Parliament voted on a motion for Government to establish the recommendations in Integrity Reports --- PM
PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs made clear to Parliament on Wednesday that the draft ordinance to establish the integrity chamber on St. Maarten is not to please the Dutch Government. Prime Minister Gumbs reminded the members of parliament that the parliament of St. Maarten voted on a motion unanimously for the government to implement the recommendations made in the various integrity reports. Prime Minister Gumbs further explained that St. Maarten held several discussions with the Netherlands who wanted to force their way by imposing higher supervision on St. Maarten, he said that the government of St. Maarten fought against this measure. He said the Dutch sent a draft law to the council of state to impose article 51. The council of state he said now has to consult with St. Maarten, "despite that I want to make clear that the draft ordinance is not what the Dutch wants."
The debate on the draft ordinance started off with a heated debate with Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard who made clear that while she is not against the integrity chamber, she has several questions about the draft law that was presented to parliament for their approval.
MP Leonard wants to know if government wants parliament to just rubber stamp the draft ordinance or if the parliament of St. Maarten will have the opportunity to make suggestions for changes to be made to the draft ordinance. She said that she is fully in favor of integrity and supports the idea that an entity must be in place to overlook the workings of government to ensure things goes right. MP Leonard said that if the draft ordinance and the establishment of this integrity chamber will hamper the lives of St. Maarteners then she does have a problem with it. MP Leonard also questioned the cost this additional entity will cost St. Maarten.
MP Cornelius de Weever also attacked the issues St. Maarten is facing with the Dutch Government. He said that the current government are not able to govern the country because they are being plagued by the Dutch government. MP De Weever said that the Dutch should establish their own integrity chamber because they are plagued with corruption. He felt that the Dutch is trying to take the splinter out of St. Maarten's eye yet they are leaving the sheet of plywood in their own eyes. He made clear that St. Maarten should not be used as scapegoat to establish an integrity chamber while the Dutch do not have one in their country even though they have the hammer (article 51) which they constantly wants to use against St. Maarten. He said based on the draft ordinance the integrity chamber will be given carte blanche to initiate any investigation against whom they choose to investigate. He asked who will be controlling the "witch-hunt". Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever said in his opinion the role of the Ombudsman will be duplicated and the office of the Public Prosecutor's Office. He felt that this is a measure to "divide and conquer", he felt that the integrity chamber will not be in the interest of St. Maarten but against the country and its people, also he want to know who will pay for this new entity even though entities such as the Tourism Authority cannot get the much needed monies they need to function. "The integrity chamber is meant to create jobs for others and not St. Maarteners, and this will be the next CFT."
Member of Parliament Silvio Matser asked several questions on the draft ordinance, he said based on what he saw St. Maarten is creating a "gestapo" situation on the island where people will be snitching on each other. MP Master wants to know if there is any Integrity Chamber on any other of the Dutch islands and or countries and if there is he wants to know how those chambers function, Matser also wants to know why would there be three members and not a five member board where three will be appointed by St. Maarten and the others by the Netherlands. He asked what consequences this chamber would have on the lives on the people of St. Maarten. Matser further asked who wrote the articles in the draft ordinance, or was it duplicated from somewhere, he further asked if the articles of the draft ordinance was written by people on St. Maarten if they thought of the consequences it will have on their own lives. He also asked why the integrity chamber when established would have the right to go back to 2010 when conducting investigations.
MP Leona Marlin Romeo said that it's the right of every county to tackle corruption, code of ethics, as well as integrity. Marlin- Romeo, said that while she agrees with the concerns of her colleagues she do believe that St. Maarten needs such a chamber in place and therefore supports the Prime Minister.
Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams fired several questions to the Prime Minister in reference to the governing accord and asked that it be presented to parliament. MP Wescot Williams asked several questions on the draft ordinance which was fully modified after government received an advice from the council of advice. She also made clear that a document that is so important should have been made available in the English Language in order for every citizen on St. Maarten to read. MP Wescot Williams pointed out conflicts where its states that the integrity chamber has to submit its advices to the Council of Ministers who will have the task to execute them. She said that what if these advices has to do with Ministers or the entire Council of Ministers.
MP Christopher Emmanuel did not go light on the Prime Minister, Emmanuel made it clear to the Prime Minister that he does not believe him when he told parliament that the draft ordinance was not to please the Dutch. MP Emmanuel then went on to say that government is violating the country's constitution when they present a draft law in Dutch, he said he has to smile when his colleagues asked that the law be presented in the English Language.
MP Emmanuel hammered Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs who said in his inauguration ceremony that the government would be open, transparent and with integrity yet the same Prime Minister stopped the weekly press briefings. The press secretariat is no longer there MP Emmanuel said. Prime Minister Gumbs had the gall to walk into parliament saying it's an integrity issue. He said that if there is transparency and openness, government would have provided the information parliament requested, such as the $3M contract between the St. Maarten Harbor Group of Companies and Checkmate Security, the Rainforest Adventure long lease deal, the MOU signed with a foreign company and GEBE. MP Emmanuel said that it must be made clear that Dutch government has no problem with the people of St. Maarten but instead they have a huge problem with the current government. Emmanuel made clear he does not believe the Prime Minister when he said that the integrity ordinance is not about the Dutch, he asked for the governing program that is referred to in the draft ordinance.
He said the Prime Minister is talking about integrity yet he is not complying with the requests of parliament. Emmanuel quoted several media articles that were published on SMN News. He asked who really is the Minister of VROMI, is it MP Theodore Heyliger or is Acting Minister of VROMI Marcel Gumbs. "He asked the Prime Minister if he already signed off on the Long lease for Rainforest Adventure which was booked in at General Affairs under div number 3921. He asked how it is possible for the Prime Minister to be a Prime Minister of one country yet he lives in another country. It should be noted that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs resides on the French side of island specifically in French Quarter.
