Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--Discussions in a Central Committee meeting of Parliament about the integrity reports from the Wit-Samson Committee and PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC was deemed a waste of time at this transition period between governments by United St. Maarten Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson and National Alliance (NA) MP William Marlin.
The reports were referred for handling in a Central Committee meeting in the final meeting of the 2013-2014 Parliamentary year on October 9.
The discussions with Deputy Prime Minister/Justice Minister Dennis Richardson on Wednesday centred mostly on whether the reports should be before Parliament now or be handled when the new Council of Ministers is in place. Some focus was also placed on what may have caused the Kingdom Government to issue the instruction for an integrity report to be conducted by Governor Eugene Holiday. That report became the PwC report.
Minister Richardson told MPs at the start of the session that St. Maarten's integrity issues have been "put under a magnifying glass" that gives the appearance that "the whole of St. Maarten is corrupt."
The country has issues like any other one in the world, he said. "There is room for great improvement." However, the way St. Maarten's issues are portrayed on the outside "can create the wrong effect" that can cause investors to stay away from the country, a move that could hamper the economy.
He sees compliance with the country's existing integrity checks and balances and the establishment of the integrity council as top priorities for government.
MP Richardson called the meeting "a waste of good energy," because the report was being discussed with the caretaker government, rather than the new government. The new government is yet to take office although the new governing term started on October 10. He suggested that Parliament "take a recess until the new ministers come in."
Marlin said he believes the discussion should be "put on hold" until the new government is in office. It makes "no sense" to have "a long discussion" about the reports at this juncture. The better thing to do was to wait for the new government to see how the unanimously adopted motion of last week is "carried out." That motion calls for government to execute the recommendations of the integrity reports with proper implementation plans and timelines.
United People's (UP) party MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson said the Kingdom Government "seems to be interfering" into the internal matters of St. Maarten via its clamouring for the PwC report. Based on the Kingdom Government's position, there was "no point in continuing the debate." The interference by the Kingdom Government could, he said, be deemed as "lacking integrity" as the methods used were not even handed.
In response, Minister Richardson said it would have been remiss of government not to send the reports to Parliament. It is up to Parliament now to determine if it wants government to go further with any measure as recommended in the report, he said.
MP Maurice Lake (UP) called for a parliamentary inquiry into the compilation of the reports. Chairwoman of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams cautioned just before closing the session that a parliamentary inquiry is a powerful tool with far-reaching implications that should not be evoked lightly.
Independent MP Leona Marlin asked about the measures taken by government prior to the integrity reports. Minister Richardson said a number of measures were taken to tackle the integrity challenges of the Netherlands Antilles with St. Maarten making its own headway after attaining country status within the Kingdom four years ago.
MP Christophe Emmanuel (NA) asked what government had expected from the Dutch/Kingdom Government in response to its position on the recommendations of the PwC report. Minister Richardson said assistance of the Dutch Government was requested for the Prosecutor's office as well as other justice departments even prior to the reports, but no assistance has been rendered. Recruitment is ongoing and government will foot the bill where this is necessary.
The completion of the Transparency International (TI) National Integrity System (NIS) assessment of the country was the concern of MP George Pantophlet. Wescot-Williams said the report was due out in December.
MP Johan Leonard (UP) wanted to know all the things the country was doing wrong and how these could be remedied. He was pointed by Minister Richardson particularly to the Wit-Samson Report, titled "Doing the right things right." That report was labelled by the minister as "more balanced" with the "Caribbean context" taken into consideration in the way tasks are carried out.
Parliament saw a unique situation in the Central Committee meeting of Wednesday with Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams putting aside that cap and taking up the one as Chairwoman of Parliament while Justice Minister Dennis Richardson took up his role as Deputy Prime Minister.
