PHILIPSBURG: --- Members of the public and the media almost got shut out of the urgent meeting that was called by the National Alliance Faction to discuss the developments at GEBE when the shareholder representative Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs asked that the meeting be held in closed doors due to a court decision that will be forthcoming on July 9th 2015. Leader of the National Alliance Faction William Marlin objected to the request stating that his faction requested the meeting since June 10th 2015 and only on Friday June 26th an urgent meeting could have been scheduled. Marlin further explained that due to the information they are picking up on the streets and in the media they asked for the meeting because as Members of Parliament they simply don’t know what was taking place at the government owned company. Shortly after Marlin made his statements, MP Franklin Meyers said that his faction has no problem with having the meeting open (public) because they do not want to give anyone the impression that they have anything to hide. The only Member of Parliament who voted for the meeting to be held in closed doors was MP Cornelius de Weever. MP Frans Richardson said it is a shame that Members of Parliament had to vote on whether or not to keep a meeting open, because he felt that the Prime Minister could have met with Members of Parliament prior to the starting of the meeting and made his position known.
Of the 13 votes cast, 12 voted for the meeting to be held as a public meeting while the one was against.
Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs in his brief remarks told Parliament that there were a number of correspondence between the shareholder, the supervisory board and the Chief Operations Officer. Gumbs said that the Supervisory board sent a letter to the Council of Ministers in February 2015 asking that the shareholder extend the contract for the COO Romelio Maduro for two years with two months bonus since his work was outstanding and thus should be rewarded. He said in the letter sent to the Council of Ministers by the Supervisory Board they stated that the COO Romelio Maduro is the best thing that ever happened to GEBE. Gumbs said the Council of Ministers took a decision on March 25th 2015 to grant the supervisory board their request which was to extend the COO contract by two years with the two months bonus. Prime Minister Gumbs said both the Supervisory Board and the COO were informed of that decision. Prime Minister Gumbs said after that there were a series of correspondence from the Supervisory Board to the shareholder representative and from the COO. He said on May 15th the Supervisory Board sent letter to the shareholder requesting that they withdraw the decision they took on March 25th and requested that the contract be extended without the bonus because of “gross misconduct.” Prime Minister Gumbs further explained that on May 29th the shareholder again complied and extended the contract as requested by the supervisory board since the supervisory board indicated to the shareholder that they could not find an immediate replacement. He said immediately following that the Supervisory Board started a court case against the COO and the hearing was on Thursday. He said that government was summoned by the court as the judge wanted to hear from government and when that was done, the judge asked both parties to come to an amicable decision but that was not possible therefore the judge will render his verdict on July 9th. After the information was given to Parliament Member of Parliament William Marlin said that prior to them calling for the meeting they as Members of Parliament were already confused but the information the Prime Minister shared made matters worse because they are more confused than before. He said in his opinion the situation at GEBE warrants an investigation. Marlin asked the shareholder to provide parliament with the communications he had with both parties and to inform parliament of the type of communication the supervisory board has with the COO. He asked the shareholder to tell parliament explicitly the status of the COO, does he have a contract with GEBE or has he been suspended because the COO was locked out of his office, the keys, car and telephone have been taken away. Marlin said the impression he is getting is that there is some sort of power play taking place between the supervisory board and the shareholder. He asked the shareholder representative to also inform parliament on the Memorandum of Understanding with the purchase of power. Marlin then raised questions on the contract GEBE signed with St. Maarten Service Provider owned by Alfred Harley. He asked the shareholder to inform parliament what kind of services this company will provide to GEBE and what is the amount of the contract since he heard the contract is over $250,000.00. Marlin then asked about the check the COO wrote out to that company in the sum of $68,000.00 while his job was in limbo. Marlin asked the shareholder to provide parliament with the decision the Council of Ministers took to extend the COO contract and also for the procedures that are being followed to appoint CEO, CFO and COO’s of government owned company.
MP Silveria Jacobs cautioned in her statements that there needs to be openness and transparency in government to avoid the hearsays on St. Maarten. MP Jacobs said that there must be transparency and accountability in government and government owned companies. She asked if the shareholder has the rights to circumvent decisions taken by the supervisory boards. Further to that she asked if the supervisory board ever retracted their letter of February where they asked that the COO’s contract be extended with two months bonus. MP Jacobs said she wants to know if the rules on corporate governance were applied in this case both by the shareholder and supervisory board.
MP Christopher Emmanuel was much more prepared as he had more information and documents while he was asking his questions to the shareholder representative. “Situations such as these are the cause that the Dutch is pushing the integrity chamber down the throats of the people on St. Maarten.” MP Emmanuel then turn to his colleagues in parliament and said that the MP’s that were present in parliament on Friday are the MPs that are working while the others are out wheeling and dealing. He said that there are elected officials that have their hands in the daily operations of GEBE. MP Emmanuel then went into the check that the COO wrote out for St. Maarten Service Provider to the tune of $68,000.00 on May 31st 2015. MP Emmanuel said that the company that is owned by a former journalist has to do with the making of a brochure for GEBE which has no more than 30 pages. He said when the COO was informed that he cannot sign checks that surpasses $50,000.00 he then cancelled that check and on June 2nd 2015 wrote another check for $48,000.00 then one day later he wrote a third check for $20,000.00 while the COO did not seem to have a working contract with the company. Emmanuel said that when his colleague William Marlin mentioned the check that was written out by the COO he saw the astonishing look on the Prime Minister’s face, therefore he wants to know if the Prime Minister is aware of what really happened at GEBE. MP Emmanuel asked the Prime Minister if the COO had a contract or not when he signed the checks. Emmanuel then pulled out a letter that the WIFOL/ASWE wrote to the Prime Minister on June 1st 2015 requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss what is going on with the workers and management of GEBE, but to date the Prime Minister did not respond to the union. Emmanuel said if the Prime Minister was interested in knowing what is happening at the government owned company he would have met with the representatives of the workers some of whom are working for GEBE to get proper information. MP Emmanuel then asked the Prime Minister if the Supervisory Board got the decision taken by the Council of Ministers that was taken on May 20th 2015 when they decided they will not renew the COO’s contract at that time instead they would wait and see how the supervisory board and the COO would work out their differences.
With the questions posed and requests for documents the meeting was adjourned to Monday in order for Government to gather its information and documents to submit to Parliament.
