Philipsburg:--- Independent Member of Parliament Romaine La Ville has finally broken his silence on the reasons he chose to become an Independent Member of Parliament and to support the National Alliance coalition government that was formed last week. La Ville made clear that while he is part of the new coalition government he is not a member of the National Alliance, instead he is an Independent Member of Parliament that will support the UP, DP, and NA factions when they are working or proposing anything that will benefit the people of St. Maarten.La Ville decided to speak out on Monday because statements he made to the Teen Times Youth group were used in a headline story in one of the local newspapers.
La Ville told reporters that he did everything possible to make his party leader and faction members understand that he was not satisfied with certain decisions taken by the UP Party. He further explained that shortly after the UP/DP government took office on October 10, 2010 he was having disagreements with his party leader.
La Ville said one the major contentions he had with his party was about the Pelican saga and the layoff of the workers of Pelican Resorts. He said from the very inception he pleaded with his party leader and his colleague in Parliament Member of Parliament Jules James to resign from his Managerial position at the Simpson Bay Resort Management Company. He said despite his pleas he did not receive any cooperation from his party and faction members in Parliament. La Ville said on the contrary he was the one who was blamed by his party for the Pelican affair and the layoff of the workers. La Ville said members of the UP faction blamed him behind the scenes instead of taking responsibility for the layoff of the Pelican workers.
Furthermore, he said his political career was threatened by persons higher up in the United Peoples Party. "Right now I am being blamed because certain persons working in the Ministers cabinet stand to lose their jobs because of the fall of the UP/DP coalition. I consider this to be hypocritical because I need to know how come no one in government or the UP Party thought of the 183 persons who lost their jobs at the Pelican Resort (SBRMC). The workers of Pelican were not paid since November 2011 and those people have mortgages, they have to pay rent, some of them have children in school overseas to support while they also have to put food on their table and no one thought of them. These workers came and knocked on our doors and begged us to intervene and we (UP) faction did not consider them."
La Ville went as far as saying that when he was elected to office in October 2010 he resigned from his job at the harbor so that he could work full time for the people of St. Maarten. "I left the job I was trained for to take public office and while I have a job secured for the next two years, I too would become jobless at the end of my term. I don't know what will happen then but I know that God will provide," La Ville said.
The former UP Member of Parliament explained that everything he requested for the people of St. Maarten were flushed down the drain by the UP Party. He said he wanted equal opportunity for the young people of St. Maarten, which was to create jobs in the various districts in order to remove the youths from the blocks, and to reduce crime and the party on which he was elected refused to support his ideas and plans. La Ville said that on the night of the budget debate he had eight motions one of which was to adopt certain parts of the civil code of the Netherlands that would protect worker's rights. "I wanted to make sure that what happened to the Pelican workers never happen again with another company but my faction refused to support the motion that I wanted to present to Parliament." La Ville further explained that he quickly realized that he was fighting a losing battle within the UP faction, while knowing that his political career was at stake. La Ville said the relationship with his UP party was irreconcilable. He said he was told on several occasions that he did not support a motion regarding Jules James and the Pelican affair he could consider himself an Independent Member of Parliament immediately. La Ville said the very night he was told that he wrote his resignation letter but did not submit it to his party leader because he was hoping that things within the UP party would have gotten better. He said those are only some of the issues he faced throughout the two year period while being part of the UP faction.
He said many people say he is foolish for leaving his party and not securing anything for himself while negotiating with the National Alliance to form the NA/DP and Independent coalition. "I want to make clear that I did not enter into government to enrich myself. My father has a construction company and I never asked for a job for him and I did not ask the National Alliance for anything for my person or for my relatives. When I saw the breakdown the National Alliance made I saw they gave me a joint portfolio with MP Frans Richardson and I also saw that I was appointed deputy chairman of Parliament. I did not ask for none of these things. Being in government is not for me to enrich myself. The same discussion I had with my party leader is the same discussion I had with the National Alliance leader William Marlin. All I want is to make sure our people are given equal opportunity to work and tackle the root cause of crime by improving education and career parts for the younger generation." La Ville said for the remainder of his term he wants to work in the interest of the people of St. Maarten. He said he made it his duty to point out things when it's wrong and when things are right. He said his main intention is make sure some of the promises made to the people of St. Maarten on the campaign trail are fulfilled even though he does not hold any grudges for anyone. La Ville said while he is young politician he understands the dirty game of politics that is played by those persons that are in politics for years now.
When asked why he did not submit his resignation on November 17, 2011 when he said on the floor of Parliament that he was willing to tie his own shoe string. La Ville said that he had hoped things would have gotten better within the UP faction, but he quickly realized that some of the people within the UP faction do not understand poverty. "Some of them don't know what it is not to be able to put food on their tables or to pay their rents and I told my party that I don't understand what it is to fly first class every time, neither do I understand what it is to march in a restaurant and buy a bottle of champagne for $300. Therefore, it is clear that we have people from two different worlds within the UP faction and we needed to find a balance if we were to work in the interest of all the people of St. Maarten. When I made those statements about tying my own shoe string I was tired of the silence from my party regarding the Pelican saga. I did not see my party leader taking a forceful decision for the workers of SBRMC."
