De Weever appointment
was illegal, say experts
PHILIPSBURG--Legal experts believe the appointment of Millicent de Weever as Acting Lt. Governor was against the law and that she should do the honourable thing and resign.
However, the Central Government and the Cabinet of the Governor apparently were advised at the time that her appointment was not incompatible with the article of the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles ERNA stating that the Lt. Governor could not be a blood relative of a member of the Island Council.
Millicent’s brother Petrus “Leroy” de Weever was an Island Council member for the Democratic Party (DP) when his sister was appointed earlier this year.
Constitutional Law expert Douwe Boersema, who works at Spigthoff Attorneys at Law and Tax Advisors in Curaçao, based on a question presented to him by The Daily Herald about the situation, pointed out that the ERNA was very clear on the matter and said he did not understand how there could be any doubt.
He said article 11 of the ERNA stated that blood affinity or relationship up to and including the second degree, or wedlock, might not exist between the Lt. Governor and a members of the Island Council or between Island Council members.
He also said article 66 sub 2 states that everything that was stipulated for the Lt. Governor applied to the Acting Lt. Governor, with the exception of the prohibition on being a member of the Island Council, etc.
Boersema also quoted article 64 of the ERNA, which states that the function of Lt. Governor is incompatible with such positions or functions as are incompatible with membership in the Island Council.
He concluded that the appointment was illegal. Millicent de Weever cannot become an Island Council member because her brother already is a member. Based on these grounds, she also cannot be the Acting Lt. Governor.
Boersema suspected that the exception stated in article 66 might have caused confusion, but that provision states only that a Member of the Island Council can be the Acting Lt. Governor. That’s something different.
The provision meshes also with article 66 of the ERNA on appointing an Acting Lt. Governor from among the Commissioners, who are or can also be Island Council members.
Former Lt. Governor Ralph Richardson also told this newspaper that he believed the articles of the ERNA were very clear and simple and that Millicent de Weever could not be appointed Acting Lt. Governor. “However, the Central Government went ahead with the appointment,” Richardson said.
Personally, he said, in such a case he would have done the decent thing and resigned. Richardson also remembers similar cases involving Will Johnson and Jopi Abraham.
