Member of Parliament George Pantophlet says that he is trying to understand the actions of the President of Parliament Drs. Gracita Arindell in adjourning the urgent meeting requested by the faction of the National Alliance on Developments at the Post Office of St. Maarten specifically with the employees who have gone on strike.
The Prime Minister had given the impression that the documents could be provided immediately after the adjournment. It was just a matter of going to the files or and e-mails and having them copied by the Secretary General who would make them available to Parliament. While the Prime Minister gave a detailed account of what transpired the documents would have provided the Member of Parliament with the dates as to when the Union was brought into the discussions. Because as he quoted one of the daily newspapers of October 7, 2011 the Union had stated they only knew what was being mentioned in the media by the Prime Minister.
The statement by Prime Minister Sara Wescot-Williams that the Post office was shut down by New Post Netherlands Antilles on Monday October 10 is interpreted by the Member of Parliament as a lock out. This has caused more confusion because what the Member of Parliament needs clarity on was upon whose authorization? In his opinion NPNA could not have taken this drastic step without the permission of its shareholder.
What is also important is the financial information as read by the Prime Minister. The Member of Parliament needs to know over what period of time because mention was made of the year 2010 and also to a certain period of the year 2011. What the Member of Parliament was looking for is at least the last 5 years. Because the argument of New Post Netherlands Antilles that they were carrying the loss for St. Maarten Post office for many years has to be based on facts. He said if this is true why is it that it was never brought to the attention of the representatives or the shareholder?
Being the businessman that Mr. Franklin Sluis is, it is incomprehensible that he would continue to allow New Post Netherlands Atnilles to incur losses of the magnitude they claim to. The Member of Parliament is looking forward to having these documents before the week is ended giving him and his colleagues sufficient time to study them before the meeting is reconvened on October 18, next Tuesday.