Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
Once again Parliament was unable to meet due to the lack of a quorum (see related story). It regarded a plenary session to discuss ongoing issues at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF), for which Prime Minister and interim Housing Minister Marcel Gumbs had been present along with several officials.
It was thus a waste of valuable time for them, the seven legislators who were in attendance and all those wanting to follow the proceedings either in person or via electronic media. Granted, the meeting had been called by the opposition and it does occur that members on one side of the aisle don't cooperate with the other side to establish a majority for whatever political reason.
In this case the entire UP fraction was absent, except Parliament Chairman Lloyd Richardson. Five of the six others gave notice, but only two mentioned a reason and a third is believed to have been ill.
What's also a bit confusing is that Leona Marlin-Romeo as one of two independent parliamentarians supporting the Gumbs cabinet signed in while Cornelius de Weever did not, even though he was in the building. As it actually regarded the continuation of a suspended meeting that started on December 22, the result is, of course, that this matter will remain "hanging" even longer.
Although there were no known urgent law proposals or other regulations on the agenda to approve, the most recent developments at SMHDF indicate that events involving the public housing entity have gone into acceleration mode, with the supervisory board dissolving director Lynch's contract. As the forensic investigation at the agency by government accountant SOAB was supposed to be the main topic, a possible opportunity to obtain more information on the basis for the original decision to suspend three management members and now dismiss one of them was lost.
