In this entire saga that has transpired in the last few weeks it is revealing to see how some people can read the same document and come up with completely different conclusions. I felt it is necessary to try to explain some issues here for the clarification purposes.
On a radio program Mr. Michael Ferrier indicated that the Council of Ministers (COM) can only dissolve Parliament if there is no majority willing to form a new Government. He was not the only one with this opinion; MP Roy Marlin and others also shared this opinion. Mr. Ferrier said that this was clear in the ‘Memorie van Toelichting’ (Explanation of the Articles) but I have the document and I wasn’t able to find this. If anyone out there can find it, I will gladly admit to being wrong.
There was also an article from Mr. Jeffery Richardson, who is the leader of a political party. He said that the letter submitted by the 3 MP’s and the letter submitted that same Sunday was an official notice. AS a politician that wants to represent us in Government and Parliament, he should have more knowledge of our Constitution. In article 33 sub 1 it clearly states ‘ The Prime Minister and other Ministers shall be appointed and dismissed by national ordinance.’ A letter written to the Prime Minister is NOT a National Ordinance. Again, I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.
Even worse than the above, the Prime Minister on a radio program insinuated that article 33 to dismiss the Ministers held more weight than article 59 because it came first. Now the PM is a gifted orator and she was careful not to say this but only insinuate it. However the message was clear. All articles carry the same weight, there is no article more important, less important and there is no such thing as a technical article.
The fact is that the correspondence from the Governor was clear and to the point. The actions by the PM were equal to the subversion of democracy. No matter how we try to sugarcoat this, it is an embarrassing and uncomfortable situation we find ourselves in as a country. It now leaves to be seen what steps the Governor, Dutch Minister and Kingdom Government and the population of St. Maarten will do. If nothing is done, this will not only have an impact on St. Maarten but on the entire Kingdom.
This has nothing to do with a personal attack on anyone, but the overall view of the country to the outside world. One person cannot make a decision for an entire country, especially seeing that the decision is not theirs to make. Will the people, the Governor and the Kingdom stand by and watch this travesty occur? Remember the Kingdom is responsible for good governance, if this is not corrected, God helps us all!!!
Kendall Dupersoy