PHILIPSBURG:--- I have taken note of an article attributed to Member of Parliament Egbert Jurendy Doran, that seeks to call into question my stand on the sale of Mullet Bay in view of the Ennia Outline Agreement and can only ask where has the honorable MP been in the last four years?
First, if the good MP has any concerns about the Ennia Outline Agreement, which his colleagues in the National Alliance (NA) signed a little over six months ago, I never heard him express those publicly until now. But what is the real issue for MP Doran?
According to him, “What was initially presented as a crucial move to secure local influence over this valuable land (Mullet Bay) has now become a source of public confusion, raising questions about the true intentions of Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs and Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina.”
Who is creating “public confusion” over the matter? Last I checked, the Addendum to the original Outline Agreement for Ennia still stipulates that St. Maarten has the matching right in the sale of Mullet Bay. That right has not been relinquished and will not be. It is a right that this government fought for against all odds. Besides, the Addendum also means savings of some Nafl. 37 million for St. Maarten.
Perhaps, the honorable MP has forgotten that it was his colleague, Ardwell Irion, former Minister of Finance in the NA-led coalition government that lost power following the January elections, who famously said that he had no emotional connection to Mullet Bay. In other words, it didn’t matter to him who eventually took control of it. Obviously, MP Doran was in agreement with that position then because he was part of the Council of Ministers that signed on to that initial agreement in which St. Maarten had no right of first refusal where it concerned the sale of Mullet Bay.
Furthermore, I take it that, thanks to my intervention by critically reviewing that bad deal, MP Doran had a change of heart, saw the light shone by this government, and probably would have voted for the Addendum that we successfully negotiated, despite all efforts to rush us into rubber-stamping the NA-brokered agreement. And maybe, just maybe, had he been able to attend the session of Parliament on October 8, 2024, MP Doran would have been able to convince his fellow NA members of parliament and the others who voted against the Outline Agreement with the Addendum and Annexes that their decision was not in the best interest of St. Maarten. Their vote can only be characterized as “playing politics” because how do you vote against an Agreement that saves St. Maarten Nafl. 37 million and also grants us the Matching Right in the sale of Mullet Bay? In my humble view, that is what should have caused the honorable MP serious concerns. That is where he should have been directing his arrows.
While it is the MPs right to attempt to create issues where there is none, and to play politics with the emotions of the people, I wish to state categorically that I stand by the Addendum to the Ennia Agreement and everything I have said about it in Parliament. I am prepared to return to Parliament at any time to answer questions MP Doran or any other MP for that matter, might still have on any aspect of the Addendum to the Ennia Agreement, which Parliament approved just some six weeks ago. After all, Parliament is where the people’s business is supposed to be conducted.
However, I do not think it is acceptable is to use that Addendum that was painstakingly negotiated as a political football in what seems to be an internal power tussle for leadership of the party of MP Doran. If he wants to score points over his main rivals in the leadership struggle, this is simply the wrong horse to jump on.
