For years I have been complaining about the media in St. Maarten, the fact that they simply sit back and wait for news to drop into their laps instead of going out and finding it. Years ago, I had a weekly paper that tried to change this aspect of the media by doing some investigative reporting.
For those that don’t know, the DP Government at the time refused to sign off the working permit of the editor and even went as far as intimidating advertisers. All this in order to silence the voice of that paper and it worked.
In those days, there wasn’t any blogs and online media but now we can get alternative views from this form of communication. Now I don’t know if I like the fact that people can hide behind a screen name and launch personal attacks and accusations against others but we have to take the positive with the negative.
That entire lead up was to mention the following, why is it that none of the printed media has gotten in contact with the leaders of the DP, UP and Romain Laville to ask them why they have chosen to place totally new members in the Government instead of reappointing the previous Ministers?
There are several reasons to reappoint the previous cabinet, for one they could hit the ground running instead of having to learn the ropes. The only exception would be Maurice Lake who was already working in the VROMI cabinet, so he should be able to start right away. My mother will be keeping a keen eye on Minister Lake seeing the issues he had with the current Government and their performance. She expects great things from this Government for the elderly since Minister Lake was so concerned about the elderly when he was just a normal citizen.
The media should be asking why former Minister Rhoda Arrindell was not reappointed as Minister of Education, Culture and Sports. Did she do a bad job? The country has been paying her a salary for the past year or more, this would have been an opportunity for her to contribute back to the country.
The same can be said about former Minister Frankie Meyers. Wasn’t Frankie doing a good job? He was a commissioner for 8 years and brought a lot of experience to the Minister’s post. Why is a new inexperienced candidate now being proposed?
We can almost understand the fact that former Minister Theo Heyliger is not interested in the position anymore, with so many accusations against him it could be a temporary position if any of the accusations prove true. In any case, he has his right hand man in the position so I suspect that Mr. Heyliger’s agenda will be fulfilled by the new Minister.
The above are all pertinent questions, questions that should be asked by the media. The media plays an important role in society and until they take their role more seriously we will never develop into the kind of country that St. Martin can be.
Kendall Dupersoy