Philipsburg:--- The appointment of the deputy clerk of Parliament which was scheduled to take place on Friday had to be postponed until another meeting of parliament is scheduled. It appears as though some members of the United Peoples Party Faction are not in favor of the appointment unless more clarity is given by the presidium members who chose to appoint Atwell Terrence Rey to the position.On Friday morning, it was obvious that the members of the UP faction were not satisfied with what was presented to them during the week when they caucused. After the faction leaders meeting on Friday morning, UP faction leader Romain LaVille called in his members into a private meeting to explain to them what he learnt during the faction leaders meeting, and to update them on the concerns of the National Alliance faction. While that meeting went pass the time that parliament was supposed to convene chairlady of parliament Gracita Arrindell sent two messages to her faction members telling them that she was ready to start and they needed to sign in to give her a quorum, but when the message was sent the second time Member of Parliament Jules James chased the messenger out of the room telling him he should not disturb them again.
Sometime, after Arrindell went to the meeting room to call her members but instead of coming out they invited her to sit in the meeting that they were holding. By the time the members of the United Peoples Party Faction was ready to move forward with the people's business the time for convening the meeting based on the rules of order had already elapsed forcing the chairlady to postpone the meeting until another time. That meeting will now be called on Monday at 10am. Members of the United Peoples Party met on Friday afternoon where they continued the discussions on the appointment of Atwell Terrence Rey. Sources close to the party said they are considering appointing Rey as a policy advisor and financing administrator instead of deputy clerk.
After that, Leader of the National Alliance William Marlin told reporters that it has been years now that he has been voicing his opinion on how the chair should deal with the opening and closing of meetings when there is no quorum. Marlin said that while his faction did not sign in for the meeting they were looking at the coalition since all their members were there and they did not sign in.
Marlin further explained that the National Alliance faction will not be supporting the appointment of Atwell Terrence Rey since Rey was the campaign manager for the chairlady of parliament Gracita Arrindell. Marlin said when Arrindell was appointed to the chair she allowed Rey to work in the position he is now getting and according to him, the position was promised to Rey and parliament is not following good governance.
Marlin said he raised several questions during their faction leaders meeting because the advice they received stated the presidium interviewed one candidate for the position which is the proposed candidate. Besides that Marlin said parliament did not attach the person's curriculum vitae (CV) neither have they received any type of information about the proposed candidate.Marlin said the presidium did not say what salary scale the candidate would receive neither did they say how long he would be hired for. Marlin said they were advised that if they needed more information on the candidate then they need to check at the General Secretary's office for confidential perusing. Marlin said he perused the candidate information only to find out that the candidate does not have a college degree neither does he have the legal background as is required by the advertisement published by parliament.
Marlin said the process has been tainted and it is not in keeping with good governance, and it is not transparent since the person in question was the campaign manager of the chairlady and the candidate (Rey) made several public statements stating that he will be appointed to the position. Marlin said based on that it is clear that a political promise was made to this person. Marlin reminded that the same person sat in the past among the secretarial staff and he was the one who distributed the ballot papers when parliament was voting for Franklin Hanze as their General Secretary. Marlin said he asked questions in the past as to who hired Atwell Terrence Rey. He said during the faction meeting on Friday morning he was told the person was volunteering at the time. He asked how someone could volunteer for a position he applied for or one that he was promised. He said Cassandra Janssen trained for more than a year and she (a civil servant) was not given the opportunity to work neither was she appointed.
Marlin said there are several persons that applied for positions in the secretariat, but subsequently withdrew their application. Three of which are lawyers that are currently practicing on St. Maarten.
Marlin said Atwell Terrence Rey has no legal background and parliament is telling them that when he is appointed, parliament will provide the legal training which will meet the requirements. That alone he said makes the process improper.
Marlin said his faction believes that the application process should be reopened and if they are not able to find candidates that have the educational requirements based on the advertisement then they would have to lower the requirements which would give all the candidates who are interested in applying a fair chance to apply.
Marlin also confirmed that the three lawyers who applied in the beginning for the position claimed to have withdrawn their application.
