Philipsburg: --- Island councilman Petrus Leroy De Weever at a press conference on Tuesday told reporters that he has been consistently expressing his concerns about the legislation that was put together by his party while in government. The island councilman said he posed several questions to the notary who worked on the document and he was not satisfied with the answers or modifications made to the document. De Weever said he also expressed these concerns to former leader of government and leader of his faction Sarah Wescot Williams prior to making his decision not to even vote on the document. He said he also asked the current government what was their reasons to appoint a committee for life, and what sort of message they are sending to students studying abroad. However, the executive council he said did not intend to provide the answers neither the names of the people that were to sit on the permanent committee.
He said should something go wrong how and what means government would use to remove any member of the committee. De Weever said he even asked for the names of the persons to be appointed and their resume but none of the information was forthcoming.
The island councilman said the only people that are appointed for life are judges and this situation placed him in a rather awkward position since be believed in the ordinance on good governance most importantly De Weever said they all worked on the legislation and he did not feel having a review of the committee after three years were sufficient for government. The island council man said he is rather frustrated with the National Alliance/Heyliger and Laviest government because in his opinion they believe they would hold power forever, thus they have not been showing respect to the other members of the island council. De Weever said the executive council has refused to answer questions posed to them by the opposition reason why he felt he needed to take the route he took which was to establish his frustration. Asked why he did not stop the process when he was the chairman of the central committee De Weever said he submitted a seven-page letter with concerns and asked questions even then. He said the legislation was geared at controlling commissioners and to take away their responsibility and put in the hands of a foundation is not ethical or correct, because it was belief that responsibility lies with those elected.
