Sarah advises taking
time to plan strategy
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten should take some time out and plan a strategy as to what it has to do regarding the constitutional change process. That’s what’s next for the island, Constitutional Affairs Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams said on Wednesday.
The Island Council debated the latest developments concerning the ongoing constitutional change process. In this context, the Commissioner said the Island Council had already approved on December 18 a motion invoking article 26 for St. Maarten to present its case to the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands Antilles, Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles, the Kingdom Council of Ministers and the Dutch Parliament.
This motion is still on the table and how to carry it out should be studied carefully.
National Alliance (NA) Councilman William Marlin had asked the Commissioner “what’s next?” considering that the December 15 target date seemed not to be attainable anymore. “Are we being taken for a ride?” Marlin asked.
Frans Richardson, also of NA, said he had never seen an official letter stating that the target date was not feasible anymore and wanted to know from the Commissioner what the official status of the constitutional change process was.
Wescot-Williams said she did not have an official letter either, but that from following the news it had been apparent that the date would not be attainable anymore. However, she said the St. Maarten government would continue to work towards the December 15 target date because that was the last date the Island Council had ratified and it had not decided otherwise since then.
She explained to the members of the Island Council that the December 15 target date was taken from the February 12, 2007, Transition Accord and that date had been agreed on by all who had signed the accord.
The addendum to the accord outlined the steps required for Consensus Kingdom Laws such as design of the law, handling in the Kingdom Council of Ministers, advice by the Council of State, First and Second Chambers, Island Councils and the publication of the law.
Wescot-Williams: “Of course, there will be differences of interpretation and consensus will have to be sought and compromises made. But it must be from a position of willingness.
“It must be from a position of building country St. Maarten, not punishing us for wanting to become a country. And I understand the political winds and scepticism in Holland, but I refuse to allow St. Maarten to be the scapegoat.”
She said her mission to The Hague had been to defend St. Maarten from the wrong image that was being created.
“Evidently, many who have a hand in deciding our fate, like Members of the First and Second Chambers, have no idea what they are talking about, are fed all kinds of reports, official and underhand, and you are constantly on the defensive.”
