~ Says the lies being exposed daily ~
Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Tuesday said the government’s recent personnel hiring spree and its ability to find funds to cover garbage collection, confirms its blatant lies to the people of St. Maarten of having to cut income and benefits as a cost-saving austerity measure. “As the weeks pass by, the lies become more evident,” the MP said.
Emmanuel said it is rather “heartless” of the government to be hiring additional personnel after telling already employed workers in the public and semi-public sector that their income will have to be cut. “It was said there is no money. The door was even left open for more cuts and possibly even direct salary cuts in the future. But here we are today hiring more people,” the MP said.
He pointed out that within the last week alone, the government has placed more than 10 vacancy ads in local media seeking personnel for various functions; everything from a photographer at the Tourist Office to head of a department. The beat goes on as normal for a government that can’t even produce the 2021 budget, now going into May,” the MP said.
He added that when passing the laws to cut income and benefits, Parliament also passed a motion for an evaluation after 6 months of these laws. However, the MP said any evaluation conducted now, after government is hiring “Non-stop” will not be credible. “At this rate after 6 months we might have hired 60 people. What and how exactly will you evaluate? Based on those realities,” the MP said.
The Parliament and people of St. Maarten have no clue about how government will pay for these additional positions as well as fund the reforms that they agreed to with the Dutch Government. But we do know that NAf 2 million extra was found to pay for expanded garbage collection contracts. They are hiring for everything,” the MP said.
The MP also pointed to the added overall costs at government entities such as the Fire Department and the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC). “It is all about cost. Workers were told to put their best foot forward and accept income cuts. But we see SMMC (not from the government budget but still a cost) bringing in someone from across the globe to be Head of the hospital when we have a qualified local in place already. We prefer to pay plane tickets for this person, housing, car, and other allowances rather than save money and appoint our own. The same goes for the Fire Department. We prefer to appoint a Dutchman, bring him in with all the costs associated, rather than appointing our own.
“This failed government was never serious about cost-saving. They lied to you. Workers will suffer because this government has no vision and no creative solutions. So they cut the income of workers based on a lie. I want to remind everyone of a quote from the Prime Minister on the night that Parliament (except my person) voted to cut the income of workers: “The words you say, the actions you do and your very thoughts come back three-fold. Even your thoughts, the words you speak in secret and the actions that you do in secret will come back to you. A liar has to remember a lie.”
