Philipsburg:--- The board and leadership of the Democratic Party should get the person they intend to replace Minister Maria Buncamper Molanus with and send them for screening says Minister of Justice Roland Duncan. Minister Duncan in an interview with SMN News said his professional opinion is that the Democratic Party should make sure they have a replacement person on hand so that when Minister Buncamper Molanus submits her resignation she would not have to remain in office until a replacement is found. Minister Duncan said he met with Minister Buncamper Molanus on Tuesday in the council of Ministers Meeting and that he would personally like to meet with the health and labour Minister once more this week or early next week to finalize their discussions on the synchronization of the labour and residency permits.Minister Duncan further explained that while the people may want Minister Buncamper Molanus to leave immediately he felt she must be given the opportunity to finalize what she was working on while being able to work on a report to pass on to her successor so that government can continue, "Screening can take a week or more depending on who the candidate is that will replace Minister Buncamper Molanus and if the intention is to remove the Minister as fast as possible then the best and most intelligent thing to do is to have the candidate ready so that person too can have a meeting with the ousted Minister who would say what she has been working on these past two months." Minister Duncan said if that happens then the incoming Minister can hit the ground running because he or she knows where Minister Buncamper Molanus left off.
SMN News has been reliably informed that the incoming candidate for the position is Dr. Cornelius De Weever the nephew of Member of Parliament Petrus Leroy De Weever. SMN News also learnt that members of the Democratic Party have contacted Dr. Lloyd Richardson and offered him the position but Dr. Richardson who is also a member of parliament has declined the offer.
In an invited comment, President of the Democratic Party Michael Ferrier said his party is awaiting the promised resignation from Minister Maria Buncamper Molanus before they would begin recruiting a new candidate for her position. Ferrier said up to late Tuesday he was not informed if the Minister has resigned and as such he has nothing new to report.
Minister Maria Buncamper Molanus has been making the headlines for the past three weeks when it was uncovered that she and her husband, a senior civil servant has sold the economic rights to government long lease land for a whopping three million dollars. The Minister once denied ever selling any land when the scandal first broke but on Thursday evening during the parliamentary debate she said she has made her position available even though she does not know what crime she committed. Thursday's motion was the second presented against Buncamper Molanus. The first was presented in 2008 when it was also uncovered by the media she accepted $25,000 donation from TELEM for her foundation the Sky is the Limit, at the time Buncamper Molanus was the commissioner in charge of telecommunications while she was the president of her political foundation Sky is the Limit. Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams interpreted the Minister's public statement 'where she made her position available" as her resignation during the meeting on Thursday. A motion of no confidence was presented against the Minister by the National Alliance faction that was later withdrawn by faction leader William Marlin. In a follow up interview, Marlin said the reason he withdrew the motion of no confidence was because the Prime Minister's statement when she said Minister Buncamper Molanus has reconsidered her options and has resigned. Marlin said motions of no confidence are a last resort that is used to remove sitting ministers.
