PHILIPSBURG--The common trend of the National Alliance (NA)/Heyliger coalition is not to provide information to the Island Council, leaving members to be informed by press reports and with the only option of calling for Island Council meetings, say Democratic Party (DP) Island Council members.
DP Island Councilwoman Maria Buncamper-Molanus told the press Tuesday that her party had been criticised for requesting Island Council meetings on various topics when there was so much work still to be carried out in relation to Country St. Maarten.
"Too many matters are left hanging, such as issuance of a bond by St. Maarten Telephone Group of Companies, about which DP posed questions in an Island Council meeting over a month ago now," she said.
DP leader Island Councilwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams concurred with Buncamper-Molanus, saying government shared no information on issues such as the medical insurance coverage for the people in the new country status. This information shutoff is solely due to government and not for the want of asking by DP.
She said there were St. Maarten patients at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Curaçao who had been asked by the hospital management how they would pay their bills from the beginning of August. The health insurance cost bureau BZV will cease coverage to St. Maarten patients as of Saturday.
DP only learnt via the press that the coalition had agreed to pay higher premiums for Social Insurance Bank SVB coverage. The same goes for the new monetary system for Country St. Maarten.
Wescot-Williams said her party had learnt only from press reports that the Antillean guilder would be continued as the currency for St. Maarten and Curaçao, which would share a joint Central Bank.
"On the joint bank there are also questions, such as the composition and whether the present Netherlands Antilles Central Bank Chairman Emsley Tromp will remain at the helm. Island Council members are not afforded any respect [when questions are asked]," she said.
Similarly, no information has been given on questions raised concerning the Changing Lanes project announced by Economic Affairs Commissioner Frans Richardson last month, Wescot-Williams said. This leaves the party no option but to request an Island Council meeting to obtain information, particularly on the lifting of the moratorium on bus and taxi licences. A request for a meeting will be submitted soon.
"Government intends to lift the moratorium and issue bus and taxi licences without any proof to show this is needed or the right thing to do," she said, adding that existing bus and taxi drivers were having a hard time making ends meet.
