BETRAYAL:
When earlier this week Louie Laveist, the "Honorable" Member of Parliament, talked about "Betrayal of the people of St. Maarten" by Deputy Prime Minister Heyliger, I became very nauseous. Now I know Minister Heyliger is perfectly capable of defending himself, so this is not about that! Neither is it about the fact that I agree that MP James and others who get paid to be fulltime representatives of the people, should choose which God they serve. I want to focus on the audacity and brazenness of MP Louie Laveist.
I want Mr. Laveist to consider the following:
· As a DP Commissioner he got caught with his fingers in the proverbial cookie jar after he took over a perfectly well planned project to construct the new Government Administration Building. The DP Leadership thought it was the best thing for him to resign until his criminal investigation was over and his name cleared. He refused and after his detention from the Point Blanche prison, declared himself an "Independent" Council Member. Remember just before he left the DP, National Alliance Leader William Marlin publicly wiped the floor with him, crying out how shameful Laveist’s greed-driven actions were (I am paraphrasing here)! However as soon as he (LL) said he was an "Independent" member, William scooped him up and formed a new government. TALK ABOUT BETRAYAL of the people TO THE CORE!?? By the way, 6 years after the new administration building was to have been inaugurated according the agreements made with RGM in 2002 and the first 6 months of 2003, the building still sits empty in litigation and costs the government approximately ANG 800,000 quarterly thanks to the shenanigans of an "Honorable" MP.
·MP Louie Laveist should tell the people if the following is true or false: While he was entrusted with the portfolio of Commissioner of Transportation in the Executive Council of 2003 to 2007, three transportation companies were started up by members of his immediate family (including one who currently works at Pelican/Simpson Bay Resort). The companies in question are: Quality Transport Corporation for which the then Commissioner approved five (5) bus permits, Business Transport Corporation for which he approved seven (7) permits and Expert Transport Corporation for which he approved five (5) permits. And then I want the former (DP) Commissioner, now "Honorable" NA MP Laveist to confirm or deny that these bus permits are being rented out to individual drivers, some of whom are the very same constituents who had requested a permit in their own name. A nice monthly income to the owner(s) of the three transport companies at the expense of the brow sweat of the constituents. I would classify THIS to be a BETRAYAL of the people TO THE CORE! To add insult to injury, the owners of the same businesses who are family members of the "Honorable" MP, have all been issued individual taxi permits. Bear in mind that a taxi permit at the time was only to be granted if it was to be the recipient’s primary source of income. And if I am not mistaken, N.V.’s (limited liability companies) could be issued multiple bus permits. So-called "eenmanszaken" could only be issued a single bus permit.
1 Mr. Laveist talked about "A BOLDFACED SLAP IN THE FACE OF THIS COUNTRY":
· I ask who is more "boldfaced" than the "Honorable" Member of Parliament Laveist who had the gall to present himself on the National Alliance political slate after having been convicted by the court.
Lastly, in his tirade on radio and so quoted in the print media, Mr. Laveist ends with inciting labor unrest, prefacing the call to this unrest with a lame statement that he "doesn’t WANT labor unrest", but sees it as unavoidable. Then he calls on his colleague James to do "the honorable thing". That’s when I gagged! Louie calling for someone else to do the "honorable" thing???? Yeah, right!!
MJF