Today’s confirmation that last month’s symbolic signing of a new legal status and function book for police officers has been rendered invalid is most disappointing. It seems Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever and his cabinet did not follow proper procedure.
What makes things worse is that this matter was never adequately regulated since the Netherlands Antilles was dismantled per 10-10-10 and St. Maarten became an autonomous country within the Dutch kingdom. A legal position was adopted in 2016 but never published in the National Gazette to become law.
Understandably tired of waiting, the relevant unions NAPB, WICSU/PSU and ABVO nevertheless want the latter status to be applied until a new one can be established. They are understandably under mounting pressure from their members to finally get this done.
Apart from the legalities, also financing for related pending salary increases and promotions may be an issue especially because no specific provisions for such have been made in the recently-passed 2019 budget. The initiative by Member of Parliament (MP) Rolando Brison of United St. Maarten Party (US Party) to use part of the proceeds from selling the country’s 12.5 per cent share in United Telecommunications Services (UTS) for this purpose is therefore commendable, albeit lacking in exact figures and other details.
Up to now several successive ministers have made promises and no doubt efforts to complete this apparently rather tedious and frustrating process regarding the legal position of local policemen and -women, but so far without a satisfactory end-result. It’s high time those directly involved either poop or get off the pot.
