A letter was signed and booked in Wednesday afternoon at the General Secretary of Parliament. The letter is self-explanatory.
Once again the Chair Lady of Parliament is not acting in accordance with the Rules of Order governing the functioning of Parliament. Last week the Chair Lady invented her own rule to deny the leader of the National Alliance to speak during a Central Committee meeting.
This time the Chair Lady is blatantly trampling on the Rules of Order by not following what is clearly stated in Article 29 sub 2 of the Rules of Order. When there is no quorum for a meeting to begin, that meeting has to be reconvened within 4 times 24 hours.
The Chair Lady has decided to reconvene the meeting instead after no less than 14 times 24 hours. This is not acceptable and is clearly an abuse of power and a manipulation of the system for party political gain.
It was decided by the factions supporting the government on Thursday night, March 26th that they were not going to show up for the meeting on March 7th with the agenda point: Developments at the Princess Juliana International Airport.
Only 6 Members of Parliament were present for the meeting and the meeting was rightfully not held and the Chair Lady announced that it would be reconvened in accordance with the Rules of Order.
On Monday evening, however, a convocation was sent out for the reconvening of the meeting on March 25th. Reason for this being that the Minister Ted Richardson, Shareholder Representative of the Airport would not be available for a meeting on an earlier date.
This has absolutely nothing to do with the Rules of Order. Every Minister has a Replacement Minister and arrangements has to be made for the Replacement Minister for Minster Ted Richardson to be present art the meeting.
The National Alliance faction is calling on the Chair Lady of Parliament to respect the Constitution of Sint Maarten and act in accordance with the Rules of Order of Parliament and reconvene the meeting as soon as possible.
We have voted to live ion a democracy and we must ensure that our Constitution is not trampled upon and set aside whenever convenient to those forming part of the majority.
The National Alliance is calling on the Chair Lady of Parliament to reconvene the meeting on Friday upcoming March 14th.
From The Desk Of
William V. Marlin
Member of Parliament
To: The Chair Lady of Parliament,
Drs. Gracita Arrindell,
Parliament Building,
Philipsburg,
St. Maarten.
Philipsburg, March 12, 2014.
Re: Reconvening of meeting in reference to Developments at the Airport.
Honourable Chair Lady,
On behalf of the faction of the National Alliance I hereby raise strong objections to your decision to reconvene the meeting on the airport to March 25th upcoming.
On February 25th 2014 the faction of the National Alliance requested for an urgent meeting of Parliament to be convened to discuss Developments at the Princess Juliana International Airport. The meeting had been convened for Friday March 7th 2014. However, as only 6 Members of Parliament were present for the meeting, you rightfully so, in accordance with Article 29 of the Rules of Order declared that there was no quorum for the meeting and that the meeting would be reconvened within 4 times 24 hours, thus by Tuesday March 11th 2014.
How shocked were we when during the evening of Monday March 10th we received an email from the Secretary General of Parliament on behalf of the Chair Lady, with a convocation attached for the reconvening of the meeting, but for March 25th 2014, two weeks too late.
In the letter it is stated that the Hon. Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs and Telecommunication, Mr. Ted Richardson, because of previous engagements cannot attend on an earlier date.
Madame Chair lady, this is no reason for not adhering to the Rules of Order. The Rules of Order have to be respected and carried out by the Chair Lady of Parliament. The Rules of Order clearly state in Article 29 Sub 2 that if there is no quorum for a meeting, that thast meeting has to be reconvened within 4 times 24 hours. The Rules of Order make no mention of the availability of any Minister or any other third party.
May I remind the Honourable Chair Lady that every Minister has a replacement Minister to replace him or her during their absence. So there is absolutely no reason why the meeting has to be put off until March 25th 2014.
On behalf of the faction of the National Alliance I hereby strongly urge you, Madame Chair Lady, to respect the Constitution of Sint Maarten and the /Rules of Order governing the functioning of Parliament and reconvene the meeting as soon as possible. Not doing so, will be once again trampling on our democracy.
Looking forward to the meeting being convened as soon as possible in accordance with the Rules of Order, I remain for and on behalf of the faction of the National Alliance,
Respectfully yours,
William V. Marlin.