Maria should have
been allowed to vote
~ Decision can be sent to Governor to be destroyed ~
PHILIPSBURG--Island Council member Maria Buncamper-Molanus should have been allowed to vote on the motion of no confidence tabled against her. Because she was not given the opportunity to vote the Executive Council can send yesterday’s decision to carry the motion of no confidence to the Governor for annulment, says Kenneth Gijsbertha, former Island Council member and Acting Lt. Governor of Curaçao.
Gijsbertha said he was 100 per cent sure that Buncamper-Molanus should have been allowed to vote. Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards said on Monday, June 9, that based on article 38 of the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles ERNA that Buncamper-Molanus was allowed to debate the agenda point, but was not allowed to vote on the motion.
Article 38 states: “They (Island Council Members, ed.) shall abstain from voting on matters, appointments, suspensions and discharges that personally concern them, their wives or their blood or other relatives up to the third degree, inclusive, or in which they are involved as a ‘mandatary.’”
However, Gijsbertha said that, in case the Lt. Governor of St. Maarten gave that explanation of the text of article 38, he had interpreted the article incorrectly. “Article 38 is there for cases when the Island Council debates, for example, a job opportunity for the spouse or the father of an Island Council member. In that case the Island Council member in question is not allowed to vote,” Gijsbertha stated.
He referred to a motion of no confidence against Constitutional Affairs Commissioner of Curaçao Zita Jesus-Leito that was tabled by opposition parties two months ago. The motion was rejected with 11 votes against and 10 votes in favour and Jesus-Leito, who is also an Island Council member, voted on the motion.
Jesus-Leito confirmed for The Daily Herald that she had voted on the motion against her person and said Buncamper-Molanus also should have been allowed to vote. She said it had been a wrong decision if the St. Maarten Commissioner hadn’t been allowed to vote.
Gijsbertha added that the Island Council had requested different advices on whether Jesus-Leito was allowed to vote, because the opposition parties in Curaçao were of the opinion that she was not. “We requested advice from the Legal Department of the Island Territory of Curaçao, two independent law offices and the Cabinet of the Governor. All the advices stated the same: She was allowed to vote.”
Therefore, Gijsbertha said, the Executive Council of St. Maarten can send the decision taken during yesterday’s meeting to the Governor for annulment.
Regarding the discussion whether the voting in general on the motion of no confidence should have taken place, as the Commissioner had already tendered her resignation, Gijsbertha said he believed the Lt. Governor had done the correct thing to allow to voting taking place.
“The Lt. Governor has to guard against political games being played.” Gijsbertha said that when a Commissioner tendered his or her resignation, no formal decision had yet been taken on the letter of resignation. “That’s why the voting on the motion had to take place. The Commissioner could decide to retract her letter of resignation.”
However, Gijsbertha believes Richards would have done better if he had adjourned the Island Council meeting before going over to vote on the motion. “He should have adjourned the Island Council meeting, called an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Council and requested the Executive Council to take a formal decision on the Commissioner’s letter of resignation.
“If the Executive Council had decided to accept the Commissioner’s resignation, then it would not have been necessary to vote on the motion of no confidence. In case the Executive Council had decided to ask the Commissioner to reconsider her decision to resign, then the Lt. Governor would allow the voting on the motion to take place.”
