Contract awarded to LICCOM for Prison Expansion will be revoked – PM Marlin
PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister William Marlin told reporters on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers press briefing that a committee will be formed to work on electoral reform which will curb the problems of ship jumping. Marlin said while the time seems short, he believes with perseverance and hard work the amendments that have to be made to the electoral law will be completed on time for the September 26th elections.
Marlin said that a three member committee should be in place next week who will advise government on the amendments that have to be made. He further stated that amendments have to be done to the constitution of St. Maarten and that process will take much longer. Marlin said one of the things that he believes will curb ship jumping is that Members of Parliament who disagrees with their party leader will have to resign and go home, instead of declaring independent and remain in parliament, Marlin further stated that when the changes are made no member of parliament would be able to cross over holding on their seat.
As for preparations that were being made for the February 9th elections Marlin said letters were sent to the various departments informing them that they are to halt all preparations since elections will only be held on Monday September 26th 2016. The Prime Minister said that in the past elections were held on Friday’s but he decided to change that in order to give citizen the right to vote. Marlin said holding elections on Friday’s have hindered the process because persons such as the Seventh Day Adventist members were hindered because they had to leave the polling station in order to respect their religious beliefs.
Asked what will happen to the voting cards that were prepared for the February 9th elections, Marlin made clear that when he took office he saw a number of advises regarding the February 9th elections but he did not sign off on none of them. “Whoever, gave instructions will have to bear the consequences.” SMN News understands that the civil registry is trying to obtain funds from government to pay for the voting cards they had printed after ousted Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs gave orders to the civil registry to prepare for early elections. Marlin made clear when SMN News asked him who will pick up the tab and pay for the voting cards that he as Prime Minister of the county did not sign off on none of the advices he saw when he took office and he also did not give anyone instructions to prepare for elections in February.
Prison Expansion Contract will be reversed.
Asked by SMN News if the current cabinet got all the decisions taken after September 30th 2015 by the ousted Gumbs cabinet, Marlin said that he did not see all the decisions but mentioned that those he saw he already spoke about them in earlier press briefings, one being the garbage contracts that will benefit relatives of certain Members of Parliament, the VORST land agreement that was given off to APS hurriedly while the former Minister of VROMI did not take the time to negotiate with APS knowing that the government of St. Maarten have an Naf.80M with APS. He also mentioned the contract awarded to LICCOM for the prison expansion which he said will be revoked when SMN News asked him if the former Ministers who took decisions without following proper procedures will be held liable for their actions. Marlin said he not focusing on dragging former Minister to court at the moment but instead the focus is placed on getting the decisions taken by the former government overturned, another being the parcel of land in Simpson Bay which was designated as a parking area that was given to Port de Plaisance.
COM met with GEBE Board --- Marlin riddled by UPP Leader.
The Prime Minister went after the leader of the United Peoples Party who have been making headlines in the two daily newspapers on the Dutch side criticizing the current cabinet, one being that because of the motion passed in parliament the country is in darkness most days because government he said did not give GEBE the green light to purchase a generator Marlin said GEBE submitted a request to government since 2012 and nothing was done to it and even if an approval is given today it will take as much as nine months before the generator would reach St. Maarten.
Marlin further explained that GEBE board met with the Council of Ministers on Tuesday where they had an agenda with 18 points but they only managed to discuss ten of those points. Marlin said the meeting will continue on Thursday with the board of GEBE. He said that GEBE still have to provide more information to government on several things especially since GEBE is looking to deviate from the public bidding process to purchase its generator. Marlin said GEBE wants to be able to deal with one manufacturer for all their generators which he said will enable them to get parts easier. Another crucial point Marlin raised on Wednesday was the poor maintenance to the current generators which he said is causing the constant outages.
Marlin said while the UPP leader have been accusing the eight members of parliament who passed a motion to prevent government from doing certain things while they were a care-taker government, that same government gave away the VORST property for a symbolic one guilder to APS while government owes APS NAF.80M. Further to that he said the former Minister of VROMI extended garbage contracts that are not even expired simply because it will benefit relatives and friends of certain Members of Parliament. Besides that a contract was awarded to LICCOM for the prison expansion while no bidding was conducted and the peddling off the Simpson Bay parking area to Port de Plaisance while that area in in the zoning plan as parking for Simpson Bay.