National Alliance (NA) leader William Marlin says it would be interesting to hear what the Dutch delegation said to the Executive Council concerning the issue of good governance.
Marlin noted on 99.9 FM’s radio programme "For the Record" that one of the issues on the agenda for the meeting between First Chamber representatives and the Island Council pertained to the principle of good governance and, in light of this, a report should be made concerning what was discussed.
Marlin said a meeting had indeed taken place between the Dutch delegation and the Executive Council, but noted that until now no report on it had been made available to the public. "There is no report on what was discussed. They have not yet told the public what the Dutch delegation told them or/and what they told the Dutch delegation," Marlin said.
He said it would be interesting to hear what the Dutch delegation had said to the Executive Council concerning good governance and what the Executive Council had said in return, particularly in light of the current situation with government.
Marlin also commented on what he considered a lack of dialogue with the public concerning preparations for country St. Maarten. "There is absolutely no vision, no discussion, no preparation locally as to what will we do. The people were hoping that in country St. Maarten they would have their say," Marlin said.
Speaking specifically about Central Government institutions he believed had not served the island well, Marlin asked why they would still be charged with handling matters for St. Maarten once the island achieved its new status. "It cannot be that we only want to remove the Central Government and that if we remove that layer of government everything else stays the same," Marlin said.
He said certain institutions had not served the best interest of the St. Maarten people for a number of years and many people had issued complaints in this regard. He said that, rather than hearing that St. Maarten would prepare its own institutions to replace them, he continuously heard that the existing ones would remain in place and service both St. Maarten and Curaçao.
"If they have not done it for the past 40-50 years they have not done it, so they are not going to do it now on the way out," Marlin said.
He said the Executive Council was of the mind that all departments should be "fixed" by the Central Government before they were handed over to St. Maarten, but Marlin expressed a different opinion.
"If I want my father’s old car that he has not repaired for the last 10 years, I don’t want the car under the condition that he repairs it. If I want it I would take it and fix it, whether it is the brakes, radiator or whatever the problem may be," Marlin said.