Homestretch unity
Crunch time is rapidly approaching for final decisions on the substance of St. Maarten’s constitutional future, but there is an unwelcome sense of anxiety and unease in the air.
That atmosphere needs to be dispelled if the process is to regain the sort of momentum needed and if the benefits that can be gained for the people are to be maximised.
Reports emanating from yesterday’s meeting of the Permanent Committee for Constitutional Affairs (PCCA), for example, leave no doubt that that sense of anxiety and unease is very much alive.
At the end of yesterday’s meeting the leader of People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) repeated her now well-rehearsed complaints about not enough being done to advance the process, about meetings of the PCCA being too sporadic and too inadequately prepared, and about meetings not being given the sort of attention they deserve by some Island Council members who she claims often “sign in” for the meetings so that there can be a quorum, but promptly leave once the meetings get underway.
The PPA leader’s litany of complaints does not end there. She has expressed concern that whereas St. Maarten had been leading the charge for a new constitutional status ever since the June 2000 referendum, there has been a marked slackening of the momentum in its preparations, it is now lagging behind and it has “dropped the ball.”
She complains further that that there are too few already-heavily-burdened persons being relied on to get the job done and that members of the Island Council are not being either adequately or meaningfully involved in giving a sense of direction to the technicians and in refining and defining St. Maarten’s positions.
This situation contrasts sharply with Curaçao’s approach, as was very evident Wednesday when Curaçao Island Council members of both opposition and governing parties were actively involved in the Curaçao-St. Maarten talks on a possible monetary union.
She calls for structural communication so that all members can “sing from the same hymnbook.”
Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs Sarah Wescot-Williams seems to recognise the need for more meetings, but says members will have to be prepared to attend on short notice. That shouldn’t be a problem. In the context of all that is happening at the moment, St. Maarten needs to realise that time is of the essence. The window of opportunity that is now open for St. Maarten to acquire its separate status won’t remain open indefinitely.
Perhaps, the time is ripe for the leaders of the three political parties represented in the Island Council to meet informally over lunch once again so that they can sort out their differences, bury the hatchet and not only start singing from the same page in the same hymnbook, but also start singing the same tune. Such unison is imperative as St. Maarten prepares for what seems to be the homestretch on the long and winding road to a new constitutional status.
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