No input for the people
in country St. Maarten
~ Duncan criticises islands ~
PHILIPSBURG--The people of St. Maarten are not being given a chance to give real input into the draft constitution and draft organic laws for country St. Maarten. The laws are not being discussed with the citizens, says Constitutional Affairs Minister Roland Duncan.
He said St. Maarten had indicated that its draft constitution and draft organic laws were ready, meaning they would be submitted to the Preparatory Committee Round Table Conference V-RTC by November 1.
The V-RTC will review the draft constitution and draft organic laws. After the laws are vetted in the RTC scheduled for December 15, the next step will be the drafting of a Kingdom Law on a transitional agreement, making all island ordinances into ordinances of the countries-to-be.
The problem is that discussions have not taken place with the public and it will be too late for any suggestions from the public to amend the draft constitution or draft organic laws, Duncan said. “We cannot send any changes to the Kingdom Council of Ministers anymore, because these changes are not those reviewed by the V-RTC,” Duncan said.
He said he had offered Curaçao and St. Maarten help with the information campaign, but thus far neither of the two islands had made use of it. Curaçao Constitutional Affairs Commissioner Zita Jesus-Leito reminded him recently of the offer of help, Duncan said.
Though Duncan appreciates more the way Curaçao has been organising town hall-like meetings to give the people input in the process, before ratifying the draft constitution and organic laws in the Island Council, he still has a problem with Curaçao holding a referendum after everything has been reviewed and agreed on. “If the people vote no, the entire process has to start over again,” he said.
Curaçao is still to discuss its draft constitution, all the organic laws and its organisational structure in the Island Council.
The St. Maarten Island Council, on the other hand, has already ratified the draft constitution, several organic laws and the organisational structure for country St. Maarten.
Another “problem” Duncan said he had was that St. Maarten had been secretive about its organisation.
“When parties are ready to start the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles, the Minister in question must be able to match his responsibilities with the infrastructure provided by the islands. This way the Minister knows how the organisation and personnel will be transferred. It’s not about the Central Government wanting to know the secrets of the island,” he said.
Duncan said the organisational structure of a government was supposed to be open and transparent. In this regard he criticised the fact that Curaçao had been trying to invent the wheel all over again by creating a completely new organisational structure instead of looking at how, for example, Aruba had done it.
“Aruba has changed its organisation on several occasions, improving it over and over again. An organisational structure has to be something dynamic and flexible that has to absorb changes,” he said.
