Philipsburg: --- Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs Sarah Wescot Williams yesterday reacted to the motion which was presented to the second chamber and passed. That motion reads that St. Maarten would not achieve its separate status until ‘we' have complied with the conditions of the November 2 accord with regards the maintenance of law and order and the administration of justice.
She said that this motion can be seen as superfluous since the agreement of November 2006 is simply about that. Wescot Williams said parties have agreed to execute certain tasks and the tasks will be executed with the clear objective in mind that entities would get their new status. She said when these motions were being debated she made her point by asking that the Dutch government to be clear in terms of what they are asking of St. Maarten. "Now given this motion I will stress this point again. I want to go back to the part where it says "we should comply with the conditions of the November 2006 accord."
She said that she regret very much that the local media is not able to question further when these statements are issued since she would like to know exactly where St. Maarten is not complying with law and order as set forth in the November 2 2006 accord.
On the matter of justice, she said only on October 1 2008 the following consensus Kingdom Laws were accepted and ratified. That of joint courts consensus kingdom law on the public prosecution and the financial supervision, and the police law has all been accepted by all parties including St. Maarten.
Wescot Williams itemized C20 of the November 2006 accord which stipulates that before the new structure goes into effect the police organization must be drastically improved. Jointly the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles namely Curacao and St. Maarten would establish a plan of activities that includes the conditions for the police cores, the activities of the safety plan St. Maarten would also be looked at. It is stipulated that the Netherlands would be more actively involved in these procedures.
"Not only that St. Maarten agreed and ratified these laws but the island has agreed to have three work groups who would be charged with working on the individual police organizations." Wescot Williams said.
Wescot Williams said that the island had made it case when it says that someone locally has to be on the committees since the island is often overlooked and left behind. She said that Richard Gibson is charged with this aspect of justice.
Wescot Williams made clear that the Minister of Justice David Dick is the one who is in the driver seat when it comes to the maintenance of law and order, she said unless the Minister decides to transfer his competencies to the island only then St. Maarten can act independently. She asked if the Minister has passed on his responsibilities to the island Lt. Governor or even Mr. Gibson because she is not aware of that fact. She said should someone walk into the office of Police Affairs their first recommendation would be to close down the office but St. Maarten does not have the power to assist where necessary even if they wanted to do so.
The island leader said that matters like these sounds nicely politically but the island is not at fault instead it is due to the island persistence they would not have been this far. She said these would be some of her questions on the motion since the negativity is very unfortunate, despite the fact the island is bending over backwards to move the process forward.
In conclusion Wescot Williams said that it is not the call of the second chamber to decide the future of St. Maarten even if they do have something to say to the Kingdom. She reiterated that the people of St. Maarten voted for Country within the Kingdom and that is the call that has to be heeded. She said even though she is not fighting with anyone she is making the island's position very clear.
