Dear Editor,
Please allow me some space in your well-read publication to voice some concerns and pose a few questions to Parliament and Minister Heyliger.
During the recent Central Committee meetings on the draft 2012 Budget for Country St. Maarten one of the factions of parliament repeatedly requested that Ministers present an outline of their intended policies in relation to the draft Budget. My hope was that this line of questioning was an indication that parliament would finally make use of its right and duty to question and scrutinize government’s policies. This hope was, however, quickly crushed when not one of our fifteen parliamentarians came to the Town Hall meeting about the draft development plan for Simpson Bay which was hosted by the Ministry of VROMI and held in the A. Halley Sports Centre in Simpson Bay on Thursday March 8th, 2012. If parliamentarians are truly interested in the Ministers’ policies then what better opportunity is there to review these policies (in this case a draft zoning plan) and gauge the population’s opinion on the matter than attending a Town Hall meeting?
It seems that Members of Parliament who it should be noted have all sworn an oath to “uphold the Constitution” and “Champion the interest of St. Maarten” are sleeping, have been persuaded to be silent (and not even support their own motions) or have found contentment in doing very little.
It should also be noted that the Minister of VROMI himself was absent during last week’s Town Hall meeting. Was the meeting not important enough for the Minister to attend? Where were his Executive Assistants and other immediate staff members? Where was the Secretary General of VROMI? It is no secret that implementing zoning plans or any other legislation regarding the protection of the environment, though very necessary, is of little interest to Minister Heyliger as such legislation may at some point hamper one of his grandiose and largely cosmetic infrastructural projects such as the ring-road and the bridge across the Simpson Bay Lagoon. Perhaps Minister Heyliger, the Secretary General of VROMI and supporting staff opted to stay away from the Simpson Bay meeting as they have no intention to heed the people’s concerns and opinions anyway.
Last Thursday’s meeting quickly became unmanageable for the VROM staff and consultants on hand to present the draft zoning plans and facilitate discussion. The general sentiment among many of those of us attending the meeting was that much of what was being presented by VROM as proposals, such as the bridge across the Lagoon and Link 8, to name a few, is already a “done deal” and that there was little room for discussion or genuine regard for public opinion. The fact that the Minister and his immediate representatives chose not to attend the meeting only made matters worse.
An interesting fact is that the Town Hall Meeting about Conservation Areas scheduled to take place on Wednesday March 14th, 2012 at the Belair Community Centre was postponed indefinitely and without reason on Tuesday March 13th, 2012. Those of us planning to attend this meeting are left to wonder why it was postponed at such short notice and if it will ever be rescheduled.
I would like to call on our parliamentarians to wake-up, remember their oath “to uphold the Constitution of Sint Maarten” and “champion the interests of Sint Maarten” (Article 56 Constitution of Country Sint Maarten) and do what they have been elected to do; legislate and take the initiative to question and carry-out comprehensive research regarding Government’s policies. I look forward to seeing our Parliamentarians and Ministers at the next Town Hall meeting, that is of course providing that Minister Heyliger allows these meetings to continue.
Rueben J. Thompson
Vice President
St. Maarten Pride Foundation
