Mr. Editor please allow me the opportunity to bring forth the following matter which deserves the attention of the reading community.
The population of Saba is pretty well much aware that there have been ongoing talks about privatizing the A.M. Edward’s Medical Center and having a new foundation operate the institution with the hope that a merger would follow with the Old Age Home.
I don’t think that there is one person on Saba that would be against this form of development once it is to improve the health situation in general on the island.
But the matter that bothers me is the fact that to date we have not heard where the Island Council the highest elected body on the island has had any role to play in this matter. I humbly feel that if you are talking about privatization the Island Council has a role to play. Nevertheless the whole process has gone by without any transparency.
The Executive Council has been acting as if they do not have to lay over account publicly to anyone which in my opinion goes against the Code of Good Governance.
But what also makes it rather strange is the fact that the Executive Council has gone over to transfer the property and the buildings to the new Saba Health Care foundation without any input or consultation with the board of the Benevolent Foundation Saba, the board of the Queen Wilhelmina Library and the board of the Saba Culture foundation. Mind you these three foundations are responsible for three buildings and the Executive Council of Saba has not had the decency to invite the boards to one session in which they would explain to them of their plans to have the property and building s transferred. A total lack of transparency and a total lack of respect for all those persons that are serving on these boards as volunteers. How should one feel when during a meeting you are being told that the property and buildings that you are operating out of has been transferred to another foundation without any discussion being held before hand.
Personally speaking for me it is a total lack of respect that this wicked government of Saba has been showing ever since they took office in 2007. I will even go further by stating and asking if this is being done because it is all black people that serve on these three institutions that are operating the aforementioned institutions.
Mind you they have transferred the buildings and no formal agreement was agreed upon between the government and the institutions boards. Not even a copy of the agreement regarding the transfer was sent to any of the foundations. Just look at the Old Age Home board who for over 35 years has been serving the clients will now have to go over to pay rent to the new foundation and also pay for their own electricity etc. How do you think a board can accept something like this from a government that does not know what they are doing? Budgets has to be made up and here we are in the month of January when the budget for the Old Age Home has been prepared and approved and you are now confronted with additional expenditures in terms of rent, electricity etc. this places the board of the Old Age Home in a very difficult situation as they will now have to go back to the financiers to seek extra funds in order to meet those commitments that were not budgeted for.
As a board member of the Benevolent Foundation Saba my advice to my board is to seek legal representation and seek clarity on this matter. You have been operating this building for over 35 years and a government that does not know what they are doing would go over and transfer the building even without consulting or informing you of their intentions.
I have concluded that the government of Saba is incompetent to manage the affairs of this island in transparency and with due respect.
The part that hurt me the most last week during a meeting was when one of the longest serving board members of all three foundations Mrs. Carmen Simmons had to sit there and hear that the property and buildings has been transferred without any input from the respective boards.
It seems as if it has become the modus operandi of this Executive Council to belittle the hard dedicated work of many people on this little island. I can speak out because I have experienced it with them. False promises that they continue to make and nothing is being done to better the situations.
It is sad to know how this Executive Council is treating people that has dedicated many years to the development of this little island.
What I really find very funny is the fact that the Lt. Governor who is supposed to be above the party politics is allowing this type of behavior to be carried out. After all he is the one that has to sign these so call ad-hoc decisions with a total lack of transparency and respect. Any good functioning Lt. Governor that is above the party politics would have made sure those decisions regarding the transferring of government so call buildings would be done without some formal discussions with the foundations that are operating these buildings.
For an institution like the Old Age Home what should the board do now in order to generate that extra cost? Should the board go over to decide to charge the clients more to stay at the Home?
This is ad-hoc decision making and I will repeat that I hope that it is not because the majority of the boards are made up of black people and the Executive Council want to make them look bad. I don’t rule out anything from this government.
To make it even worse can you imagine that this present Executive Council has never once found it fitting to invite the board of the Old Age Home for a discussion on any matter?
Dave Levenstone