Marigot: --- While contractors are not being paid, projects that are scheduled to take place are on hold and students of the primary schools are without toilet paper because of the Collectivity’s financial predicament. The COM only has enough monies to pay salaries until the end of the year and a request was made to borrow Euros 20 million, to date the COM has not received any confirmation from the State regarding the requested loan.
Yet elected officials are using taxpayer’s money to rent cars and to buy gasoline for their wives and husbands.
SMN News has seen the wives of at least two vice presidents driving their “voiture de fonction” while they are at work or off island. The wife of first vice president Daniel Gibbs was seen driving the vehicle government provided for Gibbs on Friday. Gibbs is currently off island since Wednesday of this week on business.
This reporter also saw the husband of the head of Social Affairs (DGA Madame Ramasammy) driving her car even on the Dutch side when the foreign employee is on her job. Ramasammy’s husband was seen transporting food for the restaurant he works for. He was also seen a number of times on the Dutch side shopping for the restaurant with a government vehicle. Certain employees of the COM said the DGA would then compel them to clean the vehicle whenever needed. The son of another elected official was also seen on the Dutch side driving the car government provided to his mother even though she is not a vice president.
SMN News managed to retrieve some records from a gas station that supplies government with gasoline for their vehicles.
The records show that several of the elected officials are taking their spouses and even children’s vehicle to the gas station and tanking up. These officials do not pay for the gasoline for their private vehicle instead its tabbed to the Collectivity.
Sources say that senator Louis Constant Fleming brought up this issue with at least two of his vice presidents telling them it is not ethical for their wives to be driving the government vehicle. The source said the senator even raised questions about the vehicle’s insurance, which does not cover spouses and children and he spoke of the gasoline that is taken for private vehicles. It seems however, that the elected officials have not paid heed to the concerns of the senator.
Employees of the COM said just recently they received a “note de service” telling them that human resources would not be honoring any medical certificate submitted by employees. It is said human resources informed the employees that some of them are abusing medical certificates and such no one that is sick would be paid for the days they stayed at home. This of course does not sit well with several of the employees who said that the elected and foreign employees are being paid huge salaries for doing nothing, while their house rents and other expenses are being paid while the locals are penalized.
It is said the employees are in discussion with their union who would be picking up this matter.