PHILPSBURG:--- Members of the Democratic Party stood by their leader Sarah Wescot Williams on Thursday when they shed light and their shared their views on many issues affecting St. Maarten. Member of Parliament Roy Marlin in his remarks said he was the one that met with Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson to establish the guidelines for the political campaign. Marlin said when he was tasked with the matter he immediately thought of the motion passed in Parliament in April 2013 which was to eliminate large amount of people from around the polling stations on election day. He said while preparing the guidelines he consulted with the DP faction in Parliament as well of the board members of the DP. When the guidelines were completed they sent it on to the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson informally then sometime after he was presented with them officially. MP Marlin said the guidelines are very clear and objective. MP Marlin condemned the statements made by the UP leader Theodore Heyliger who said he is challenging the authority of the Minister of Justice. Marlin said he does not believe that is the right thing for the UP or any other political party to do because as political parties they should lead by example. Marlin said the Democratic Party is extremely disappointed with the reaction of the UP leader towards the Minister of Justice. Marlin said the UP leader stated that the Minister violated the human rights treaty but if one looks at article 21 it clearly states political parties can express their opinion and vision but that must be done within the confines of the local laws of the country. So far the Minister of Justice has not violated the human rights treaty neither did he violate the ordinance on manifestation.
He said that the DP applauds the guidelines and they will carry out the guidelines issued by the Minister of Justice.
Leader of the DP Sarah Wescot Williams said that based on the spirit of the law, especially after having a discussion with the council of churches who asked them to sign an accord on the code of ethics during the political campaign. She stressed that St. Maarten will not get things totally right but they need to lead by example.
Other issues the DP raised is the decrease that the GEBE promised the people which was to take effect in the month of July and to date it cannot be implemented. She said she does not to believe that GEBE would make those promises without doing proper research. She said that they cautioned GEBE to do due diligence when they announced the decreased. "You cannot create these kind of expectations and don't deliver because there are several people who cannot pay their monthly bills."
Minister of Health Cornelius de Weever said in his remarks that there is some sort of National Health Insurance (NHI) already on St. Maarten. He said some people fell through the cracks those people are taxi drivers and other independent workers who cannot afford private insurance. Minister de Weever said they came to a decision where these persons can have an insurance at SZV and they will pay their premiums to SZV. De Weever said they have a lot of challenges with SZV and that is no public secret. He said that is some information that the Department of Public Health has to get from SZV and they are busy working on it.
The DP leader added that they have been working on the NHI for quite some time but she wanted to make clear that they did not abandon the project. "These types of projects take time and the NHI is not an easy issue therefore government prefers to introduce it in stages and each time we introduce a stage we want to make sure it's done correctly. Government remains committed to having everyone living on St. Maarten medically insured."
As for the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), Minister de Weever said that he received a proposal from SMMC on Wednesday and his office and other stakeholders are busy reviewing the proposal. He said when someone sends a proposal with a hand drawing that for sure has his concern. "As you know the devil is in the details and government and APS have to ensure that is not the case." De Weever said he sent several groups of persons to SMMC who wanted to provide necessary medical services to St. Maarten but after these people meet with SMMC he does not get any feedback. The Minister of Health said these are some of the challenges government faces by having such institutions under foundations. "When government has absolutely no say it is totally unacceptable and that must be changed." He said they have been working on several things with SMMC such as merging the Mental Health Foundation and Turning Point with SMMC. He said there are many patients that have multiple diagnosis and therefore it is necessary for these two other institutions to work closely with SMMC. De Weever said St. Maarten has limited resources both financial and human and there is no need to duplicate the services that can be under one umbrella therefore they have to make what they have work for the everyone on the island.
MP Roy Marlin said that it is unacceptable for politicians to place photos on billboard and they know for sure they cannot deliver it. "Right now you are seeing billboards with a new building for SMMC while SMMC just needs to be expanded and repaired. Furthermore, there is no need to have a new building and the services that are necessary cannot be provided here."
Marlin said that another thing they are hearing from politicians is the merging of several government owned companies. He cautioned that St. Maarten only has one harbor, one airport, one GEBE, one SZV and one TELEM so if they will play with these companies then "crappo will smoke their pipes."
The DP members concluded by saying that a lot will be said about the National Institute on Performing Arts. They said the plans for that project is with government and they are busy working on it. However, they made clear that this is not just about building a structure, that structure has to be designed to do the things it is meant for.
Former Minister of VROMI Theodore Heyliger gave Monte Vista Besluit to sell vacant plots of government long lease land.
SMN News managed to obtain a Besluit issued on April 12th, 2012 by former Minister of VROMI Theodore Heyliger giving Monte Vista the authority to sell vacant plots they obtained from government in long lease.
Member of Parliament Roy Marlin was asked to explain the policy on government lease land since he revoked one of the long leases given to Monte Vista in 2006/2007. Marlin said that based on the policy when these long leases were issued the developer had six months to build on the land. He said that because that did not happen when he was the commissioner of VROMI he revoked the lease and distributed the land to local people. He said he too saw on Island Real Estate website that they are selling vacant plots of land for Monte Vista. He said when you look at the sale price the developer is getting over two hundred thousand dollars while they are paying less than Naf. 3,000.00 annually for the long lease rent. Marlin said that the current Minister of VROMI bought land in Cay Hill for 5.5 million dollars which he claims is for locals coming back to the island. He asked how could a Minister grant Monte Vista authority to sell off government lease land when he had the opportunity to take back the land, divide it and give it to the same locals they said they are concerned about.
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams and Minister Cornelius de Weever who both served in the Council of Ministers during the past four years said they have no knowledge on the Besluit that was issued by now Member of Parliament Theodore Heyliger. De Weever said if he knew about that back then he would have opposed it because he knows how many people on St. Maarten need land.
Click here to view the Besluit issued by the Former Minister of VROMI to Monte Vista.
