Philipsburg:--- Member of Parliament Louie Laveist made several statements during Monday's Parliamentary meeting where the Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin was bombarded with questions regarding his VROMI portfolio. Laveist in his statements said he wants to know if St. Maarten has two governments, since the Harbour Holding Company has been acting as their own government. Laveist said that the Harbour is responsible for the filling in of the Great Salt Pond starting since 2009 for the "Ring Road" without the necessary permits. He said just recently he read on SMN News that the Harbour Holding Company has been paying a Daily Herald reporter thousands of dollars per month to promote the leader of a particular political party who thinks he owns the St. Harbour Holding Company. "I need to know if there are two governments on this side of the island. If that is so we need to get the Harbour Holding Company Managing Director Mark Mingo to say how he manages the company."
In an invited comment on Wednesday, Laveist said that he already held discussions with his colleagues in Parliament (National Alliance Faction) who agreed in principle to call the Supervisory Board of the Harbour Holding Company and its Managing Director Mark Mingo to explain to Parliament how the people's patrimony is being used. Laveist said that the same reporter purposely held a smear campaign against him and apparently the Leader of the United People's Party Theodore Heyliger has decided to use the monies of a Government owned company to finance his personal political standing in the community.
Laviest said he is not afraid to call names neither is he afraid to demand answers when it comes to the people's business. "If a reporter that is working for a newspaper is paid by the Harbour to promote a politician or political party then we have problems and there lies a conflict of interest within the media and (no)fair and unbiased reporting."
On Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing SMN News reporter asked the Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams if the Harbour Holding Company pays its fair share of dividends to the government of St. Maarten since it is a government owned company. Wescot Williams said the monies the harbour is supposed to pay to government is used for projects (such as road network repairs) that are undertaken by the Harbour. When SMN News further inquired if the Council of Ministers has decided to request that an audit be conducted at the Harbour now that it is known that a Daily Herald reporter who supports and writes for the United Peoples Party is being paid by the Harbour, the Prime Minister said that the Council of Ministers has not taken such a decision.
While the Daily Herald in an editorial written on Friday last week acknowledged they also received press releases from the United People's Party and that their reporter's name was recorded as the author of the Microsoft Word files and they also acknowledged that the reporter (Alita Singh) breached the company's policy by not informing them that she was working for the Harbour Holding Company, the Daily Herald said that they received explanations from the leader of the UP Party and the reporter in question. In the editorial, management of the Daily Herald said for now they will have another reporter handle the portfolio of the harbour while they expect their reporter to act professionally in the future. The Herald did not say anything about whether or not the reporter will continue to cover the political portfolio. Amazingly on Wednesday after SMN News questioned the Prime Minister about the Harbour Holding Company, Alita Singh then made a statement prior to posing some lengthy questions "Let's turn to the real news," she said. Based on the statements Singh made, it is clear that she has no remorse. She is yet to acknowledge that her actions is totally against the principles of good journalism.
As if that was not enough, the advisor to Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin, Kendall Dupersoy was overheard telling Singh that he hopes when the National Alliance or the office of the Deputy Prime Minister sends out his press releases that they would receive fair and unbiased coverage, Singh's response to the statement Dupersoy made was "you all just cannot afford me."
