SXMElections.com

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Members of Parliament that makes up the new coalition has submitted another request to parliament to call an urgent meeting to deal with what they describe as the illegal act by Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever. Shortly after the meeting of Parliament was closed by MP Cornelius de Weever on Tuesday morning, the three political leaders namely William Marlin, Sarah Wescot Williams and Frans Richardson spoke to members of the media that were present in parliament. MP Wescot Williams said that MP Cornelius de Weever made his position as vice chair of parliament available because he did not want to chair a meeting. She said on Tuesday morning all members of parliament including those making up the new coalition learnt that the chairman of parliament along with the two vice chairs made their positions available to the parliament of St. Maarten.
Wescot Williams further explained MP Cornelius de Weever  used the excuse to making his position available last week was because he did not want to chair a meeting prior to Tuesday’s meeting. She said when the chair and vice chairs are not present then the next person that had to chair the meeting would have been MP Johan Janchi Leonard since he has the longest time of service and the oldest, however, MP Leonard did not attend that meeting. Wescot Williams said at that moment the next person that had to take the chair was MP George Pantophlet who opened the meeting but it could not take place due to a lack of quorum.
Wescot Williams said on Tuesday morning the second vice chair who already made his position available took the chair opened the meeting and then closed it citing article 37 of the rules of order." MP Cornelius de Weever referred to a decision taken by the Government as a national ordinance which is not a national ordinance, MP De Weever said that he has taken note of a draft national ordinance to dissolve the parliament of St. Maarten, thus he is seeking legal clarification. The question I have now is from whom the MP is seeking legal clarification, another question that has to be answered the decision sent to the governor to dessolve parliament was not ratified by the Governor of St. Maarten."
Wescot Williams said that the Parliament of St. Maarten did not give any mandate to MP De Weever to seek clarification. Wescot Williams further explained that the use of article 37 of the rules of order can only be used in the interest of the order of the meeting or in the interest of the proceedings. She said on Tuesday morning the meeting did not start. Wescot Williams said that the chair is not an independent person but one that represents the parliament and instead of giving the Members of Parliament a chance to react on what he was about to do he closed the meeting until further notice. The leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament said what transpired on Tuesday morning was an illegal act that is hindering the functioning of parliament. She further stated that what the second vice chair did was he brought what the government has been doing by not tendering their resignation and brought it to parliament one she described as a misuse of power and authority.
Member of Parliament and Leader of National Alliance in his address endorsed the statements made by MP Wescot Williams. Marlin said on one end the chairs of parliament are acknowledging there is a new majority in parliament but on the other hand they rise above the decision of the Council of Minsters that are not upholding the constitution.
Marlin said before the meeting started on Tuesday he spoke to MP Cornelius de Weever where he informed him that MP Lloyd Richardson had tendered his resignation but also agreed to cooperate with the meeting in order not to hold up the process. “MP Lloyd Richardson even agreed to convene the meeting at 9am because he and his spouse were leaving the island to go to the Netherlands to represent the Parliament of St. Maarten on Tuesday afternoon. When I heard that he was tendering his resignation on Tuesday morning and later that same day boarding a plane to represent the Parliament of St. Maarten as the chairman. The majority in Parliament had agreed that they would not have created any embarrassing situation for MP Lloyd Richardson and they were willing to table a motion in order of MP Richardson to represent the Parliament of St. Maarten even though he was no longer the chairman of Parliament.” Marlin said it is clear that the current Member of Parliament are playing some sort of tit for tat game. He said that present Council of Ministers are creating a constitutional crisis while ignoring the decision taken by the Governor of St. Maarten. Marlin said he heard that the Prime Minister told others that he is not a politician and he will hold on to his seat in order for the Dutch to come in and take over. He said that if the Prime Minister made these statements then they are to be considered as  reckless statements. “The Prime Minister must be reminded that he became Prime Minister due to ship jumping. The two first two Members of Parliament that jumped ship were MP Cornelius de Weever and Leona Marlin Romeo. As it stands now I believe that these persons are willing to sink the island,  they even want the Dutch to come in and take over because they do not want to leave office. I will take this even further because I believe the current Council of Ministers are buying time in order to sign off on major contracts and or projects. One of the projects is the expansion of the prison that will not be put on bid but handed to a contractor.”
Marlin said the country is held hostage by a rogue Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs who refused to even uphold the constitution.
MP Frans Richardson considered what transpired on Tuesday as unfortunate since there is use and abuse of power. MP Richardson said that those persons holding the seats as chairpersons are using nice legal words to their benefit. He reminded the Council of Ministers that they got a motion of confidence and they should have resigned by now.
MP Richardson said that the situation has aggravated the people and for him it is clear that those holding public office have no shame who are sitting with dignitaries overseas. When they were asked if there will be any kind of protest marches.nMP Frans Richardson and MP Wescot Williams  stated that the people of St. Maarten have a right to protest but they are appealing with the people to conduct a peaceful protest if they will protest at all. She said their main message to the people is ensure they get their message their across peacefully.
Both the leader of the National Alliance and Democratic Party said they met with the member of the council of state Piet Hein Donner who is currently on the island holding consultation meetintgs.  Wescot Williams said she used her time during the meeting to bring the Dutch representative up to speed with information he might have regarding the current political crisis. While MP Marlin said he spoke mostly about the ‘raw deal’ St. Maarten got with the debt relief. Marlin said he met with Donner on Tuesday morning but he managed to explain Dutch representative that St. Maarten really got a raw deal in 2010 and no government would be able to balance their budgets annually since the island had to start off from scratch as country. Marlin said he also informed Donner that St. Maarten now has a rogue Council of Ministers who have refused to uphold the country's constitution and respect the decison taken by the Governor of St. Maarten.

Frans Richardson mentioned 3 times
George Pantophlet mentioned 1 time
Leona Marlin-Romeo mentioned 1 time
Lloyd Richardson mentioned 3 times
Marcel Gumbs mentioned 1 time
Sarah Wescot-Williams mentioned 1 time
Cornelius de Weever mentioned 7 times
William Marlin mentioned 1 time

Democratic Party [DP] mentioned 2 times
National Alliance [NA] mentioned 2 times