~ Will St. Maarten Politicians fight back, or will they play dead for Liquidity Money? ~
PHILIPSBURG: --- Clearly the recent articles published in the Netherlands and on St. Maarten with the new demands made by Raymond Knops, Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations have once again raised eyebrows. Knops said unless the Members of Parliament pass the necessary legislation to reduce their salaries by 10% as stated in the motion presented by MP Sarah Wescot Williams then St. Maarten will not get the much-needed liquidity support, and while this is not the first demand and threats levied by the infamous politician in order for St. Maarten to get the liquidity support post IRMA and MARIA.
First, it was the country’s Prime Minister William Marlin had to go because he was not willing to fall on his knees for money post-IRMA. Marlin the ousted Prime Minister stood up to Knops and other Dutch Politicians when they chose to impose their will for the promised help. Back then they wanted border control and an integrity chamber all of which they got.
After that, it was a host of demands by the Dutch to loan the Princess Juliana International Airport much needed money for the rebuilding of the heavily damaged Terminal Building.
St. Maarten had to accept that the Dutch place their people on both the Supervisory and Management Board. The meeting held in New York in March 2019, the St. Maarten Government basically sold out PJIAE to the bondholders and the Dutch Government.
In an article published on SMN News earlier clearly outlined the demands of the Dutch Government those being that the management board such the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Mingo and the Chief Operations Officer (COO) Michel Hyman be rescreened. Members of the Supervisory Board must also go through re-screening.
The Dutch Government also wants the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position that is currently available to which the Government of St. Maarten has agreed to as a pre-condition for the USD 100M loan.
The Dutch Government gave the Government of St. Maarten a pre-condition to the USD 100M by demanding the CFO’s position, they have insisted that a CFO from Schipol Royal Group is appointed and that the selection process is bypassed.
Already a candidate in the person of Gerben Alexander was selected by the Royal Schipol Group, he is expected to take up his position by August 1st, 2019 simply because the current Council of Ministers are not representing the people of St. Maarten but instead they have allowed the Dutch to micromanage each and every Ministry.
Several persons on St. Maarten are outraged with the other sets of conditions directly aimed at the elected persons that are now occupying the 15 seats in parliament. Those that contacted SMN News wants to know when these politicians would decide to come together in the St. Maarten’s interest and form a block in parliament that would stand up against the Dutch Government. When would it be enough and exactly when will they seek funding on the international market?
Those that spoke out said that they want to know since when the Dutch Government agrees to give businesspeople $8M to pay their workers especially people they have labeled in the past.
“In our view, the politicians we elected have no guts, they are afraid to go to jail, they open their mouths on the floor of parliament where they have immunity and after that, they go silent. One MP said he had preferred dying on his knees and he was the first to say let’s do what the Dutch want so we could get the relief money. Two years since IRMA and MARIA and exactly how much money have the Government of St. Maarten got through conditions that will benefit them. Just last week Curacao lost grips and is under supervision, however St. Maarten lost its grip and power since September 2017. However, the politicians are too blind to see it until they are targeted by the Dutch.”
Article 58 of St. Maarten’s constitution clearly outlined how Members of Parliament gets their remuneration and pension. Another indication given is that the sitting parliament cannot adjust their own remuneration even if they get the two-thirds majority but in fact, they would have to such for the new or incoming Members of Parliament after an election as it was done in the Netherlands Antilles in the 1990s. Hopefully, Raymond Knops will try to get his hands on the constitution the former Netherlands Antilles followed prior to making another statement.
