It is with great annoyance I listened to the different Parliament meetings and read several comments in the newspapers and on the blogs. One would think that there are complete new ministers and parliamentarians and they just came out of the woodworks and know absolutely NOTHING that is going on in the Government. Let me refresh their memories, because they seem to be having amnesia.
Who were in government 2010 - 2012? Now please Prime Minister, stop playing Pontius Pilate. They are sitting there and acting as if all the bad situations have been caused by the Opposition. Some of those sitting there were even part of the coalition with the same ones in Opposition now. So please explain to me how you Parliamentarians of UP/DP/IND can stand on the floor of Parliament and criticize the present opposition. Worst of all the same Prime Minister has been there with all the 3 coalition governments. So Prime Minister, no disrespect, but this seems to me to be hypocritical, for the Prime Minister is acting as though this situation started one year ago and she is now correcting it.
All the Members of Parliament are to blame. Where are the proposals and legislations that were
Shops and that was passed. But where were the other proposals that would benefit all the people of St. Maarten. To mention a few: New Tax Structure (TAXAND), relief from GEBE, Increasing the Minimum Wage, Increasing of the Old Age Pension, new structure of the Education system (which is Not working) Too many dropouts and too many failures, Pension Plan for the Private Sector, structuring the Labour Office to protect the Workers (Pelican workers!!!!) Those are some of the issues you should be addressing.
I cannot resist mentioning some of the remarks made by the Minister of VROMI, that his leader started with awarding the cleaning of the trenches, I'll borrow Christopher's phrase "you misspoke" and even after MP Louis Laveist corrected you, you still insisted that nothing was done., before you came into government, "going back to basics, hitting the ground running"????, which is just misinformation. Please be honest to the people of St. Maarten. Don't you know that there are persons out there, who know better and are questioning your honesty? There are other projects that were proposed by the former minister of VROMI and was never carried out and now are being done. Do you think, coming in the Newspapers every day, you can fool the people. I had predicted that before you were appointed minister, that you were promised a lucrative position and it happened, now I guess you will be on a list, but people are not as dumb and foolish as they were before, you must come clean to the people, because you have forever been the advisor of the Leader of the UP Party and those projects were there to be carried out, why did you not advise your esteemed Leader of those projects?
This piece is for MP Romain Laville. You have been in every Coalition and now you are complaining that no legislation was passed, you claim to have knocked at doors, that is NOT how you make proposals, proposals should come to the floor of Parliament, you were supposed to come with motions to be voted on and let them vote against it, did you do that? These motions are not supposed to have been passed in closed doors sessions, they should be open and for the public to hear and see. So that, come Elections, you can be scrutinized and evaluated and judged by your performance. You never explained to the Workers at Pelican how come they did not get treated fairly and are still suffering? The workers were left up to the mercy of the Investors. You claim you made several proposals, where were the proposals for the Pelican Workers? Your honor and honesty also comes into question. Like Minister VROMI, you misspoke about the cleaning of the trenches. This project was and will always be the initiative of William Marlin, not you. The same goes for the free school fee, school lunches and more which you stole from the Manifesto of the National Alliance. You don't have one original idea. Like Minister VROMI, you think the people are dumb and stupid but we know exactly what you are.
MP Jules James loves to grandstand, using ugly expressions such "cleaning up poop after the former Finance Minister". That sounds so dumb. I heard you are "Preacher" and I wonder what are your followers thinking? You need to clean up your vocabulary. I would be embarrassed if you were my Preacher. You once mentioned that MP William Marlin is trying to create a legacy and you criticized the proposal for the tunnel. When one is criticizing another person, always think about yourself first. What will be YOUR legacy be? You know what will be your legacy? The Frustrated Pelican Workers. Not a good one?? You are always criticizing the former Finance Minister, but if you were half as productive or knowledgeable as him, you would be recognized.
Lastly, this is a message for MP Roy Marlin. I heard the MP say that the tax monies from DeVry/Medical School is none of the MP's business and he compared this to getting a discount from a jewelry store on front street. Well Mr. MP, this is not the same thing at all and you have disrespected the people of St. Maarten with that comment. I myself was harassed by the tax department for a few thousand guilders. Placing a lean on my house in an effort to get the monies owed. MP Roy Marlin set up himself good and he must be getting a tax break as well for his many businesses. Well MP Roy, where is the tax break for the St. Maarten people? The same people you ask to vote for you so many times in the past.
Theresa Illis
