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PHILIPSBURG--The discussion in Parliament about developments at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) was stalled on Wednesday after insufficient Members of Parliament signed in for the meeting with ad interim Housing Minister Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. The meeting will be reconvened at a later date.
Six of the seven United People's (UP) party MPs were not present for the meeting.
Only seven of the 15 MPs serving in the legislature signed in for the meeting. Present were meeting initiators MPs Sarah WescotÂÂWilliams (Democratic Party), William Marlin and Christophe Emmanuel (National Alliance).
Fellow meeting initiator MP Frans Richardson (United St. Maarten Party) sent a note to Parliament stating he would be attending the meeting, but would arrive late. He did not arrive before the meeting was suspended until further notice. The plenary session of Parliament may have gone ahead had he arrived before 10:30am.
The meeting was scheduled to start at 10:00am. As is customary and based on the Rules of Order of Parliament, Chairman Dr. Lloyd Richardson waited until 30 minutes after the official start time to see if eight or more members would sign for the session. This did not happen.
Other MPs that signed in and were present for the meeting were MPs Leona Marlin-Romeo (independent), Silveria Jacobs and George Pantophlet of National Alliance.
Independent MP Cornelius de Weever was in the Parliament Building at the time the meeting was slated to take place. He, however, did not sign in for the meeting and left the building before Dr. Richardson announced the meeting did not have a quorum.
Dr. Richardson said United People's (UP) party MPs Theo Heyliger, Franklin Meyers, Tamara Leonard, Johan Leonard, and Maurice Lake were all absent with notice from the session.
MP Silvio Matser (UP) was absent without notice.
MP Marlin (NA) queried if the MPs who were absent with notice had given reasons for such when they submitted their notices. Dr. Richardson said Heyliger had informed Parliament via a letter stating he was attending the SeaTrade Conference and Meyers is away for medical treatment in Colombia. For the rest, "no reason was given."
The Sea Trade Conference Heyliger referred to will be held in Miami from next Monday, March 16.
It is understood that MP Tamara Leonard was absent due to illness. She is still undergoing stringent treatment to stave off breast cancer.
Wednesday's plenary session had started on December 22 and was suspended to facilitate information gathering by Gumbs and his support staff. The meeting centred on the forensic investigation carried out by Government's Accountants Bureau SOAB into the operations of SMHDF, the decision of the Housing Foundation board to suspend three members of the management team and the request of then Public Housing Minister Maurice Lake to the SOAB to withdraw the investigation.
In the meantime, the Housing Foundation's board announced Tuesday night it had dissolved its service agreement with Director and member of the management team Henry Lynch based on a host of instances of financial mismanagement. His service agreement ended February 4, following his suspension dated December 12, 2014.
"In the time period between the suspension with pay and the decision to terminate the service agreement with immediate effect, SMHDF commissioned further investigations into the previously-established financial irregularities within its organization," the board stated in a press release issued via its attorney.
