PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams along with the party's advisor Emil Lee stressed that the government of St. Maarten should provide the parliament of St. Maarten with the answers to the question they posed to the government and government owned companies.
Wescot Williams told reporters at her bi-monthly press conference on Tuesday that the functioning of government is a two way street. "Government has to work with Parliament and vise-versa. Government cannot expect Parliament to work with them and they in turn refuses to provide information to Parliament when they request it." Wescot Williams made clear she has no intention of stalling any meetings of Parliament even when it comes from the government, she said it was regretful with what transpired on Monday when the Central Committee of Parliament on Monday could not take place due to a lack of quorum. The Democratic Party Member of Parliament said that on Monday she arrived at the meeting late since she attended a funeral and before she could have checked the list and sign in the chairman of Parliament dropped the hammer and closed the meeting. "It's never my intention to stall meetings because I know that both government and parliament have to work together. I personally had a lot of questions that I wanted to pose to the two Ministers that were present because government is boasting on transparency especially in the draft ordinance on the Integrity Chamber but they are contradicting themselves when it comes to providing parliament and the people of St. Maarten with information." Wescot Williams further explained that they have been asking about the St. Maarten Tourism Authority (STA) that has to be established and while not able to receive that information they read on SMN News that a candidate of the UPP received a marketing contract from government. Wescot Williams said the same happened with government owned companies especially the St. Maarten Harbor Group of Companies (SMHGC) and GEBE. Wescot Williams lamented on the fact that Members of Parliament have to pick up bits and pieces of information from the media and other places. She said just recently they saw in the letter the Minister of Finance Martin Hassink on behalf of government sent r to the CFT where he mentioned the Social Economic Plan, and the restructuring of the tax system, yet parliament does not have this information. She said the current government is in office just over one hundred days and they still cannot present the parliament and the people of St. Maarten with a governing program. In the same letter to the CFT; the Minister of Finance stated he intends to collect some NAF.720M from the private and public sector. She said that there should be a bureau to handle matters of the private and public sector. Wescot Williams said that the government need to get their acts together and provide the information parliament (opposition) requested. She said there should not be another situation like what transpired at the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF). Wescot Williams further explained that the Democratic Party requested information on several topics such as the short term labor contracts, the St. Maarten Medical Center and other health related issues, the St. Maarten Tourism Authority (STA) and the Timeshare legislation, notwithstanding information from the government owned companies. "Government continues to belie (contradict) themselves while they are preaching about transparency they are withholding information from Members of Parliament sitting on the opposition benches."
Government should look at its budget now --- Devaluation of Foreign Currency will affect the Economy – Emil Lee.
Advisor to the Democratic Party and businessman Emil Lee called on government to pay keen attention to the devaluing of foreign currency and how it will affect the budget of Government. Lee said government should not wait until the end of the year to try and make amendments to the budget when they could not collect what they anticipated.
Lee said the Euros dropped drastically so is the Canadian dollar which means that the tourism market will be affected. He said travelers from Europe will not travel as much because coming to St. Maarten will cost them more. Lee further stated that while there is a potential problem with the devaluing of the Euros the government of St. Maarten still does not have a sales representative in Europe to market the island. Secondly, he said residents of the French side will start shopping on their side of the island because the Euros and Dollars is almost the same. "Supermarkets on the French side begin advertising more to attract customers on their side of the island, meaning supermarkets on the Dutch side will lose monies. Lee said another thing government has to take care of is paying the sales representatives in North America whom he said were not paid since March 2014. "How do you expect people to push the island if they are not being paid for over a year?" Lee said that St. Maarten was somewhat lucky these past months because of the heavy winter season in Canada and the United States because travelers came to the island despite the high prices to escape the cold weather and snow storms.
Asked by SMN News if Parliament received the information they requested from GEBE regarding the MOU they signed with a company from the Dominican Republic and the advice for the long lease to be granted to Rainforest? Wescot Williams said to date they have not gotten any response from government but the Democratic Party will continue to ask for the information each time a meeting of parliament or Central Committee is called.
