~ Minister Johnson chose to go on a cruise rather than responding to parliament. Motion of No Confidence presented against Stuart Johnson.~
PHILIPSBURG: --- Members of Parliament from the USP faction made it clear that Prime Minister Leona Marlin presented insufficient information to parliament regarding the loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and World Bank (WB) for the reconstruction of Princess Juliana International Airport.
MP Frans Richardson condemned the actions of the Minister of TEATT Stuart Johnson who chose to go on a cruise with the FCCA instead of responding to Parliament to discuss the financing to PJIAE. Richardson also presented a list of questions which he said must be answered by Johnson the shareholder representative.
MP Rolando Brison asked the Prime Minister how it is possible for Government to sign off on the loan when the 2019 national budget is not ready. Brison also lamented the fact that the Prime Minister did not make full disclosure to Parliament. Brison also raised concerns about the conditions applied to the loan and or refinancing for PJIAE. He asked if locals that are currently employed at PJIAE will be sent home to make room for the Dutch or Schipol staff. He asked how competent are these Schipol personnel with dealing with large hurricanes and inter-island flights. Brison also asked if the World Bank or the Dutch applied any type of conditions on St. Maarten Medical Center when they approved USD 25M for SMMC?
Brison also asked for the written agreements made by the Government with the Dutch. He also lamented the fact that Government agreed to conditions which they claim will be temporary. Brison reminded Parliament that the CFT was supposed to be temporarily but they are still here, including the TOT. Brison asked the Prime Minister if the term sheet on the WB and EIB loan were presented.
MP Silveria Jacobs also questioned the additional conditions from the Dutch, she asked if the local management at PJIAE are not able to fully manage the operations and reconstruction.
She called on the Prime Minister to further clarify exactly who suggested and or offer the Dutch two positions on the Supervisory and Management Boards of PJIAE. Jacobs asked the PM to clarify if the entire $100M is a loan or if part of it is a grant.
MP Ardwell asked if part of the conditions is that St. Maarten 2019 budget must be approved by the Parliament of St. Maarten. He also asked if the WB procurement process are being followed. He asked the PM to clarify who really, she is referring when she says PJIAE. He wants to know if it’s the Supervisory Board of Management Board. He asked for further clarity on the ultimatums made by the Dutch.
MP Doran also asked Romeo Marlin to clarify whether if it’s the St. Maarten Government offered the positions on PJIAE boards to the Dutch. He said that government is rather reactive whenever the Dutch says something. He asked the Prime Minister if she sought advice from the High Council of State prior to taking a decision with the Dutch Government, World Bank and EIB. Doran asked the Prime Minister to explain why the government of St. Maarten did not issue the guarantee letter to PJIAE. Doran asked the Prime Minister what her priorities are, he said the people of St. Maarten are crying loud for proper leadership, he said the current government is only taking orders from the Dutch Government. Doran brought up the statements made by the Minister of TEATT regarding the hostile take over of PJIAE. He said the Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings also shared some sentiments about the WB while in Suriname. Doran said these statements are also confusing and in his view ,the COM is going rogue.
MP Christopher Emmanuel asked the Prime Minister to tell Parliament who is really controlling her because she has become a “puppet on a string”. He said that the PM said that she is not anyone’s puppet but recently she has become the puppet and he wants to know who really is controlling her.
As for conditions for PJIAE he said based on newspaper article it clearly states that MP Theodore Heyliger who said the Government of St. Maarten should offer the two positions to the Dutch to obtain the loan for PJIAE. Emmanuel said the Prime Minister lied to Parliament when she said it was her that offered the two positions to the Dutch. Emmanuel said status is a crying shame since St. Maarten is offering conditions to obtain assistance. He said the late Dr. Claude Wathey would have never accept such conditions after St. Maarten and its people worked blood and sweat to build the airport. He said he did the necessary research to see if St. Maarten or management of PJIAE had to agree to conditions when they borrowed USD86M for the construction of Airport Terminal Building. He said nowhere it stated that St. Maarten accepted conditions. He said the current system is lopsided especially since SMMC did not have conditions.
He asked the Prime Minister to tell Parliament exactly how much money St. Maarten received from the Dutch Government. He said he did not want to know how much is in the World Bank account. Emmanuel said that based on what he is hearing St. Maarten already collected close to $300M but he does not know where the money is going.
Emmanuel also lamented that the Minister of TEATT avoided parliament at all cost. He asked for more information on the cruise the Minister went on instead of responding to the Parliament. He calls the Minister’s action as irresponsible.
MP William Marlin says several issues kept resurfacing that warrants explanations and or clarity. He said parliament was elected by the people whose authority is to question and exercise control over government. Marlin said that government is yet to present a plan and give clarity. Marlin said the Shareholder representative went on radio stations and made statements but today he is cruising. He said the Prime Minister said she was there to answer questions about the World Bank but questions regarding PJIAE must be answered by the Shareholder Representative. Marlin said when the Shareholder representative or his replacement are not present then the Prime Minister is responsible therefore she cannot wiggle herself out of the situation.
Marlin asked the Prime Minister to clarify who exactly offered the positions to the Dutch Government. He also asked the Prime Minister to tell Parliament what exactly Mike Alexander was hired for. He said he heard that Alexander was hired to amend the articles of incorporation to create positions for the Dutch.
Marlin said he also wants more explanation about the comfort letter from the Government of St. Maarten. He asked the Prime Minister to tell Parliament when exactly did PJIAE asked for the comfort letter for the bondholders? Marlin said if PJIAE asked for a comfort letter why was that not in the presentation? He said based on the presentation the wrong impression is given because had government grant PJIAE the comfort letter for the bondholders then they would not have been in the position they are in now.
Emmanuel then presented a motion of no confidence against Stuart Johnson.
Emmanuel also presented a motion of no confidence against Minister of TEATT Stuart Johnson who chose to go on a cruise instead of responding to the Parliament of St. Maarten.
Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin informed Parliament that the WB and EIB loan amounts to US 100M, this she said includes the USD 15M liquidity loan. Marlin insisted that the liquidity money is part of the USD 100M and the USD 15M will be coming in tranches. Marlin also told Parliament that it is PJIAE that requested USD64M for the reconstruction. She said that PJAIE sent a letter to the Council of Ministers in April 2018.
