“I have seen several Ministers sign off on various projects that fall outside of their portfolios and deciding on things without the Council of Ministers being aware of”
From the Cabinet of the Prime Minister- Prime Minister Wescot-Williams; “The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams again reiterated that, as Citizens voting for the 2014 Parliamentary elections, people will be voting for Parliament and not for a Council of Ministers; “I keep trying to explain what and who people are voting for on August 29th. The people of St. Maarten will vote for fifteen members to the Parliament of St. Maarten. Once those persons are elected they will be there for four years unless you have a political impasse in which the Government decides to dissolve Parliament. On the basis of that Parliament, any majority can then decide who will be in the next Government. No one is voting for a Minister, Prime Minister or otherwise. Our system does not function like that. After persons have voted for members of Parliament the majority can decide to appoint anyone to the position of Minister. Basically the emphasis here should be on the persons elected to Parliament because they will be the one who decide who governs us. Ministers are not decided during campaigning but are decided by a majority of Parliament who then decides who will be Minister. You have to wait to see the outcome of elections in order to know what the formation of Parliament will be and on the basis thereof we will see who will be responsible for the different areas.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the responsibilities Ministers have with regards to Parliament; “It is the right of Parliament to amend, approve or disapprove the Budget of the Country. By approving the Budget Parliament is giving the Government the mandate to execute on the basis of an approved budget. Parliament also has the right to initiate a law; a member or more members can come together to draft a law and present that to Parliament. Thirdly Parliament has the right to question Government. Parliament can also have an inquiry into a topic or an issue.
“The Ministers are responsible to Parliament and not to the Prime Minister. In our system the ministers are independently responsible for their actions. If the majority of Parliament decides that the minister does not enjoy the confidence of Parliament then the minister has to do the honorable thing and resign.
“Just last week there was an article in one of the daily newspapers that spoke of some of the matters that were highlighted to politicians. One of those items is the matter of the tax system, but what the article overlooked is the fact that in our country status it is the Minister of Finance who is responsible for our tax department and he or she would have to initiate whatever process is necessary to change the tax system. I have seen several Ministers sign off on various projects that fall outside of their portfolios and deciding on things without the Council of Ministers being aware of this.
“Parliament must work; it must understand the issues and work towards taking a stand and representing the people. The same with Government owned companies; it is really the people who own the Government owned companies through Government being a majority stakeholder. Government being the shareholder and owner a Minister is the shareholder representatives. Now you have Government owned companies that operate in my opinions too much with the political wishes of the Minister,” concluded Prime Minister Wescot-Williams.