PHILIPSBURG:--- SMN News has taken note of the amount of press releases that are being sent to all media houses by the Minister of VROMI Maurice Lake. While it is good that the Minister is trying his best to be transparent and making sure that his face is in the newspapers on a daily basis, the Minister does not attend the weekly press briefing where members of the media could pose questions to him on all the brewing issues that involve his Ministry.
The Minister has stated on several occasions in press releases that he will have an investigation conducted but the Minister does not update the media on the status or outcome of these investigations.
Last week, a meeting was held in Parliament regarding the purchase of the Emilio Wilson Estate and the Minister told Parliament that the letter of intent signed by former Minister of VROMI William Marlin was not booked in. Marlin in a press briefing on Monday told reporters that the leader of the UPP Theodore Heyliger had a copy of the letter that was booked in showing it to certain members of the media in the press room of parliament. Marlin further stated that the Members of Parliament from the UPP faction got copies of the letter but the members of the National Alliance faction in parliament did not get copies because the griffier told them that he did not get a copy of the letter from the Minister of VROMI to distribute to the Members of Parliament.
On Tuesday, Minister Lake sent out a press release with a photograph where he is holding a ruffled white paper bag containing documents which he said was left to be burnt.
SMN News wanted to ask Minister Lake when he found this envelope and why he did not send out a release prior to Marlin's press conference. However, these and several other questions pertaining to GEBE and the Ministry of VROMI could not be answered because Minister Lake never shows up for press briefings. On several occasions he would give DCOMM his phone number telling them to announce it so that members of the media could reach him since he has prior engagements on Wednesdays but whenever SMN News calls Minister Lake's phone number there is never a response.