MP Emmanuel calls on the Prime Minister to inform Parliament where he is living because all of that are issues of integrity. MP Emmanuel ordered the Prime Minister to go and fix the draft ordinance by naming the persons who will be targeted by the integrity chamber. He said that nobody will bind him in such a law. MP Emmanuel insisted that he wanted to know who drafted the law, where is the Prime Minister living and most of all he wants to know if the long lease for Rainforest Adventure was signed off. He mentioned the issues currently circulating at GEBE where the CFO has misused his credit card and even bought a vehicle for $45,000.00. All of this happened under the Prime Minister's watch since GEBE falls directly under him.
MP Silveria Jacobs also pointed several discrepancies, and gave examples as to what could happen if the draft law is passed the way it is. She said several persons could be affected for minor matters.
MP William Marlin shared the sentiments where he said that the integrity chamber is being forced on St. Maarten and the current government succumbed to the Dutch government. MP Marlin said St. Maarten had the Pourier report and the Bakkers report and nothing was done by St. Maarten and thus brought higher supervision to the island.
MP Marlin mentioned the issuance of several bus and taxi licenses and government land when government is changing. He said this happens with all governments. MP Marlin said he understand the statements made by his colleagues who said that this chamber will infringe on the lives of locals but also felt that something has to be done. That something he said is government has to make proper polices that must be followed. Marlin said St. Maarten has an Ombudsman who takes cares of complaints by the people. He said because of the higher supervision that was imposed on the island St. Maarten had to establish several policies to regulate the issuance of bus and taxi licenses, issuance of long lease land. He said government has to upgrade the policies and putting proper policies in place and that will eliminate the need for the integrity chamber. Even the bidding process he said has to be properly controlled as well as the government owned companies. MP Marlin said the integrity reports pointed out the integrity breaches that even borders on criminal procedures. He asked what government did to ensure that these breaches does not take place in the future.
Marlin said that what is amazing is that the draft ordinance states that there will be three members, two appointed by the Dutch and one by St. Maarten, yet the Prime Minister told Parliament that the draft ordinance to establish is one from St. Maarten and not from the Dutch even though they have two thirds majority and sole control over the secretariat. "We need to do it ourselves, we need to clean up our own mess we cannot invite the Dutch here and allow them to invade every community to witch-hunt. It would have been better if the Dutch forced themselves on us and when they do that St. Maarten and its people could 'stone/ or throw rocks' at them when it is needed. We have to stop the practice where Ministers are using government owned companies as their personal piggy banks to finance their personal pet projects." Marlin said when the Prime Minister reported to parliament some weeks ago he was asked about the MOU that GEBE signed for the waste management plant and instead of providing parliament with the information the Prime Minister told Parliament that he could not share that information with Parliament.
MP Theodore Heyliger was very brief, he asked what the consequences are if persons' names are tainted by this chamber, he also asked if the Parliament of St. Maarten does not pass the draft law what would be the consequences to St. Maarten.
Responding to questions posed in the first round, Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson said after listening to the Members of Parliament left him somewhat confused. He said when you listen from the outside you hear Members of Parliament accusing each other of integrity breaches. Minister Richardson said that the Members of Parliament forget that the integrity chamber came from an advice from a committee that was established by St. Maarten. Furthermore, the Parliament of St. Maarten should decide if they want to continue with the establishing of an integrity chamber, and while thinking about that Minister Richardson said Parliament should know the consequences of their decisions. One which is that the Kingdom will use its force and impose an integrity chamber on St. Maarten with only Dutch civil servants. The Minister of Justice went on to inform Parliament of the consequences of their decisions and they should be prepared to take the responsibility of their decisions when voting. He said that some of the concerns shared by the Members of Parliament are indeed serious and warrants concerns. Minister Richardson said when he listened to the Members of Parliament the first thing that came to his mind is to quote a scripture from the Bible that says "he who is without sin should cast the first stone." Minister Richardson further explained to Parliament some of the problems government encountered while negotiating with the Dutch government. He said the draft ordinance had a committee in place to overlook the 'witch hunting" but the Dutch wanted that out but they agreed to have to accept two other suggestions St. Maarten made. He said so far there is still one issue that he personally has with the Dutch is the protection of people who might be subjected to an integrity investigation but the Dutch will not budge.
The Minister of Justice then went into explaining to Parliament some of the problems his Ministry is facing and how difficult it is for him to function.
Minister Richardson suggested to Parliament to take a decision as to what they will do prior to them answering the questions. With that MP Cornelius de Weever asked for the proposals from the Dutch so that they can compare, while MP Tamara Leonard responded by saying that they should continue if they are able to work together to work on the draft law. While MP Heyliger made the same suggestions however, he said that this discussion should take place across the board and involves everyone in Parliament. MP Sarah Wescot Williams in her response said that in no way she contributed to the feeling that Parliament should not continue with the debate on the draft law. She said that she asked pertinent questions and she expects the answers and documents. Furthermore, she said he believe that Parliament should continue with the discussion on the draft law on the establishing the integrity chamber. MP George Pantoplet and MP Silveria Jacobs said that they do not know where the Minister got the impression that they do not want to continue. They said the draft law raises concern to everyone, and therefore they are doing their jobs by asking questions on the law, both National Alliance MPs said that want the discussion to continue.
MP Christopher Emmanuel said he asked questions and he wants the answers to the questions he posed because when Ministers escape from the house of parliament the answers never gets to them. With the decision taken by several Members of Parliament government have decided that they will prepare the answers in writing and present it to Parliament on Friday morning when the meeting reconvenes.
