Marigot: --- Leader of RRR party Alain Richardson in reaction to the announcement that Guadeloupe will not be giving St. Martin any monies representing the Octroi de Mer funds said there is hard times ahead for the island and its people. The decision was taken by the Constitutional Council earlier this week.
Richardson said the present leadership of the COM is very incompetent who lacks vision and did not prepare adequately when they went to Paris to discuss the financial crisis the island is facing. He said the delegation went to the meetings blindly even though they know the State would be defending its interest.
Richardson said focus is placed on the Octroi de Mer funds but the island stand to loose close to 20 million Euros this year compared to its 2008 budget. Breaking down the loss the opposition leader said some 12 millions are attributed to the Octroi de Mer, 5 million from the donation compensation which has been reduced to 280, 000 Euros while the island has to pay back the excess funds it received in 2008 to the State. Already the State has said they would make a reduction of 2.5 million in 2009 and the same in 2010 from the from the DGF funds. (Dontation Global de Functionment). "The State is not considering giving St. Martin any kind of subvention to recover the lost funds." Richardson explained.
Richardson further explained that this amount will represent some 20% of the budget and wonders what the present administration would do to replace the loss. "Already the COM has made some bad choices when they chose to eliminate the tax de la fortune and reduce the TVA Immobiler without knowing what would be going into the government coffers. "How can you get rid of these revenues when you do not know what types of financial guarantee the State will be giving to St. Martin" Richardson asked. He said the law states that the State has to compensate St. Martin for its costs and that had needed proper representation. Richardson said based on the press conference held in November after the St. Martin delegation returned the island. "According to the delegation it is only now they realized that the State was not playing fair games." Only now they realized that the State was playing the judge and jury at the same time.
He further said that the Organic Law is very clear since it said Guadeloupe will not be giving these funds to St. Martin after December 2008. "Furthermore it is unfair to the people of Guadeloupe to take up a burden that belongs to the State. He said St. Martin never contributed to the Octroi de Mer funds but managed to benefit from it over the years. A decision he said was taken by the French Parliament years ago. "It is the French Parliament who decided that St. Martin should not contribute to these funds because of its specificities and they are the ones who decided that the island should benefit. Instead of being angry with the politicians in Guadeloupe the anger should shown towards the State since it is their obligation to give St. Martin some kind of compensation. Richardson said St. Martin leaders were ill-prepared and they did not properly prepare their arguments with the commission des evaluation and charges. He said the opposition has been saying this over the last months and seemingly no one were paying attention.
With the loss of these funds the COM will be in dire straights since they would have finds ways and means to replace the monies which is mainly used to cover administrative cost. One would have to ask how they would pay their bills such as lease, utilities and their staff as well as their social dues at the end of the day. Richardson said the State Secretary of Overseas Affairs Yves Jego is out of place when he tried to force Guadeloupe to continue giving St. Martin these monies. He said Jego cannot and should not tell the Overseas Territories how to spend their monies. What Jego did is a clear sign of constitutional rape. Richardson said.
Richardson said he is even angrier with the state representative (Yves Jego) who recently said that St. Martin may have to introduce some sort of Turn over Tax to recover the lost funds. "This State representative is clearly out of place to tell St. Martin what to do while the State is not living up to its responsibilities". Richardson said the Jego has a high handed attitude in wanting to dictate to others what to do, reason why the Constitutional Council revoked the amendment he made concerning the Octroi de Mer funds and Guadeloupe.
He alluded that this kind of behaviour from Jego shows that St. Martin representatives are weak and not able to properly defend its affairs. "Since the new status was implemented St. Martin has full competencies over its tax policies and Jego is not the one to make any type of announcement is this regard, instead he should be dealing with the immediate issue at hand and see how he can compensate the island for the financial loss. Richardson said.
UPP was Not Prepared Says Noreen Brooks
---SXMers should be given Preference.
Territorial Councilor Noreen Brooks in a statement to SMN News said the present majority in the COM was not prepared to deal with the State regarding these funding. She said it was no secret to politicians that St. Martin would be loosing this money but elected representatives had to be more aggressive and knowledgeable on the issues at hand. Brooks said this matter should have been addressed the minute the COM was installed and not today when there is a crisis. The State already knows that those elected are not ready to take up the challenges that are facing the island. She said the while the UPP have the country to run they have no monies to do the job.
Brooks also attacked the issue where a number of foreigners are being hired by the COM while there are competent locals in the community looking for work.
She said the President of the COM Frantz Gumbs and his group needs to sit down and seriously analyze their actions. These elected officials also need to be open minded and honest to the population.
Brooks said the situation facing the French side is so severe that it is only God who performs miracles would be able to save the island and its people from that which is to come.
Stimulating the Economy-COM Busy Outsourcing Jobs.
Brooks said one of the things the COM should be doing today is to try and stimulate the economy so that these businesses can pay their taxes. "To pay these dues one has to be making monies and right now business people on the French side is not making any monies.
Brooks said the jobs that are being created today is not done for the locals, and the island people are not been given a chance to perform. She said the COM is presently busy outsourcing its human resources which is costing them much more.
The Territorial Councilor said the opposition requested a Council meeting to discuss some of these issues but the COM refused to grant them a meeting saying St. Martin does not have any major problems. They suggested that the RRR meet with the UPP councilors in private to discuss their concerns. Brooks said the opposition is left out of the daily operations of the COM. She gave an example of where a the UPP campaign manager who is also an employee of the COM was paid thousands of Euros to provide trainings to the UPP councilors and the opposition she said was not even invited.