Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
A press release by new Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs in today’s paper reminds civil servants that they are expected to report for work on Friday, January 2. The recently-installed Council of Ministers decided last week not to grant the day after New Year’s Day as an extra day off.
Publicly announcing such is highly necessary, because it had become almost a custom to give days off for dates sandwiched between public holidays and the weekend, seemingly without much regard for the loss of productivity and lack of service to the population.
Moreover, many would tend to stay home even when no such permission was granted. The latter is obviously not acceptable, because for most private sector employees it’s a normal working day and the people have a right to expect the public administration to be fully-functional as well.
Another release confirming the establishment of a Press Secretariat for the Gumbs cabinet (see related story) does raise some questions. The measure is presented as a way to “streamline, structure and professionalise†the relationship with the media, but it also could severely limit journalists’ access to local political administrators.
While such an office might indeed be helpful in obtaining answers to inquiries, one cannot reasonably expect a free press to completely stop approaching individual ministers. It also must be kept in mind that a media outlet with a good exclusive story may be very hesitant to submit questions via this channel, as the reply probably would be shared with competitors in cases deemed important enough by the press secretary.
Also the news that the Press Briefings no longer will be weekly, but on notification of the prime minister, probably won’t be welcomed by reporters. Then again, nobody will dispute that there is a lot to do and actions indeed speak louder than words.
All in all, there is, of course, no reason to doubt the good intentions behind the move considering the persons involved and their track record, yet only daily practice will tell what the real effect is on the dissemination of information. Other than that, the free press no doubt will continue to do what it has to do.
