Philipsburg:--- Workers of the Postal Services of St. Maarten (PSS) were taken aback on Friday morning when Nieuw Post Netherlands Antilles (NPNA) workers showed up at the location with a truck and removed several pieces of furniture from the Post Office building. SMN News reporter was on hand to capture photos of persons taking the furniture from PSS to the NPNA location Soualiga Service Point (SSP).
According to information and documents provided to SMN News, NPNA informed the Director of PSS Denicio Richardson that NPNA will remove their moveable properties and PSS also has to compensate NPNA for the use of their furniture since October 15, 2011. NPNA offered the PSS director an opportunity to discuss the purchase of the furniture at a reasonable price but the Managing Director of PSS did not grasp the opportunity to buy out the much needed furniture to continue PSS operations.
SMN News has been reliably informed that the feud between the Supervisory Board of PSS and its Managing Director is ongoing thus leading to NPNA's action. The source said that the Director of NPNA Franklin Sluis contacted the President of the Supervisory Board of PSS Hubert Pantophlet and requested a desk from PSS so that he could continue his operations at SPP but the Managing Director of PSS refused to cooperate with Pantophlet and Sluis. Therefore, the NPNA Managing Director Franklin Sluis had no other choice but to take appropriate action and remove a number of desks and other furniture that were being used by PSS.
SMN News further learnt that the PSS Managing Director is no longer communicating with the supervisory board, instead he is dealing directly with the shareholder representative the Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams. Sources close to the Supervisory Board said that the shareholder representative has so far refused to take the necessary steps or corrective measures to resolve the ongoing feud because the Managing Director of PSS is backed by three Members of Parliament who once threatened to throw the current coalition government in shambles if the Managing Director of PSS is removed.
The source said that PSS is cash strapped and now they have to find monies to buy back the necessary furniture that is needed to continue their operations.
President of the Supervisory Board Hubert Pantophlet could not be reached for a comment.
In the meantime, the Managing Director of PSS Denicio Richardson said that PSS could not do anything legally to stop NPNA and the matter has to be dealt with by the shareholder representative of St. Maarten.
It should be noted that while NPNA has been removing all moveable properties from PSS, such as computers, vehicles, and furniture, St. Maarten still has 25% shares in NPNA.
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams could not be reached for a comment on Friday morning.
Click here to view the letter sent to Managing Director Denicio Richardson from NPNA.
Click here to see an inventory of the items supposedly belonging to NPNA.
