Maria narrowly survives
motion of no-confidence
~ DP members walk out ~
PHILIPSBURG--Commissioner Maria Buncamper-Molanus survived a motion of no confidence on Monday. The political faction of the Democratic Party chose not to vote, causing the voting to be declared null and void.
The DP had only three Island Council members in the meeting at which a US $25,000 donation by Government-owned TelEm to The Sky is the Limit Foundation was debated. Commissioners Theo Heyliger (health reasons) and Louie Laveist (in Curaçao) and Councilman Leroy de Weever (reason not announced) were not present in the meeting.
Opposition party National Alliance (NA) turned up full strength with all five members present. This situation created an interesting political chess game at the end of the deliberations when the NA tabled a motion of no confidence against the Commissioner.
The motion presented by the NA resolved that Buncamper-Molanus’ involvement, direct or indirect, in the request from The Sky is the Limit Foundation for a donation of US $25,000 from the TelEm Group of Companies, for which she is politically responsible as member of the Executive Council, was against the principles of good governance, constituted a conflict of interest and was a gross violation of the principles of good corporate governance.
“Because of this, Buncamper-Molanus no longer enjoys the confidence of this Island Council as Commissioner of the Island Territory of St. Maarten,” the motion stated.
However, before the motion was put to a vote on the floor of the Island Council, Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards said that, according to article 43 of the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles ERNA, the vote would be declared null and void if less than half of the members of the Island Council participated in the voting.
The topic at hand dealt directly with Buncamper-Molanus, so she was not permitted to participate in the voting. The Lt. Governor interpreted the article to mean that as only 10 of the 11 members could participate in the vote, for the vote to be valid a majority of the 10 members should vote, which meant that at least six had to cast their votes.
NA leader and Councilman William Marlin called the Lt. Governor’s action “a joke” and said he was appalled that Richards interpreted an article that had not been in order, because the voting had not taken place yet.
When the motion came up for voting, the DP Island Council members walked out of the meeting, leaving only the five NA votes cast, and so the voting was declared null and void.
Marlin: “What happened today will not go unmentioned. This is totally wrong and we will not accept it.” He referred again to Richard’s actions. “The chairman has to be objective and above politics. We will come back on it.”
After the voting had taken place, the Lt. Governor stressed that he believed he had done the right thing. He considered a vote of no confidence serious enough to have clarified the workings of article 43 of the ERNA and the procedures the article implied prior to voting.
“Yes, I’m standing above political parties. Yes, I’m not biased. It behoves me to do so and has nothing to do with politics,” Richards said.
