Philipsburg: --- Leader of Government and commissioner of Constitutional Affairs William Marlin in a press conference on Thursday said St. Maarten has made a lot of head way during the last weeks since the new government took office. He said the accomplishments of the new government should not be taken lightly, even though there are people who are trying to downplay their achievements.
The new leader of government said while there is no date set for the achieving of country, they do have a time line in place. During this time the parliament of the Netherlands Antilles will be extended since the islands cannot have two sets of elections. Marlin said sometime in 2010 there would be one election where they would be electing a 15 member council. Seven of which are going to be commissioners.
During this election the island would be separating the responsibilities for the legislative branch from the executive branch. He said someone who is a commissioner would not be able to hold on to their seat in the island council. The system he said would be similar to that of the parliament and central government. This he said would be in preparation for the 15 members for the first parliament for St. Maarten. When the island attains it status then there would no longer be an executive council instead it would move over to the Council of Ministers with a Prime Minister as chairman.
The island leader said that the reason for taking such a decision is because St. Maarten and the other entities would need more time to prepare to take on country status and not going to the people for another central government election. Marlin said no politician in their right mind would go back to the voters and loose their credibility with an election for the central government which is slated for March 2010. Marlin said the date on which St. Maarten and Curacao as well as the BES islands would take effect would be established in September during their political steering group meeting. During these meetings he said a possible date for an election would also be established.
Explaining the headways the new government has made Marlin said they have managed to turn the negative perception of the Dutch and created hope for the future.
Marlin said when he took office some three weeks ago he promised they would do things differently on the constitutional front which they have made a priority for the National Alliance/ Theo Heyliger government.
Marlin said their intention is to put the various structures in place that can accommodate country St. Maarten. Some of the things that will be put in place is the ombudsman, the MOT, and the gaming control board process all of which the Dutch were complaining about over the last year.
The new government also intends to install the department of civil aviation and the department of justice. Departments that already exist on St. Maarten will be upgraded and expanded to meet the criteria for country St. Maarten as well as practice good governance by filling the critical vacancies that presently exist.
Marlin said during his discussions on Curacao he made clear that St. Maarten would need financial help as well as qualified personnel with experience to help set up the institutions for country St. Maarten. The leader of government said after the discussions were completed they signed two agreements, one with the central government and the other with the Dutch government.
He said the agreement with the Central government stipulates that the central government will assist in setting up branch offices on St. Maarten. The central government also agreed to make personnel available for these departments. He said knowing that neither St. Maarten and the Central government does not have the finances and personnel available to make this happen he discussed it with the Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveldt-Schouten who signed an agreement on Wednesday. Marlin said with that agreement the Dutch Government has agreed to support and assist St. Maarten in the setting up of the central government departments on St. Maarten so that they can meet the criteria to become country by the end of October 2010. Marlin said by the end of July 2008 the island would know the type of assistance and the amount of monies the Dutch will put forward for the setting up of these departments.
Even though there are agreements in place no calculations been done on how much money and persons would be needed.
Marlin said there are those who are trying to play down their achievements he reminded that even after the visit to The Hague the Dutch was very critical of St. Maarten becoming a country. Marlin said it is clear that Curacao is fully prepared to take on their new status but St. Maarten is not for the lack of infrastructures.
He said while the island has a few departments in place they are understaffed and under equipped. He gave an example of the tax office whose legislative body is in Curacao while there is an office locally. This he said applied for bureau telecommunications.
Marlin said during his bilateral talks with Ank Bijleveldt-Schouten two things were made very clear. That St. Maarten would not agree to give the Dutch more autonomy over the island. He explained that the Dutch State Secretary asked if the island would agree to have the Dutch take responsibility for the areas that the island was not ready to take on. Marlin said he was further asked that if the island refused option what would be the solution and he asked why the Dutch government assists St. Maarten in establishing that which is not in place. He said he made clear that all responsibilities must remain local since they have no intention of moving from the central government and go over to the Dutch. He said he made clear that the people of St. Maarten voted for country status and that is what they would be accepting.
Marlin said his government would continue to work hard to change the negative image of the island.
He concluded by saying that several persons have contacted him offering their services to assist the island setting up for the transition. He said while he was contacted by experts and qualified people who wants to assist they would be looking in bringing back St. Maarten students who are living abroad who were labeled as over qualified.