Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--How long does it take to make amendments requested by Members of Parliament (MPs) to the draft national ordinance to establish an Integrity Chamber for the country, Democratic Party ((DP)) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams questioned on Wednesday.
Her enquiry follows a statement from Justice Minister Dennis Richardson on Tuesday about the amendments. He told The Daily Herald Government "is studying the presented amendments" and formulating "its position on them."
"Is Government reluctant to tell the coalition, if they insist on certain changes, that we should brace ourselves for an Integrity Chamber established by the Kingdom Government with no input from St. Maarten? I, for one, will have a serious issue with that," Wescot-Williams told this newspaper.
She maintained that Parliament and Government "should do our work and do so with haste" to get the Integrity Chamber law properly amended and adopted by Parliament into law.
Wescot-Williams and independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo have called for Government to present the amendments to Parliament as soon as possible, even this month although Parliament is in recess.
As for the Dutch Kingdom Government, Wescot-Williams hopes there will be "a clearer view of the stance of the Kingdom Government on these developments," by Friday. The Kingdom Council of Ministers is scheduled to have a final meeting on Friday before the annual summer recess.
Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk stated during a debate in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on July 2 that there would be consequences for St. Maarten now that it had failed to meet the June 30 deadline to approve a national ordinance and establish the Integrity Chamber.
"Let there be no mistake: St. Maarten will be kept to the agreement," stated Plasterk.
Whether this means the general kingdom measure against St. Maarten will be put back on the table and whether it will be on the agenda of Friday's meeting is not known, because the agenda is held as confidential. That measure sought to give the Dutch Government the authority to establish its proposed chamber for St. Maarten country.
Wescot-Williams asked, "By the way, who will be charged with the execution of the Kingdom measure? [Will it be – Ed.] the Governor by means of an instruction?"
"Minister Plasterk, just a few months ago, expressed his confidence in Prime Minister Gumbs and his cabinet. The Dutch Minister should now prove that he meant that," she said. "Unfortunately, we have no indication what the Dutch minister's reaction was to the information that St. Maarten's Parliament will handle the law in August and that there are several proposed amendments. One would get the impression that the Dutch could not care less that we are 'busy' with our own trajectory."
