SXMElections.com

Dear Editor,

As we walk through the streets of our country, we encounter diverse groups with varied interests. Some are defending one position or the other from bits and pieces they picked up from our on again mostly off again parliamentary meetings, and depending on their colour they take their arguments to the hilt. While this might seem quite interesting as it portends to promote democracy and most importantly our God-given freedom of speech, and right to be part of any legal body established here.

However, because of the immaturity of our parliament, these person-to-person disputes sometimes become very divisive, pitting ordinary citizens against each other without the benefit of factual information. What I find anecdotal and even cliché is their query of “how is the country running”. In some cases it’s just rhetorical, but some people, erroneously believing that you speak to some people you are in the know, really want to be apprised of the state of the country.

Truthfully I am not privy to the happenings in government; the people I speak to are very introverted and keep anything they know to themselves. And because of the lack of regular press conferences and the constant postponing of meetings for lack of a quorum, I am left wondering the same thing. So I decided to do a check on what’s obvious to all and conclude as follows: Since our parliament can’t get it together after five years, something is seriously wrong. If parliament has to continue harassing the directors of government NVs, while the Board of Directors and the shareholder representative can’t or refuse to provide information, then we are on the wrong track.

If after all these meetings with our counterparts on the French side, we can’t agree to at least commit to one joint project that would benefit our people, e.g. garbage gasification or an inter island sewage plant, we are not there yet. And lest we forget, there are still obstacles on the north side that prevent us from securing gainful employment there; reciprocity is still a dream we are far apart on what’s important. When we hold meetings with all stake holders and can’t come up with a formula to insure employment for our young people, we are on the wrong track.

After years of speaking of abuse of the short-term contract and the counterpart system, we still can’t produce anything concrete. And as we may know, it is taboo to even consider a quota system, for as they put it, our university doesn’t produce enough salesmen and women to sell on Front Street and Back Street. After complaining for years in futility and hearing from the hegemonic Dutch that it was an Antillean affair, today we are burdened with building our country from scratch with no input, but many threats and imposition from across the pond, boy, we in deep problems.

If all we can hear from the council of ministers is about a perpetual battle being carried on by the minister of justice against the Dutch re-colonization, while the others act like Pontius Pilot and wash their hands. When after years of having the board walk, the airport, the port and the causeway, we still believe it is money wrongly spent, while we are humanly unable to stay away from these amenities, well we still a little short.

And finally, if our leaders’ names keep coming up in unsavoury behaviour, and they don’t react and let it just live a life of its own, then I say to you while we are no quadriplegic, we are somewhat handicapped. At the very best, I can tell you our country is not running, it’s simply walking and may I add very slowly to nowhere.

Elton Jones