PHILIPSBURG:--- The continuation of the Central Committee meeting on May 7th 2015 on the Harbor Security contract was a show of total disregard for the Parliament of this country.
Unfortunately I could not attend that particular meeting due to the funeral of my mother, however what I heard and read of Government's representation was outright embarrassing.
With all that has been written and said in the media, government still refuses to present Parliament with a copy or at the very least with the factual details of the contract the harbor has entered into with Checkmate Security company.
To add insult to injury, a document that was provided in the meeting of May 7th to members of Parliament for their "eyes only", was allegedly the working copy of the Minister of TEATT, the honorable Claret Conner. The particulars of this document, that included a handwritten amendment by the Minister to the amount mentioned in the contract, is public knowledge. It is any-one's guess which version this is or whether this even is the contract in question.
Answers to known questions have been put off for another 2 weeks. And the Chairperson of Parliament has concluded that this topic has been sufficiently addressed. Really??
Some members of Parliament attempted to turn this into a local vs foreigner debate. Then those members who feel that way should share with parliament who indeed the principals are, with whom the harbor has entered into this "new" security contract. But this is not about who. It is about what, namely a unsavory contract entered into by a government-owned company.
It is unbelievable and in my view unacceptable that a government in this day and age, aided by a section of parliament can get away with this type of behavior and a government-owned company that thumbs its nose at parliament. What a charade!
Although it is a route that I have always cautioned should be threaded very carefully, I am thinking more and more that this situation is begging for a parliamentary inquiry.
Something that I will propose to parliament, if by the 2-week period, the Government still continues to dance around this matter and continues to insult the intelligence of Parliament.
DP Faction Press Release
