The appointment of Sharine Daniel as the first female head of the SZV supervisory board is being lauded as a move in the right direction and as encouraging, by leader of the One St. Maarten People Party Leonard “Lenny” Priest. The OSPP leader said he hopes to see more local women achieve more milestones in St. Maarten’s young history as a country and to see more young St. Maarteners take up similar roles.
“To see this young very qualified St. Maartener appointed into this position, especially as a female, indicates that our people are willing and able to accept more leadership roles within their country. Here we have a young woman with not one but two Masters Degrees and a bachelor’s degree, who returned home to work for her country and to help secure all our futures. Her appointment is a move in the right direction for the island and we hope it encourages more young St. Maarteners to return home and seek leadership roles,” Priest said.
The OSPP leader was reacting to news in the local media on Monday that St. Maartener Sharine Daniel has been appointed as the first female chair of the SZV supervisory board. Priest opined that “we are lucky” Sharine Daniel is one of those qualified St. Maarteners who chose to return to the island and advised that more be done to encourage other St. Maarten professionals to return home to build their country.
“One of the best ways of doing this is through our scholarships policy. We need to ensure that when we are giving our students scholarships to further their education that these scholarships also meet the needs of St. Maarten. After issuing these scholarships, we must be able to keep track of our students-those studying at the USM and those studying abroad—and work with them to ensure that they receive the necessary work experience on successful completion of their studies that will allow them to return home and take up positions now held by expatriates or by those going on pension,” the OSPP leader said. He called Daniel’s a role model that young women can look up to and lamented the lack of a candidate like herself contesting the election, particularly on his party slate.
“This is the type of young woman we would have liked to see on our list because she represents everything that we are fighting for our people. It is unfortunate that this time around we have no female candidates contesting on the OSPP ticket, but that was not for a lack of trying. l hope that in the next four years we have more persons like Sharine Danilel contesting the elections to take up leadership roles in Parliament. Congratulations to Sharine Daniel, we are all proud of your accomplishments,” Priest concluded.