Representation
The Antillean Parliament’s public meeting scheduled in Willemstad for yesterday could not continue for lack of a quorum. Only 11 of the 22 members showed up, among them just one of the five Windward Islands members.
While having few St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba members at meetings is not uncommon due to the need to travel down to Curaçao, it is a far-from-ideal situation. In this case the agenda included the cancellation of the 11-million-guilder debt for St. Maarten Medical Center.
Mind you, we are talking about St, Maarten’s main health care institution, which also serves both Saba and Statia as a backup for serious cases. That something of this nature is not deemed important enough for four of the five Windward Islands members to attend raises questions, to say the least.
Some will argue that it only concerned the formalisation of an already executed agreement, so that the hospital already had been granted the necessary financial breathing space. However, it is typical of the apparent lack of interest in activities of Parliament among Windward Islands politicians, no doubt in part because Parliament is based in Curaçao and dominated by that island’s parties with 14 of the 22 seats.
Such an attitude is hardly recommendable. Especially with the constitutional change process and the part played at the national level, the Windward Islands should start showing a greater interest in Parliament, where many of the crucial decisions are being taken.
Part of the problem is that several members of Parliament are also members of the Island Council. While that is completely legal and no major problem in Curaçao, it’s a different situation in the Windward Islands because of the need to travel back and forth to Curaçao for most Parliament meetings, leading to schedule conflicts.
But all members of Parliament, including those of the St. Maarten, Statia and Saba, are full-time and receive hefty salaries of more than NAf. 8,000 a month plus several extras. Either the current members request that the party appoint someone else who has more time or they start improving their attendance record and do their job of representing the people the way they are expected to.
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