NA says consultant hired
for 20,000 euros a month
PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) has information that at least one person is being paid 20,000 euros a month by the government, based on the 2008 budget. Commissioner in charge of Personnel Affairs Maria Buncamper-Molanus denies that government has employed anyone for that amount of money.
NA Councilman William Marlin queried this astronomic amount being paid to a consultant hired by government, during Monday’s Island Council meeting. The information NA has received also indicated that the contract had been extended recently.
Marlin was not impressed with the Commissioner’s denial about government paying such salaries. “She was very technical in her answer. She also made the comment that when asking questions, Island Council members must know how to ask questions,” he said.
Marlin suspects that the person, or maybe persons, were hired through a company for tax reasons. Therefore he queried how many persons were employed for the 20,000 euros and for how long the contract is. He believes it is very irresponsible of government, in light of the skyrocketing prices, to pay “a considerable sum of money” to one person or consultant.
The person hired apparently has been advising government in personnel matters, causing government to be involved in a court case in at least one instance because of the intentions to fire this person.
In light of this, Marlin queried furthermore if it was government’s intention to hire more similar consultants to come to work for country St. Maarten. He said that when the Commissioner went to the Netherlands, she had spoken of only one person who had been signed and that several others were pending.
Buncamper-Molanus said one student had been signed for August 15, 2008, in the function of policy assistant for the Education Department and two other persons, one St. Maartener and one Antillean, had also committed for September 15, 2008. Meanwhile, negotiations are ongoing with eight other persons, which the Commissioner hopes to finalise in the coming months.
All candidates recruited are hired for one year, after which a job evaluation will take place before they are offered new contracts.
