PHILIPSBURG: --- Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Tuesday announced that he has decided to distance himself from the URSM/DP/PFP/ NOW government's approach to handling NV GEBE’s crisis. The NOW leader said he does not support the solutions presented by NV GEBE simply because he does not trust the company and its Temporary Manager, Troy Washington.
Emmanuel also made it clear that he did not promise anyone he would not politicize the crisis NV GEBE is facing; he said he would politicize the matter to every extent.
Emmanuel asked the chair of parliament and the Prime Minister of St. Maarten, Dr. Luc Mercelina, several questions regarding the proposals they submitted to parliament on Tuesday. He wanted to know what financial statements NV GEBE provided to the government since their statements for the years 2020 to 2023 have not yet been finalized.
He also asked the Prime Minister about the exclusive Memorandum of Understanding signed with NV GEBE and the grid market that was leaked to certain coalition members.
He asked the Prime Minister if he believed the responses provided to him by NV GEBE since the people of St. Maarten would only see relief until the end of July 2024. He also asked the Prime Minister if he saw the proposals supervised by EnergyNautics.
Emmanuel made it clear to Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina that he should have dismissed the Supervisory Board of NV GEBE and its Temporary Manager Troy Washington, but that has not been done to date.
Emmanuel said this is an election year, and the NV GEBE crisis will fall on the current coalition since they are responsible for finding a solution.
Even though Emmanuel is not part of NV GEBE's management board, he could present all the figures from NV GEBE’s bank accounts. He asked where GEBE would get the financing from since the government-owned company's accounts do not have liquidity.
Former Prime Minister and Member of Parliament Silveria Jacobs also called out parliament for leaking confidential documents relating to GridMarket's MOU, which were leaked to some members of parliament supporting the current 2x4 coalition government.
Jacobs said that at least one Member of Parliament confessed to her that he received the MOU prior to Tuesday’s meeting, thus allowing him to prepare for it through the documents leaked to him.
Jacobs warned the chair of parliament about cherry-picking who gets confidential information and who does not.
The leader of the United Peoples Party, MP Omar Ottley, also shared the same sentiments about the documents that were shared with MPs supporting the government, not all 15 MPs of the Parliament of St. Maarten.
Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina did clarify that he did not leak any confidential documents. Still, the documents were sent Tuesday morning so that they could be shared with all members of parliament.
