Credibility
One of the questions currently being asked is what the imminent change in the Island Government will mean for the completion of St. Maarten’s quest to gain country status, which already appears to be running into trouble. After all, one would expect that a new Executive Council and particularly the future Commissioner in charge of Constitutional Affairs will need time to review what has been done so far and to analyse how to move forward.
Under those circumstances the Round Table Conference planned for December 15 in Curaçao may well come a little early for the apparent incoming coalition led by the National Alliance (NA). The same can be said for the Governmental Deliberations scheduled for November 24 in St. Maarten.
But the change in government does not necessarily have to have a negative impact on the constitutional change process. The National Alliance was part and parcel of the agreements made with the Netherlands, the Antillean Government and Curaçao, and the same goes for the two “independent” council members expected to support a new NA-led Executive Council.
At the same time, the internal problems facing the Democratic Party (DP) with the controversy surrounding first Commissioner Buncamper-Molanus and then Commissioner Laveist have not done St. Maarten much good when it comes to convincing particularly the Dutch political establishment that the Island Territory is ready to take on the added responsibility of country status. And while the Police Force is a Central Government matter, the detention of three of the island’s top cops, two of whom have been convicted, did not exactly help.
Under these circumstances it should surprise no one that Dutch politicians keep hammering on corporate governance and law enforcement. Unless they see major improvements in these areas or at least can be convinced they are coming, it will prove difficult at best to achieve the desired status, certainly by January 1, 2010, as is now the plan.
Perhaps a new Executive Council with some different faces and a distinct approach could help re-establish some badly needed confidence in the Island Territory’s ability to attend the people’s business in an effective and proper manner. That credibility factor can play a major role.
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