PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams has dispatched a letter to the chairman of Parliament regarding what she termed as the mis-use of Parliament by members of the Council of Ministers. MP Wescot Williams reffered specially to the meeting that is called for Friday. Below is the letter sent to the Chair of Parliament. The MP also sent a second letter to the chairman of Parliament requesting information and clarity on the TEATT meeting that was held last week and adjourned. The contents of that letter follows the first one.
To
The Chairpersons of Parliament and the HCSDL Committee of Parliament,
Respectively Dr. Lloyd Richardson and Dr. V. H C. de Weever
Marrch 12, 2015
Dear Sirs,
On March 4, 2015, members of the HCSDL Committee of Parliament received a convocation for meeting of this committee to be held on March 13th at 2 pm.
The proposed agenda reads:
1. A discussion on FRED and Sint Maarten's participation in this.
2. The Counterpart Law policy and the Implementation guidelines
As documentation for this meeting, the members received a FRED flyer and the Counterpart Regulation, as approved by the Council of Ministers on August 12th 2014.
Permit me some general remarks:
It is my feeling that committees of Parliament are being used more and more without consideration for the Parliament itself. Topics for committee meetings are chosen at whim without any motivation or relevance.
Note please that the general rule is that Parliament refers letters, proposals etc. to the respective committees.
Committees of Parliament are not independent bodies, but created to facilitate the workings of Parliament, by doing preliminary research for Parliament and reporting via the Central Committee of Parliament.
Another worrying aspect are the invitations by some of the parliament committees to civil servants. Firstly this must always be done via the Minister concerned.
However, when there are clearly issues that warrant a political discussion, then the Ministers should come before Parliament.
When civil servants attend committee meetings and are questioned by members of Parliament, some members see this as an affront.
And now to the agenda:
1. A discussion on FRED and Sint Maarten's participation in this.
With what purpose was this flyer sent to Parliament? What is the Government's position on St. Maarten's participation in Fred? Will government participate? How will they participate? Is there sufficient budget for a meaningful participation? If government will participate, how will they attract persons, with a personnel freeze as announced by government?
If government wishes to fill vacancies, what about the applications of St. Maarten graduates already submitted to Government?
2. The Counterpart Law policy and the Implementation guidelines
Will we be discussing the relevant law and if so with what objective? Is the meeting only informative? Then what is new? What is expected of the HCSDL committee on this agenda point?
Are there any new developments or decisions by government on this matter? Will the Minister respond to the outstanding questions by Parliament on this topic?
All in all, I wish to respectfully submit that Parliament guards against misuse or wrong application of the rules governing the functioning of Parliamentary committees.
If I were asked, I would submit the following priorities for this committee.
o Plans for SMMC urgent upgrades and the financing thereof.
o Changes to the medical insurance laws and expanded coverage for vulnerable groups, such as the elderly.
o Payments to care providers and institutions.
o Changes to the Civil Code with respect to labor contracts and maternity leave.
o "Ley di Bion"
Etc.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Wescot-Williams,
Member of Parliament (DP)
To
The Chairperson of Parliament
Dr. L. Richardson
In the TEATT Committee meeting of March 10th, Minister C. Conner requested that questions related to agenda point number 2 of that meeting ( The moratorium policy on taxi, bus and tour licenses and the recommendation the PWC report on the policy), be submitted prior to the meeting being reconvened. (the meeting was adjourned after the first agenda point).
The Minister also announced that he has decided to keep in place the moratorium in the area of public transportation (Bus, Taxi, Tours, T&G), as per ministerial decision of February 19th, 2014.
Based on the above mentioned, I submit through you the following questions and observations to the Minister of TEATT, the Honorable Claret Conner.
- Can the Minister inform Parliament what the total picture is of the public transportation field: how many permits in each area, given out at what time (year), starting with the year 2010?
- How many permits were issued since the February 2014 moratorium? Please provide Parliament with the lists of permit holders (Bus, Taxi, Tours, T&G)
- Are all permits issued in accordance with the National Ordinance on Public Transportation? If not, what does the Minister plan to do to correct this situation?
- What other policies does the Ministry apply a/or adhere to as far as it pertains to requests for taxi, bus etc. permits. (Are there quotas, specific target groups etc.?)
- Is the public transportation committee operational? If not, why not? If yes, has the committee advised government on all permits issued since 2010? If not, on how many did the committee not advise on?
- How many taxi and bus permits have been issued to companies?
- How does the minister plan to curb the illegal leasing of taxi and bus permits?
Please provide the present waiting lists for taxi, bus and tour licenses.
Points of recommendations (to be included in the Minister's announced plan):
- Develop a system to enforce the laws and implement control mechanisms.
- Decide on the approach to the gypsy phenomenon.
- Develop a strategy for off-season business for taxis etc.
- Finalize Plans for a public transportation system.
- Make policies public.
- Implement recommendation of the PWC report regarding a public roster of licensees in all categories.
