RRR Sends Letter to President --- Ask that Rules of Governance Be Respected.

Group of elected officials members of the Island Council of ST-MARTIN

M. Frantz GUMBS
President of the Island Council

Hôtel de la Collectivité
Marigot
SAINT-MARTIN

St-Martin, le 03-12-2009

Honorable President,

As I had proposed to do, please find the integral text of my intervention during the last Island Council meeting

Very respectfully,

« Honorable President, my dear colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to address a matter which I consider to be serious, or rather very serious because it deals with the credibility of our institutions and therefore of our community at large.
Within the Republic, the institutions play a major role in the matter of governance. The institutions are the pillars of Democracy. That is why one usually says that men pass, but institutions remain.
To ensure good governance and the stability of institutions, there are major regulations which are to be observed and respected:

- The separation of powers,
- The non intrusion,
- The autonomy of the administrative divisions or communities,
- The independence of some functions,
- etc.
-
Our community is also provided with institutions and the main institutions are:
- The Territorial
- The Territorial Council or Island Council
- The President
- The Advisory Council for economic, social and cultural affairs

Furthermore, our community is also represented on the national level in some institutions of the Republic (the Parliament and for now, the Senate as well as the National Advisory Council for economic and social affairs).
At all levels of the Republic, the above mentioned regulations (separation of powers, independence, autonomy and non intrusion) remain fundamental.
No matter how much of a President you say you are, I dare you to sit in any seat at the Senate's level or to even become a senator.
Mister President, my dear colleagues, I wish to call to remembrance when President first took office, I protested and questioned him on the legality and the legitimacy of the fact that the Senator Louis-Constant FLEMING sat at the head table during our council meeting seeing he is not a member of the said council (seeing he had been demoted from his position). I was then attacked and criticized as if I had dared to touch the untouchable. One even asked me, even accused me of having a personal problem with or against M. L.-C. FLEMING.
Honorable President, from the beginning of your presidency, the Senator has systematically sat at the head table of all your council meetings. Not only did he sit but the very calendar of meetings was determined based on whether or not he could be present and attend.
The problem does not stop here, unfortunately. It is the Senator who announces and who presents in the press before hand and generally in exclusivity all the projects that Island Government of Saint-Martin is or will be working on. In all his radio interviews, he only deals with subject matters which are the exclusive affairs of the Island territory's institutions (whether the President's, the Advisory council or the Island Council's). He's the one who talks about local taxes, on the finances of the local government, on the administration of the Island Community, on its investments, in short, on every matter that does not fall under his portfolio as Senator. In fact, all those indications clearly demonstrate that the Senator is de facto the President.
Thus, during the Sandy-Ground Fête, on August 15 last, the elected officials learnt while the Senator gave his speech, that there will be a road that will go along the coast of the lagoon and which, at the level of the Sandy-Ground bridge, will cross over the lagoon to reach the area of Bellevue. He even informed everyone on that occasion the bid was done. Neither this Council, nor the executive council, nor the committee for bids have been convened to decide upon any such matter. (If this project is a project conducted by the Senate, please, accept my most sincere apologies for having unjustly accused the Senator L.-C. FLEMING who actually only acted rightfully).
Here's another recent example. On the airwaves of one of the local radio stations, the Senator announced the imminent putting in place on the territory of the island of Saint-Martin, of a tax that will be similar to the « turnover tax ». He went ahead and gave details regarding its implementation, the regulations that will enforce it, etc. All the while, neither the Committee for fiscal matters, neither the Island Council, none had been informed and of course, none had issued any statement on this matter. I wish to recall that the supreme institution regarding fiscal matters in the new framework is the Island Council. Here again, if the creation of such a tax on St-Martin is a competency of the Senate or a project conducted by the Senate, again, I wish to reiterate my most sincere apologies for false accusations against the person of the Senator. But if the fiscal competency is the affair of the Island Council, the Senator is actually sticking his nose into affairs that are not any of his concerns as Senator. The competency is that of the Island Council, and so the Senator's behavior once more attests to the fact that he is de facto the President of this island territory.
This whole « Mix up Mary » ruins the reputation of our institutions.
One could draft a long list of such intrusions on the Senator's behalf.
Not only does he shamelessly monopolize for himself the President's duties and operate within the President's sphere of operation (which shows that we have a Presidency devoid of any political weight), but worse yet, he dares to openly curse the present occupant of the presidential position.
I strongly feel that he had gone too far when he introduced the request for an amendment of the organic law. Indeed, chapter 2 of the proposed organic law n° 634 was exclusively concerned with the institutions of our Island Territory and the balance of powers and in so doing; this proposed modification was endangering the very essence of our Council. And yet, we the elected officials of this very same Council, only learnt about this proposed reform after the said text was presented before the Senate by the Senator – and this without even having the courtesy of informing us or worse yet, of considering to encourage a discussion on the proposition within the Island Council by its members.
A reform that concerns our institutions, initiated locally but on which the local institutions did have a word to say. The situation grew in importance after the open protest that came from my political group. It became a battle made up of "it's not me, it's him who started it". The Senator, in order to clear his name, Mister President GUMBS, stabbed you in the back and our institution, the Island Council of the island of Saint-Martin became stained and sullied.

