Philipsburg: --- Members of Parliament Louis Laveist and Frans Richardson walked out of the government administration building on Tuesday afternoon protesting against the length of time they had to wait on the A.C Wathey legislative hall to start a scheduled central committee meeting. Members of Parliament were initially told that the meeting to discuss St. Maarten joining the Latin American Parliament will convene at 2pm it was later changed to 3pm but when the parliamentarians reached the government administration building they were forced to wait in the corridor since Minister of Finance Hiro Shigemoto was busy meeting with members of the CFT in the A.C Wathey Legislative Hall. At that point the MP's were told that they should stick around because the meeting would start at 3:30pm.SMN News learnt that there was some sort of mix up with the scheduling of the meeting. Sources say parliament did not duly notify the secretariat on the planned meeting for Tuesday.
Shortly after Laveist and Richardson walked out of the building they were called and told the A.C Wathey Hall was made available to them and that the meeting was going to begin forthwith. Both MP's then returned and signed in to participate in the meeting.
The two agenda points on Tuesday was for the members of parliament to decide if St. Maarten parliament would become a member of the Latin American Parliament and if so which committees St. Maarten would choose to join.
Senator Frans Richardson asked what would becoming a member of Parlatino cost St. Maarten including the travelling expenses. He also asked if the budgetary constraints on St. Maarten would in any way jeopardize the island's membership.The chairlady of parliament responded by saying becoming a member of Parlatino would cost St Maarten $20,000 annually.
Senator Johan Janchi Leonard in his elucidation said he did not think the MP's should focus on what this membership would cost St. Maarten instead he is of the opinion that the people needs to know what would St. Maarten benefit by becoming a member of Parlatino. Senator Roy Marlin and Patrick Illidge shared the same concern. However, deputy chairman of parliament Leroy De Weever felt there was also need to discuss how much this would cost St. Maarten.
Senator Frans Richardson also suggested that the meeting should have been held behind closed doors but the chairlady immediately reminded him that the rules of order stated that central committee meetings have to be public.
Senator Louis Laviest said that the agenda points were not properly noted since the conditions were not added in agenda point one. While the MP's are asked to decide whether or not they would agree to become a member Parlatino they are not fully aware of the cost and conditions. He suggested that the central committee discuss point 2 before point one. The chair agreed after some discussion to adjourn for ten minutes so that the MP's could caucus before debating agenda point two. Before the meeting adjourned the central committee voted in favour of St. Maarten becoming a member of Parlatino. When the meeting convened the central committee immediately decided that St. Maarten would become members of the following committees:- Economic Affairs, Social Debt and Regional Development Commission.
- Citizen Safety, Combat and Prevention of Narco-traffic, Terrorism and Organised Crime.
- Education, Culture, Science and Technology and Communication Commission
- Health Commission
- Human Rights, Justice, and Prison Policies Commission.
- Gender Equality, Childhood, and Youth Commission
- Agriculture, Cattle Raising, and Fishery Commission.
- Environment and Tourism Commission.