PHILIPSBURG:--- Members of the National Alliance Faction namely, its leader and Member of Parliament William Marlin, Louis Laveist, and George Pantophelt told members of the media at a press conference on Thursday that they have a number of concerns and they need government to tell them exactly what is going on.
Member of Parliament George Pantophlet said that several persons contacted him recently, mostly foreigners that were naturalized and told him that the census office is now asking them to provide them with a new authenticated birth certificate of their country of origin before they could renew their passports. Pantophlet said that he wants the Government of St. Maarten to tell them where in the law this is stipulated even though they are the legislators of St. Maarten. He further stated that he also got information from a St. Maarten person residing in the United States that informed him that they received correspondence from the census office informing them that if they are living the USA they can no longer be registered on St. Maarten and be on the voter's registration list. MP Pantophlet said here again he needs the Government of St. Maarten to tell him what law they are applying and if they are only targeting citizens of St. Maarten residing in the USA. He said there are voters on the French side of the island that are still allowed to hop across the border and vote while there are others that lives in the neighboring islands and they too could maintain their voting rights.
GEBE Should Use Subsidy to Give Residents of Cape Bay Relief.
Member of Parliament Louis Laviest told reporters that one of his concerns rests with GEBE and the Minister that is responsible for GEBE. MP Laviest said that residents of Cape Bay have been living for over five decades with noise and air pollution in their neighborhood caused by GEBE. He said this situation poses severe health risks for the people living in Cape Bay and they were promised years ago that GEBE would do something to reduce the noise and air pollution. Laviest said that since the BES islands no longer have to get subsidies from GEBE then he believes that the monies GEBE is saving could be used to provide the relevant relief for the residents of Cape Bay.
Another concern Laveist raised is the 100% increase in SZV premiums which he said is affecting a whole lot of people. Laviest said that there are persons going home with less than minimum wage and most of these people simply cannot pay these premiums. Therefore he calls on government to reverse the decision they took to increase the SZV premiums. When asked where government would get the monies from for SZV since their budget is so meager, Laveist said he made several proposals on the floor of parliament when this matter was discussed. He said the Government of St. Maarten could levy a one or two dollar head tax on all persons visiting the island to pay the SZV premiums. This he said can be added to passengers tickets because he paid those taxes in other countries already.
The Member of Parliament further stated that government has lots of leased land that is leased out for over a 100 years and they are collecting pittance from the lessees for it. Therefore, he is suggesting that government look for the long lease land that people has for years and revalue it and then sell it to the persons that are leasing it. He said that too would provide extra income. He said while he is giving suggestions as to how government could raise its revenues he wants to see the extra monies government gets go to the people and not be squandered.
Member of Parliament William Marlin and leader of the National Alliance spoke about the hoax ground breaking ceremony which took place in Belvedere to build affordable homes and other facilities, Marlin said that even though the ground breaking ceremony took place months ago, to date the construction has not started and based on information he received recently government does not even have the monies to build these homes.
Marlin said that ground breaking ceremonies are only held when government is ready to build whatever they chose to construct.
Another issue Marlin raised was the long awaited relief that was recently signed off for pensioners on their electricity bills. MP Marlin said he hopes that the agreement that was signed off is not a temporary one that will be used for political mileage.
