~ PM Romeo Marlin executing victimization plan.~
PHILIPSBURG:--- The performance of the current Council of Ministers is considered to be the worst of all previous Cabinets since St. Maarten attains it country status on October 10th, 2010. Just last week the Prime Minister was asked what her government achieved now they have reached the 100 days mark. Prime Minister Leona Marlin Romeo said these are challenging times but at no time she was able to say what her government did to build back St. Maarten.
Fourteen months have passed since the passing of hurricane Irma and still, there is no relief provided for to population of St. Maarten, but rather more stress, just to name a few.
Pending Layoff at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) and the Postal Services St. Maarten (PSS).
The layoff of 49 persons at the PJIAE is still pending as the Council of Ministers are failing to provide PJIAE with the much-needed guarantee letter in order for the Bondholders to release the insurance funds. Rather than assisting the PJIAE with immediate assistance the COM is pushing the responsibility at the foot of the World Bank, that will take another 6 months before any financial assistance is granted.
Concerning the Postal Services, the PM to date still didn’t present a solution on how she plans to assist PSS with a Financial injection. To the contrary, the PM had instructed the Supervisory board of Directors of PSS to layoff the personnel including the Manager Ms. Antonio Wilson and to hire a turn around Manager that will cost PSS NAF. 25.000 monthly. SMN News will be monitoring how the staff will be paid come end of November and December 2018 as the financial reserves of PSS has been depleted. The PM had instructed the Chairlady of PSS, Ms. Marinka Gumbs, to request a financial injection from Bureau Telecommunication Post (BTP) but was later withdrawn as this act was considered illegal and the Coalition Leaders was very upset about this approach from the PM.
World Bank Trust Fund Projects
The projects of the World Bank falls directly under the responsibility of the Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin, who is charged with the execution. To date, no physical activities has been noted with regards to the repairs of the roofs of our citizens from the World Bank Trust Funds. The repairs of the much-needed hurricane shelters are also another project of which the PM had promised would be ready for the peak of the 2108 hurricane. To date, the shelters are still in a state of despair as reported by various Parliamentarians. It seems as if the PM do not have a clue of what she is doing and fails to seek assistance from her experienced coalition partners. Other world bank pending projects that are practically moving at a snail pace are the repairs to the homes of the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) in Belvedere, The Police Station, the Fire Station and the much-needed repairs to Government owned buildings including schools.
Arrogant behavior towards Civil Servants --- PAY BACK TIME
Recently SMN News brought forward a situation that has been going on for quite a while now, which is considered “Payback time”. The PM when she left Parliament, use to work at the Staff Bureau of General Affairs and had to report to Mr. Hensley Plantijn the Secretary General of General Affairs. During her tenure at the Staff Bureau of General Affairs, Romeo Marlin told close friends that she felt thatHensley Plantijn never treated her correctly with the handling of her placement within the Ministry and as such felt that Plantijn neglected to handle her situation with the necessary urgency. To the contrary, it is understood that the holdup was elsewhere. Now that Romeo Marlin is Prime Minister she is doing all within her might to get rid of Mr. Hensly Plantijn as payback, whom repeatedly she labels as a “Sarah Boy”. Romeo Marlin plans to get rid of Mr. Plantijn has even been communicated to members of the UP Party in a recently held private meeting whereas members of the DP (UD) of Sarah Wescot-Williams were not invited as this meeting was organized “secretly” among the members of the UP Party. If Romeo Marlin gets her way she is proposing to send Mr. Plantijn at the Ombudsman office or somewhere outside of the Ministry of General Affairs. Romeo Marlin is eager to get rid of Plantijn as she believes he is not following up on her instructions but seemingly he is taking directives “behind the scene” from MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.
All in all, it must be noted that a majority of the Civil Servants are not happy with the “bullying” attitude of Romeo Marlin because if she don’t get her way, then she wants to push you aside without any explanation or whatsoever. Plantijn can be considered a victim of this “bullying” attitude as he has been given various directives by Romeo Marlin to get rid of certain department heads within the Ministry of General Affairs such as the head of the Civil Registry Department, Ms. Kathy Snijders, the head of Facility Management Rick Martina.
An order that Plantijn executed because of political victimization Ms. Marisha Richardson was sidelined, the acting head of Personnel Affairs and to appoint Mr. Erno Labega who is not qualified for the position.