Marigot/ French Quarter: -- Like every other media house, year endings is always a headache as we have the burden of selecting a person of the year. This is sometimes a very difficult task since we do have a large group of people to select from.
For SMN News that choice was not easy but after perusing everyone's file we realize that the person that stood out among the group is no other than Louis Constant Fleming. While many may want to question why Constant Fleming since he really does not have a perfect record. Our choice this year was not based on perfection instead it was based on negative achievements.
Louis Constant Fleming has been one of those persons who brags about his years in politics, the history of St. Martin yet he allowed himself to be condemned by the State Council not once but twice. Fleming was condemned in 2001 when he headed the United Saint Martin Movement. This was indeed a true disappointment to the opposition since they were the strongest opposition during the 24 year term of Solidarity Saint Martinoise headed by former Mayor Albert Raoul Fleming. Even though hard the population of St. Martin felt Fleming had made an honest mistake which could have been made by anyone else since this is St. Martin not France.
Fleming worked hard after that blow; he campaigned hard and did lots of work in Paris to give St. Martiners the opportunity to run their own affairs. By his hard work and dedication along with the other politicians St. Martin managed to achieve its new status from Commune to Collectivity. As he would always say he is the Father of the New Status.
One would think that a man who cares for his country would have made sure he followed the law, or maybe have someone who knows the law to do his paper work when he formed the Union Pour les Progres to contest the first ever election in a new setting.
The Local people of St. Martin thought this man did his home work, and they gave him the golden opportunity which was to be the first president of the Collectivity of St. Martin. But Fleming did what he does best... Disappoint the people on purpose. He said it over and over he purposely did not open a bank account. He said that was not a mistake on his part instead it was a choice he made. Conclusion in this affair was Fleming deceived the people of St. Martin by not telling them he would lose his seat as President. The school children said his intention was never to work for St. Martin since he never even worked for himself instead he has people working for him. They said he only wanted to make sure his photograph is on the wall as the first President something we can hardly believe is true.
More interestingly, Fleming and his confederates in Paris knew he would be condemned so what they did is twist the law, by sanctioning Fleming on the level of the Territorial Council, something that never happened before. Fleming managed to convince those over there in Europe and his party that he would be a better candidate for the senate seat. Yes he did it again which was to be able to contest that election and won it against four other candidates whose records were clean. To accomplish this, one has to be good at Poli-tricks and Fleming sure did meet that standard. Today he is the Senator of St. Martin... he is charged with making laws or have laws amended. So far we have not heard of any new law or heard any law have been amended. Hopefully that would happen this New Year if he only stays in Paris and attend his weekly meetings.-Already the history books have it L.C Fleming was the first President elected on St. Martin; he is the first one to lose his seat in one year time and the first to postulate in an election after being sanctioned and won the election. LC Fleming the first senator of St. Martin.
More disappointment from Louis Constant Fleming to the people of St. Martin was when he by passed his first vice president Marthe Ogoundele Tessi who was the next person in line to take up the Presidency and nominated his pal- or friend Frantz Gumbs. Gumbs at the time was not even a VP. He chose to be the President of the UPP and a candidate on the list.
In an earlier interview with SMN News Fleming said the reason he chose Frantz Gumbs was that Gumbs would only be the person to sign the documents but he would manage the COM behind the scenes. He said the people elected him and he would do what they wanted him to do. He even said to us that Frantz has no political future he will chop off the heads that has to be chopped off and do what he Fleming was not able to do... One would ask what he meant by that... We manage to learn Fleming wanted to bring in Metropolitans and Guadeloupian to do the work for St. Martin. Already Gumbs hired a number of people to work in the COM most if not all are foreigners. He hired a former reporter to be in communications from France and a Guadeloupian woman to be head of Communications, yet communications stinks on the French Side. We also learned that some sixteen more Guadeloupians are set to begin working at the COM but we are yet to confirm the total.we learnt some five of them would take office on January 5 2009.One of these persons will be the next DGS.
SMN News also learnt that Fleming is having trouble with his party since they refuse to inform him of the daily happenings. So here again he is wrong the man he said had no Political future is looking sharp and making sure he gets some positive publicity on certain front pages. He is making sure that Point COM has the things he wants the people to know so that he can get the credit he needs even if the work was done by the former administration.
Some of the things we noticed since Gumbs took office are:
More foreigners being hired... There is nothing done for the locals. He spent thousands of Euros decorating the COM and the streets in an economic decline.
He made sure those Councilors who are not suppose to have Government vehicle gets one... He ordered 17 blackberries which have to be paid for by the COM for the UPP councilors... And most importantly Frantz Gumbs is no longer driving his jilaapy car. He now has an expensive car at the expense of the COM and a driver since he is the PRESIDENT... All of this in a dying Economy with the highest rate of youth delinquency, crime and HIV/ AIDS. All of which are detrimental to a developing society.
L.C Fleming an auto dealer did not do such during his one year in the COM. Even though he is the Senator he still drives around St. Martin/ St. Maarten. He did not bring in tons of foreigners to work locally. He condemned the actions of his VP who was taking advantage of his power in the Tourist Office. Even though Fleming had the same advantages to his disposal he did not become power struck.
We at SMN News want Louis Constant Fleming to know that we did not bring out all the negativity because we want to embarrass him or be little him, after all he is human. Our intention though is to wake up Louis Constant Fleming who got very tired while being President that he fell asleep. L.C Fleming we heard you want to make sure you run for the Deputy seat, so that you can get the number one there too. But if that is what you want to do just know the local population is one to be casting the ballots in that election and the way things are your rating is rather low. If you want to re-gain the trust of your people you would need to start representing them and live up to your campaign promises. This man of the year selection Mr. Fleming is for you to try and make your wrong choices right by doing what is right in the New Year. Congrats you manage to capture our attention.
With that we take this opportunity to wish you a prosperous and healthy New Year 2009 Bonne Annee 2009 et Bonne Santé.
