The Democratic Party has been one of the longest serving parties in the history of St. Maarten. We have had our ups and downs, but we have been there for the people of St. Maarten, now more than ever before. Our main goal was and continues to be, “how can we make our island a better place for the people of St. Maarten”.
To hear a political party, who welcomed the leader of the Democratic Party as the chairlady in one breathe and denounce her in the next, say some of the most unprofessional things is a shame to say the least. This berating article from the USP board comes as no surprise, because the same lowdown type of message was previously shared in the NA/USP/DP coalition WhatsApp chat.
Yes, the “testicular fortitude” message from the hand of a TEATT cabinet staffer, singling out 2 leaders of the coalition and calling the other (female) leader “spineless”. Well, for a spineless leader, Honorable MP, Sarah Wescot-Williams, surely has a vicious bite. Why, if the leader of the Democratic Party, was so incompetent, based on her “track record” did you include the Democratic Party in the coalition? Why did the USP and the NA who together had a majority following the 2016 election, bring the DP into their coalition? They knew that “lil” bit of red made all the difference in the world.
Reference is being made to the party being “Like an annoying mosquito that keeps you up at night”. If being an annoying mosquito means that we have had to buzz the words like, we have to be loyal to the people of St. Maarten, we have to take their well-being into consideration, we have to ensure that our people have a roof over their head, we have to ensure that our shores are ready for our visitors, we have to support our businesses so that they have the help that they need to be ready when we open our boarders to our guests. Then yes we are that mosquito and we will continue to be that mosquito ensuring that anyone who does not have the best interest of St. Maarten and its people at heart, wake up and smell the coffee.
The Democratic Party might be small, but we will not be bullied into silence by a group of people who have had their self-serving interest smashed because we did not cower under the pressure. We will not simply slide into obscurity and keep our mouths shut just because a few people stood behind their phones and literally tried to cyber bully us, as representatives of Country St. Maarten, into oblivion. What is evident, is the USP, the poster child for creating political coups, nepotism and backhandedness, as long as they are allowed to do what they want, like a spoiled child, without any push back or question, their partners are the sweetest persons in the world, well not the DP, SORRY!!!
Like the bold red of our party we will stand firm and we will continue to stand if it means that things are not being done in the best interest of our country. While others try to create smoke screens by posting false allegations and throwing piles of blame in an attempt to cloud the waters of reason, the Democratic Party will continue to fight for the people. We believe that our time is best spent pounding the pavement of our parliament seeking justice, relief and proper negotiations for our people.
We can sit and talk about the roles assigned to the ministries of TEATT and Justice. We can look at the fact that while the ministry was out informing our cruise lines that we were ready to open, the merchants on Back Street and Front Street were shouting for proper security, assistance in cleaning up and a host of other issues that no one heeded the call to. Has anyone asked why St. Maarten was not ready for the strongly publicized November 11th cruise visit? Where are the reports of the hotels, and what is being done to ensure that these hotels are open so that our people can go back to their jobs and welcome our visitors back to our shores?
We can also talk about the break down in security during and after the hurricane and the lack of proper planning from the ministry of Justice. There is much to be said about a lot of issues. However, we are bigger than that and we will continue to focus on ensuring that the people of St. Maarten get the necessary relief that they will need, while not compromising our current and future generations to come.
We believe that our new coalition government is able and capable to help the people of St. Maarten. The Democratic Party has partnered with a group of people who we believe are not about playing politics or smoothing down ego’s but about making St. Maarten rise again. We will continue to look out in the best interest of country St. Maarten and its people. Our loyalty is to the people. Our coalition will always be the people’s coalition because the coalition, in our opinion will be about the people and, professionally, delicately, carefully and economically looking at what works for country St. Maarten.
In Part 2, Please explain the following:
• What will the USP say about the Integrity Law when it reaches Parliament?
• Will the USP that quietly backtracked and signed the same border control agreement it rallied against for weeks, now sign “its” Integrity Chamber in Parliament?
• Why did it take the Justice Minister weeks to buckle and sign the same border control agreement presented from day 1?
• Can the USP give us the people of St. Maarten the “ingredients” for actually throwing down government? Revert to the infamous, “carnival coup”, if necessary.
• Why did the leader of USP who so boisterously rants in Parliament, and defended the then PM Mr. William Marlin, leave the NA to form his own political party?
• Please explain the formation of the USP with the many defectors or ship jumpers:
Maria Buncamper-Molanus by way of UPP, by way of DP
Romain Laville by way of UPP
Silvio Matser by way of UPP by way of NA
• Why have MP Chanel Brownbill aligned himself with the Democratic Party and form part of the Coalition of 8?
• MP –Leader Mr. Frans Richardson, said on the floor of Parliament, they went after the two most vulnerable and youngest MP’s. Why were candidates like
Leona Marlin-Romeo, Anna Rabess-Richardson, Lyndon Lewis left out in the cold?
Democratic Party Board
Marinka Gumbs
President