~Veteran MP demands current budget-execution figures before Parliament shifts funds; renews warning over Government’s cannabis legislation.~
PHILIPSBURG:--- As Parliament entered the second round of debate on the 2026 national budget Wednesday morning, Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams raised a fundamental question that could complicate proposed amendments to the budget: how much of the money Parliament is now being asked to redistribute is actually still available?
Wescot-Williams warned that Parliament is approaching the ninth month of 2026 while debating a budget based on the financial situation at the beginning of the year. She said that makes it essential for legislators to receive up-to-date budget execution figures before approving amendments that seek to transfer funds from one budget post to another.
The MP said she had already raised the concern informally and communicated it directly to Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs.
“We are now practically going into the ninth month of the year,” Wescot-Williams told Parliament, noting that the budget before legislators starts from the position as of January 1.
That timing, she argued, cannot simply be ignored.
Parliament cannot move money that may already be spent
Wescot-Williams used a hypothetical example involving the Justice Ministry to demonstrate the potential problem.
If a budget post originally contained 1,000 guilders for travel, but the responsible ministry has already spent 98% of that allocation, Parliament cannot now assume the original amount remains available and approve an amendment cutting or transferring a percentage of it.
Her point was straightforward: the figures printed in the draft budget are not necessarily the figures available today.
Without knowing the present balance of each budget post, Parliament could approve amendments on paper only to discover later that the money it attempted to move had already been committed or spent.
“If we don't have that information, what is actually on the budget post at this time that we can move?” Wescot-Williams said. Parliament could run into problems when trying to put the budget in order.
The issue becomes particularly significant because MPs are preparing several amendments and motions during the second round.
Wescot-Williams said she had already seen or heard about several of them and indicated that she could support many. However, she made clear that supporting an amendment's substance is different from knowing whether the money identified to finance it remains available.
Finance Minister Asked for Current Budget Execution
Wescot-Williams therefore called for the Government to provide the 2026 “Begrotingsuitputting” — the current budget execution figures.
She specifically told Parliament that she had already raised the matter with Finance Minister Gumbs.
“I really would like to see what they call the Begrotingsuitputting for 2026,” she said. “We are going into the ninth month.”
The request raises another important issue as the budget debate advances: Parliament is not merely being asked to approve the country's financial plan late in the fiscal year; MPs are now considering changing allocations in that plan without, according to Wescot-Williams' intervention, having the current execution figures before them.
That raises an obvious question for the remainder of the debate: Will Government provide Parliament with an updated account of what has already been spent, committed and remains available before MPs vote on amendments?
Wescot-Williams Again Warns Government on Cannabis
The veteran parliamentarian also used Wednesday's opening to renew another warning — this time concerning Government's plans for cannabis legislation.
Wescot-Williams said she was “extremely worried” by information presented by ministers concerning whatever aspect of cannabis Government intends to legislate.
She stressed that her position has not changed.
According to Wescot-Williams, she publicly expressed concerns about the process about six months ago and still believes the approach could create problems for Sint Maarten later.
“My position today ... is exactly the way it was six months ago,” she told Parliament.
More significantly, she said information that Government is committed to producing what she described as “rounded draft legislation” has increased rather than reduced her concerns.
“To hear that actually the government's commitment is about having a rounded draft legislation makes me even more worried for the process itself,” Wescot-Williams said, indicating that she intends to elaborate further during the meeting.
Her intervention adds another voice of caution to the increasingly contentious cannabis debate that has developed during Parliament's consideration of the 2026 budget.
Two Major Questions Now Hanging Over the Debate
Wednesday's opening therefore immediately placed two significant issues before the Council of Ministers.
First, what is the actual financial position of the 2026 budget today?
If Parliament is expected to amend appropriations nearly nine months into the fiscal year, legislators need to know what has already been spent and what remains available.
Second, what precisely will Government's cannabis legislation regulate, and how far advanced is the policy and legislative process?
Wescot-Williams has signaled that she intends to return to the cannabis issue in greater detail during the debate.
With amendments and motions expected from MPs, her budget-execution warning could prove even more immediate. Before Parliament starts moving Caribbean guilders from one line item to another, the Government may first have to demonstrate that those guilders are still there.