PHILIPSBURG:--- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams informed reporters at the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing on Wednesday that the government of St. Maarten will strongly object to one of the points that the Kingdom Council has on its agenda for this Friday where they will discuss the instruction given to the Governor of St. Maarten to conduct an investigation on integrity on St. Maarten. Wescot Williams said the Kingdom Council has no legal basis to demand such an investigation and they also do not have the right to even discuss or table the matter in their meetings. Wescot Williams said St. Maarten has two issues with the motion that will be tabled on Friday, she said such a proposal has no legal basis and there is also no need to give the Governor of St. Maarten such an instruction. She said it is not a situation lingering on St. Maarten where government is not taking the necessary action to address these issues. "The position of the government of St. Maarten will be sent to the Kingdom Council of Ministers, basically we will be objecting to the proposal and to the handling in the Kingdom Council." Wescot Williams promised to apprise the media further when the draft that will be sent to the Kingdom Council is finalized.
The Prime Minister of St. Maarten said when the Prime Minister of the Netherlands visited the island earlier this year the government of St. Maarten learnt of the proposal to have the governor of St. Maarten conduct the integrity investigation and they discussed the matter with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte. Wescot Williams said the government of St. Maarten made clear that it is outside the legal parameters between the countries within the Kingdom. She further explained that St. Maarten also informed the Kingdom Council of the initiatives taken by St. Maarten such as having Transparency International conduct an investigation on the island.
The Prime Minister said only on Thursday the Government of St. Maarten received correspondence from Transparency International who have agreed to conduct this investigation (system analysis). Wescot Williams said the government of St. Maarten also decided to have other assessments conducted to address corruption and other matters. This she said will be done by St. Maarten and it would be a pity if the Kingdom Council proceeded and gave an official instruction to the Governor of St. Maarten to conduct an investigation on matters related to integrity in government.
