Philipsburg:--- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams will be appointing Chief Inspector of Police Anthony "Tony" Rogers as the Commander of the Voluntary Korps of St. Maarten (VKS) in the very near future. SMN News has been reliably informed that Rogers will be leaving the Police Force sometime this year as he reaches his pensionable age. It is not yet known if Rogers will be taking up the new position before he goes on pension or if he will serve KPSM until his last day.
According to information provided to SMN News, the current Commander of the VKS Jean Illidge will be serving as Commander up until February 28th, 2013. Illidge will be leaving on pension at the end of this month. It is also understood that Paul Martens will serve as the interim commander until Rogers takes up the position as commander.
SMN News also learnt that since St. Maarten became a country on October 10th, 2010 the government of St. Maarten did not form the foundation under which the VKS will function. According to information provided to SMN News, the government of St. Maarten issued a decree to the VKS authorizing them to operate as the Voluntary Korps of St. Maarten.
SMN News further learnt that the Prime Minister already selected the candidates who will be on the board of the VKS and their names were sent to the Corporate Governance Council for advice. Those that were selected to be on the board of the Voluntary Korps are Attorney General of St. Maarten Taco Stein, Former Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards, one of the Adjutants from the Governor's Office, and Emilia Thomas from the Prime Minister's office.
In an invited comment, Commander Illidge confirmed that he is leaving on February 28th, 2013. Illidge also confirmed that the foundation for the VKS has not yet been set up since St. Maarten became a country and prior to that the VKS was functioning under a foundation of the former Netherlands Antilles. The outgoing commander also confirmed that the government of St. Maarten did issue the VKS a Ministerial decree in order for them to function until the process of setting up a foundation is finalized.
