Marigot (October 4, 2011)— "We are thankful to the over 100 people who packed Veronica’s restaurant in St. James, and to the St. Martin people for their ongoing support," said councilman Louis Mussington after last Sunday’s MAP contact meeting.
Mussington is president of the Movement for the Advancement of the People (MAP), a political party that plans to contest the presidential election for the Collectivity of St. Martin (COM) in 2012.
Mussington said at the meeting that, "the organic law gives us the opportunity to adopt a bilingual educational system, but nobody in our local government did anything to make it possible over the past five years."
"MAP plans to establish an educational system that will reflect the cultural reality of St. Martin. It is possible through the organic law, but we need men and women of great courage and strong character to push forward a new agreement with the government of France," said Mussington, who is also an educator.
A number of MAP members spoke at the meeting about the current high rate of unemployment and crime, youth delinquency, the failing education system, and the ailing economy.
In a recent survey by the Guadeloupe-based Qualistat, 62% of the 500 people questioned in the territory disapprove of the present administration lead by President Frantz Gumbs and Louis-Constant Fleming, leader of the Union for Progress party.
The presidential election is set for March 18, 2012. "Many are questioning whether we made the right choice by changing our political status to the collectivity," said Mussington, who is an opposition councilor in the COM government.
"It is not the status that is the problem, it is the leadership of the country that is mismanaging the country," said Mussington to a rousing applause from the audience.
MAP is currently circulating a 15-question survey on the socio-political situation of St. Martin, said Mussington. The next MAP contact meeting is scheduled for Sandy Ground on Friday, October 14, said the political leader.