Arrindell tells government
to stop blaming others
PHILIPSBURG--The Democratic Party (DP) government has to stop blaming the Dutch Government and Central Government for St. Maarten’s many governmental failures while refusing to take any responsibility for not assuring the people of good governance, best practices and transparency, People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) leader Gracita Arrindell, stated in a press release.
“While I completely disagree with the manner and strategy of this DP Government to honour the aspirations of the people of St. Maarten to have a new constitutional status within the Kingdom Netherlands, I nevertheless call on the DP government to abandon its unsuccessful campaign of delays and blaming others for its many blunders and failures. Today, the people have some choices,” Arrindell said.
She said she believed no one should doubt that the new constitutional status set forth in the November 2, 2006, agreement, the other agreements, and the proposed Kingdom laws confirmed that St. Maarten would be a territory within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and subject to its laws and ultimate direction.
In the end, the new proposed constitutional status for St. Maarten is not materially different than the relationship surrounding islands have with France, Great Britain or the United States of America, she said. “St. Maarten is and will be a part of the Netherlands.”
She said the specific mandate of the people as expressed in the June 23, 2000, referendum was for the government to secure a new constitutional status similar to Aruba’s, but clearly within the Netherlands. However, she noted that almost eight years later, the St. Maarten government had yet to manage this process in ways that would secure the constitutional status for which the people had voted.
Arrindell: “Rather than blaming everyone and never taking responsibility for the failures and delays, I urge the Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs to execute the outstanding tasks, and if each and every task is implemented and in place, but yet the Dutch government is still asking for more conditions, the Commissioner will have an objective basis for returning to the people to complain about the actions of the Dutch government.
“However, today the Commissioner’s constant complaining about the Dutch government falls upon an unsympathetic people. The people want a new status within the Netherlands and the Commissioner must make peace with the political leadership of the Netherlands or the people of St. Maarten will continue to suffer and decline.”
She said the people would offer the required public support when the Executive Council had done its part, including enacting laws dealing with good governance, best practices and transparency in administration of the local government.
Also laws against conflicts of interest and self-dealing by Commissioners and senior civil servants; laws relating to the proper Code of Conduct for the Executive Council, the Island Council and senior civil servants; and the law setting up the office of the Ombudsman to act for and on behalf of the people against improper and illegal governmental actions must be enacted.
Laws and regulations controlling the conduct of Commissioners and civil servants in their management of government-owned companies; laws relating to Commissioners, their families and friends securing undisclosed contracts from government-owned companies; and laws imposing sanctions and penalties on Commissioners, the Executive Council and/or the Island Council for adopting unbalanced budgets should be put in place she said.
Furthermore, she believes laws should be established imposing sanctions and penalties on Commissioners for entering into illegal loans or pre-financing schemes in violation of the laws.
Regarding a joint Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten, she said the people needed to understand what the position of the Island Council is on a Joint Monetary Union and Central Bank and if government has a backup plan if St. Maarten is unable to reach an acceptable agreement with Curaçao.
She also queried what government’s plans were to address the issues of human needs, the standard of living concerns, to help people eat, given the high prices of food, utilities and gas.
Given the recent public statements by members of the DP Executive Council, Arrindell inquired whether government had any plans to abandon the debt relief or cancellation proposal of the Dutch Government and whether the Dutch debt relief was expressly tied to instituting strict standards and policies over Commissioners in their management of government-owned companies.
