The people of the country would like the impasse created by the National Alliance to be over and governance returned to the country! There is a crystal clear parliamentary majority in place! The Governor needs to take his decision based on this.
I can fully understand the frustrations of some of the people with respect to the political events that have transpired during the last two weeks.
Those who created an unnecessary standoff have therefore once again tarnished the good name of the country.
The Leader of the National Alliance described the current situation to the Dutch as becoming intense and explosive. This is total nonsense! It is far from the truth, and it sends the wrong message once again to the outside world, especially the foreign investor and the visitor to the island.
These reckless comments and unprofessional behaviour can have a negative impact on the credit rating of the country. It can also lead to negative travel advisories being issued by the United States, Canada and European Governments with respect to the travel of their citizens to the country thereby impacting our tourism oriented economy.
Is it the intention of the National Alliance to create an explosive situation that would endanger the employment of the people of Sint Maarten?
I fully concur with His Excellency the Governor's statement released by his Cabinet for all stakeholders to do all that is necessary to maintain and protect the integrity of our constitutional democracy, and to foster actions in keeping with our constitution.
The appointment of a new President of Parliament will be forthcoming followed by a new Council of Ministers to work in the interests of the people and the country. Constitutionally due elections are approximately 12-months away.
The longer this impasse goes on leads to more speculation that something is amiss. A parliamentary majority is in place and this should be respected by the Council of Ministers, in particular the National Alliance members and Independent appointed Minister R. Pantophlet who no longer enjoy the support of the majority in Parliament, the highest elected body of the people of this country.
The parliamentary majority has presented its case to the Governor. The Governor now has to act.
There is no difference than what transpired last April/May 2012 compared to now! Tell me what is the difference? Elections held within the next couple of months will not change anything. You will still be in the same situation as before where Members of Parliament can leave a party and become an independent member of parliament, and withdraw their support and form a government with another party. That is the political reality that we live in today based on the current electoral laws of our country.
Changing the aforementioned can only be dealt with by Members of Parliament revising the electoral laws.
The National Alliance Leader has admitted that he and his Ministers are frustrating the authority of Parliament. Last April/May 2012, there was also an UP majority in the Council of Ministers that saw majority support in Parliament withdrawn. We saw the writing on the wall and resigned according to the laws of the land.
We respected our Constitution and parliamentary democracy and left without creating an impasse. We respected the parliamentary majority. Today, we have a National Alliance standoff where William Marlin is not respecting the majority in parliament, and that is damaging the image of our country.
Voters are coming to me every day telling me why doesn't the National Alliance respect the wishes of parliament? Democracy must prevail and there is a majority in parliament.
What we have is a Dictator who has taken over the Council of Ministers. He has not followed the procedure and has submitted a decree to the Governor with his name as Deputy Prime Minister to dissolve parliament. He cannot do this with the Prime Minister present. This is an illegal act and goes against the Constitution of Country Sint Maarten. The proper procedures were not followed with respect to this process. The Prime Minister cannot allow bad governance to prevail and has to act accordingly. The Prime Minister is protecting our democracy from the dictatorial procedures of William Marlin.
On Monday again, the Parliament of our country, the peoples Parliament, was hijacked for a third time by the President of Parliament. These people say they are working in the interests of the country, but if that is the case, and then you would let democracy prevail where the majority in parliament prevails. The people of this country are not stupid and they see the difference between the UP respecting our Constitution and democracy while the National Alliance actions in parliament and at the Council of Ministers level leaves a lot to be desired. William and Samuel are hell bent on sabotaging the democratic processes of the country and their actions speak louder than words. We are heading down a dark track in the young life of our country.
And with respect to the repeated political rhetoric being spewed by William Marlin of the National Alliance and cohorts, I have not attempted to bribe anybody or attempted to blackmail anybody for anything. Let Justice take its course.
Theo Heyliger
Leader of the United People's (UP) Party
