they would receive a down-payment before July 31. To meet that condition, Finance Minister Martin Hassink "agreed to handle the amendment to the budget before June 30."

The owners questioned whether the purchase of the plantations was the reason for UP "to frustrate the handling of the budget amendment." They pointed out that UP leader Theo Heyliger, in his post then as Environment Minister, had come to an agreement with them on a purchase, but never had signed the agreement.

In September 2013, Heyliger initiated a meeting, attended by Lake and Hassink in which an agreement was reached that government would purchase an additional two hectares from the remaining six hectares that owners were to keep, the owners said, "So, on the one hand the UP party for years has been negotiating and agreeing on purchasing the Emilio Wilson Estate, whereas on the other hand it lets all possibilities go by to formalise such purchase."

The owners said they were "astonished" that nature groups, green activists, political parties and some media that had "vigorously protested" in the past against the plantations' development were "not raising their voices about this whole affair" of the stalled purchase by government.

"In the past, monies were the issue to buy the land and now that the CFT [Committee for Financial Supervision – Ed.] has given its green light for the purchase, these groups remain deafeningly silent," they said.