Present Minister of VROMI Giterson has a difference of opinion.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Last week the Court of First Instance in its verdict decided that Government must reinstate former Minister of VROMI Angel Meyers to his position as head of the Permits Department. However, Minister of VROMI Miklos Giterson is not in favor of the reinstatement due to the fact his close friend Charlon Pompier is in the position and should Meyers be reinstated then his friend will be affected.
The court states in its verdict that once there are no valid reasons that would hinder the reappointment of Meyers then Government cannot legally withhold the reappointment of Meyers as head of Permits Department.
Meyers was sidelined by the former Minister of VROMI Christopher Emmanuel as he was of the opinion that Meyers was still acting as Minister when dealing with the handling of building permits and not following the instructions or written requests of Minister Emmanuel.
It should be noted that the National Decree to appoint Pompier as Head of the Permits Department was not signed off by the Governor of St. Maarten since Meyers was not officially discharged from the function. A requirement in executing the function is that the persons must be screened by VDSM. To date, SMN News has learned that Pompier who is executing the function as acting department head was never screened.
There is a difference of opinion between the current Minister and the Secretary-General since Meyers was recruited by the Secretary-General who happens to be his longtime friend, both hailing from Cay Hill and an employee that dances to his music with the issuance of Permits within the Ministry of VROMI.
With the ongoing situation with regards to personnel matters within the Government apparatus it is clear that the Personnel Department is not seeking legal advice from the Legal Affairs Department, but are rather executing their wishes base on favoritism and Political victimization, upon request of Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin of which the Secretary General of General Affairs is to blame as he is quick to sign off on documents without doing proper research or looking into eventual legal consequences. This was also commented on by the Head of Legal Affairs who is also a department head within the Ministry of General Affairs. Already there are a few cases pending of which this kind of behavior that is displayed by the Secretary-General+ of General Affairs is implicated for example the ongoing situation with Henderson Insurances who will be taking Government to Court.
