Dear Editor,
Thanks once again for using this medium to express myself. I think that I am one of many people on St. Maarten who has been greatly disappointed in the overall functioning of our Parliament. The cases in which incompetence and disrespect to the electorate and amongst colleagues (both domestic and internationally) have been displayed are too numerous to mention. Many times I've been shaking my head while reading news articles or while following some parliamentary meeting via radio or TV.
My question is: how long are we going to tolerate incompetency in our Parliament? Elections are around the corner to hold those accountable who simply didn't perform to the desired standard. I will not mention names, but there are too many of the current parliamentarians who should never be allowed to set a foot in the Parliament building again.
When choosing a candidate, we should first determine what the different parties stand for. That is hard enough as it is, because all of them talk but nothing much has actually been done (in my opinion). So we need to look at what a party has delivered (unless it is a new party on the block, then it is like throwing the dice). Then we need to find out what they say that they are going to do. When we have chosen the party that we think that is the best fit to our wishes and demands, we need to examine which individual should get our vote.
The chosen individual is as important as the chosen party. We should not take this lightly. It is not a popularity contest in the sense of which parliamentarian you like to hang around with. Also in the case of choosing a candidate for a position in Parliament, we need to look at what that person has done so far as a politician and in his or her professional life. A great family (wo)man is not necessarily a great parliamentarian. Then we should listen to what they want to accomplish in which areas and see if those areas match with the areas of their expertise.
The only way that the level of the overall functioning of our Parliament can go up is when we choose the right competent and qualified people to represent us. I am looking forward to hear from our candidates what they have achieved in their political and or professional life, what their plans are for St. Maarten and how they intend to achieve this. I will not judge based on your smile or hollow words, but on your track record and on your vision. This time you need to work hard to get my vote and you need to show me that you are competent and qualified enough for the job.
Andrew Smith
