NA may ask for another meeting
on TelEm donation to foundation
~ Motion was nice political material, says Sarah ~
PHILIPSBURG--The National Alliance (NA) is contemplating again requesting a public meeting of the Island Council soon on “contributions received from TelEm by The Sky is the Limit Foundation.”
The idea is to again table the motion of no confidence again Commissioner Buncamper-Molanus. The voting on the motion was considered null and void on Monday, based on article 43 of the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles ERNA because less than half plus one of all Island Council members voted.
However, this gives the NA the right to request another meeting on the same issue and to present the motion again on the Island Council floor. In such a case article 43 will not be applicable, meaning that the majority of votes cast will determine whether the motion will be accepted or rejected.
As it is a topic that concerns the Commissioner personally, again she will not be allowed to vote, as was the case on Monday. That means that that a maximum of 10 Island Council members can vote, five from the NA and five from the Democratic Party.
However, Commissioner Theo Heyliger has been abroad for health reasons and question is whether he will be back in time for that meeting if case NA requests it. In such a scenario there will be only four DP Island Council members present in the meeting and five NA Councilmen, creating the possibility that a motion of no confidence against the Commissioner will be passed.
Well-placed sources within the NA confirmed for The Daily Herald on Wednesday that the possibility of requesting another meeting was being discussed within the party.
Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams said during Wednesday’s Executive Council press briefing that while it was nice political material to come with motion of no confidence, the fact was that unless a member of the DP agreed to it would go nowhere.
The question NA posed to the shareholder’s representative has been answered by TelEm and the Executive Council discussed the answers on Tuesday. The only unanswered question is still whether the Executive Council considered this matter a conflict of interest.
Wescot-Williams said Buncamper-Molanus had alluded to the question on Monday, stating that maybe things could have been done differently.
“Members of the Executive Council and the DP political faction feel the same way. The handling of events leading up to the donation by TelEm to The Sky is the Limit Foundation could have created the perception of a conflict of interest. In this respect the Executive Council deemed necessary to take out parts of corporate governance that address this matter in particular and forward it to all government owned companies.
“It’s not only a matter of a Commissioner or a Commissioner’s spouse who coincidently happens to be on a board, but it goes for any board member finding him- or herself in a potential conflict of interest and how that board or person handles it,” Wescot-Williams said.