In the press of the southern side and worse yet, amidst the St Martin's Day celebrations, the Senator told the Today and I quote as written in the paper of November 13 : « I am not in the Territorial Council and I cannot make demands for changes that persons accuse me of. I have asked one of my colleagues in the Senate to look into the organic law as it relates to building permit and amendments to collect gasoline tax. The other things that he has been accused of with regards to the functioning of the Collectivité are requests made by the office of the President. I have that request in black and white from the President's office. I am not here to be politicking with one or the other but I have heard that the President has presented changes in the council and cannot defend it. A good leader defends what he believes in ». end of quotation.
Should we understand in fact that seeing that the Senator could not attend the Island Council meeting of October 29 last – being called by the Prefet who wished to stated his position on the proposed amendment of the organic law by the Senator – he states that once his back is turned, or once his persuasive or dissuasive authority is not there, which is manifested by the fact that he sits at the head table of the island council, that the President is lost and the other elected officials of the ruling majority take too much liberty? This reminds me of a song from the late Bob Marley « when the cats away , the mice play ».
All this deeply jeopardizes the image of the institution of the President, and unfortunately, you do nothing to remediate. The manner in which you fulfill your duties, shows how limited these duties are in reality. A weak presidency, indecisive and silent makes your duty insignificant in the eyes of the population. The instability which your majority has demonstrated : in one year the removing of L C FLEMING, followed by the cancelation of an election for irregularity in the case of F GUMBS is by far too much.
Mister President, the presidency by which you rule is one under control. You allow another to walk over you, to walk ahead of you, you allow the senator to govern in your stead. They are your duties, Mister President, not his. As you very well know, nature hates void. If you don't operate in your capacity, someone else will do so. But the risk is also to see administrative staff take the lead when the political authority is dormant.

I solemnly and earnestly ask of you, Mister President :

- That the rule of good governance be respected on this territory of ours and amidst the assembly meetings. The Senator must not sit around the table. He is not an elected official member of this council. Have you ever considered going to sit at the Senate ?
- Exercise and assume the fullness of your duties and obligations. Put back in their place all those who have engulfed themselves in the vacuum that you had allowed to be.

I take the opportunity to officially ask for a copy of the official request which the Senator has said to have received from your cabinet listing the areas in which your government has wished to amend the organic law. He says it is him, it is you. In advance, I thank you for providing me with the copy of that document.

- Fix all internal quarrels among the various personalities and the various departments of the Government Building. It is unacceptable that such quarrels (between the President of the Tourism Bureau and the Vice President in charge of tourism) the partnership between the two sides of the island has turned out to be a game of hide and seek. The outcome of such disputes jeopardizes the image and the credibility and the future of our island territory.

If it is not for you, if it is for your presidency, please do it for ST-MARTIN, ; you owe it to the people, you owe it to our newly established institutions.
Mister President, Sorry to say it, BUT STOP BEING A NICE BOY AND PRESIDE.
Alain RICHARDSON.
President of the RRR group.