Philipsburg:--- Leader of the Democratic Party Faction Sarah Wescott Williams expressed her concerns about the lateness in which government is delivering the drafts copies of the organic laws to the island council members which is scheduled to be discussed on Tuesday at a central committee meeting. Wescott Williams said the meeting that was supposed to be held on Monday just after the passing of hurricane Earl had to be postponed because government could not muster a quorum to start the meeting, she said a member of the DP faction was present and he waited until after 5 pm to see if that meeting would take place. While there are about eight laws to be discussed the island council lady said they have not received the draft copies for all of them. Another concern for the DP leader is the question of dollarization and what type of currency will be used in country St. Maarten.
Wescott Williams said her concern however is with the fact that only on Monday evening copies of some of the organic laws were distributed and the agenda for Tuesday's meeting has been extended. She said her faction abhors the fact that government is seeking to handle this matter in such a rush, rush fashion. Wescott Williams said her faction is between a rock and a hard place because if they come to the meeting and seek to engage a discussion they are told they are drawing out the process, and if they stay away from these meetings they would also get flack for it. Wescott Williams said while her faction is willing to cooperate and to pass the laws and if changes are to be made at a later date then can be done at a future time however, when government is going to call a meeting for Tuesday and documents relating to matters like the central bank have not been distributed and the law for governing civil servants and the law that establishes the organization for country St Maarten then they cannot allow such to pass because government is racing against time. Wescott Williams said government has said their backs are against the wall but they are not going to allow such matters to be accepted as routine procedures. The Democratic Party faction leader said her faction is willing to draw the line since they would not be able to explain the people on matters pertaining to the central bank and the civil service and the organization for country St. Maarten. Wescott Williams said while her faction will be attending the meetings they will make their point extremely clear to government and they will take the position where government cannot expect them to be at a meeting for the sake of being present.Wescott Williams said government is saying they are being pressured by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende who apparently told St. Maarten that if the organic laws are not passed then there will be now Round Table Conference (RTC) on September 9th. She said this type of excuse would not persuade the DP to vote for the laws if they are not comfortable with what is presented to them. However, she said her faction will be seeking the entire story on what exactly the Prime Minister said during his visit here on Sunday.
In an invited comment Leader of Government William Marlin said that St. Maarten had ten years in which to prepare these draft laws for country St. Maarten but none of it was done over the years. Marlin said one of the main reasons the draft laws are late is because the island is having some serious problems with its advisors most of whom are working part time outside of St. Maarten. Marlin said government is not withholding any documents or draft law intentionally but as soon as they get them they have to approve it in the executive council prior to sending them out to the central committee and island council.Marlin further explained while the island secretary sent out the draft laws digitally when they were ready he personally drove around the island and delivered the hard copies of the draft laws to the members of the Democratic Party on Monday afternoon. Marlin said the only faction member who did not meet him to collect his package was caretaker commissioner Theo Heyliger. Marlin said he informed Heyliger that he was on his way to deliver the documents but Heyliger waited until he reached in front of his gate to inform him that he was unable to get out of his house because a tree had fallen. As for the cancellation of the central committee on Monday the island leader said five members from the National Alliance including island councilman Louie Laveist was there and Leroy De Weever while the other members chose to stay away. He said he tried calling some of the island council members to the meeting but somehow there were phone problems while one of the island council members informed him they did not have water or electricity and thus they were not able to make it to the meeting.
Marlin said St. Maarten has a serious deadline to meet if not there would be no RTC meeting in the Hague on September 9th. Marlin said if the factions want to postpone the RTC meeting and run the risk that St. Maarten would not become country on October 10th then these faction members should spell that out for the people of St Maarten. Marlin said when the Prime Minister came to St. Maarten some years ago and gave his famous lecture in the court house it was basically to give the island a message which was that the Dutch government and its politicians were not satisfied with certain developments on St. Maarten. Marlin said during that lecture the Prime Minister cited the WODC report and nepotism in government and several other things that the Dutch parliament and government were not happy about and if changes were not made in certain areas then the Dutch government would not support St. Maarten in becoming country. Marlin said it is almost a year ago (September 30th) since he signed the agreement with the Dutch and Antillean governments that by October 10th 2010 St. Maarten will become country. Marlin made clear that he placed all his energy and time went over the past year since he took over the leadership of government into achieving country status. "I have been attending meetings and signing agreements and getting the legislation through the different layers and channels so that St. Maarten could be ready for 10/10/10."Marlin said these organic laws were never brought to the island council but they were submitted to the Kingdom Council of Ministers and the vetting committee who made their observations and because of this certain adaptations had to be made to the draft laws and this he said is where the issues of the advisors came into play. He said because of all of the scenarios government is running a tight schedule. Marlin said one of the things the island council members want is for government to make a schedule but they cannot do so because government has no certainty as to when these draft laws would be ready. Marlin said right now government is racing against time and they began receiving these drafts over the past 48 hours. Marlin said St. Maarten voted for a new status some ten years ago and no preparation was made. He said if the island council members are serious about becoming country then they would stop the bickering about receiving documents late because no one sent these documents late intentionally. Marlin said they have to have all these drafts laws by Friday to send to the preparatory committee for the political steering group meeting on September 6th in the Hague in preparation for the September 9th RTC meeting.
Marlin said despite the weather conditions government and its staff decided to work on Monday because they have to meet some critical deadlines. Marlin said if there are people in the council who wants to take their time they need to make that known so that government knows where they are standing. Marlin said when Prime Minister Balkenende visited St. Maarten on Sunday he informed them that the Dutch government is ready to go all the way and complete the process for St. Maarten to become country on October 10 but while they are happy with the progress the island has made there are three areas of concern which is Aruba must vote on the Kingdom Charter which is one of the requirements for St. Maarten and Curacao to get its country status. Curacao island council must vote on the constitution and it must be approved even by a simple majority while St. Maarten must have all its draft organic laws in place for the Round Table Conference to take place. Marlin said all three of issues must be addressed by each island before the process could move forward. Marlin said he was not able to send out any official notification as to what the Prime Minister said because the Prime Minister had to be rushed off of St. Maarten before the passing of Earl on Sunday evening. Marlin said the PM had to cancel his meetings with Saba and Statia and he went straight to Curacao and Aruba to address the three main concerns of the Dutch government.
Asked about the currency issue Marlin said he did not take a decision on what currency the island would use. He said if one should read the final declaration of November 2006 and they would see that it was decided at that meeting that Curacao and St. Maarten would have a common central bank and a common currency. Marlin said he did not take that decision neither is he promoting the issue however he is busy executing the decisions that were taken by the former constitutional affairs commissioner Sarah Wescott Williams. "To dollarize or not is a position that St. Maarten took several years ago when St. Maarten establishes its position on central bank and on currency." Marlin said people are telling him that the other political parties are saying that he is against the dollarization in an effort to intimidate and scare the people from the National Alliance. He said as far as he can see is that while he had nothing to do with the dollarization and currency for St. Maarten the politicians are playing politics and causing confusion over nothing in order to gain votes on September 17th.
