Political observers are watching the latest developments in Philipsburg with great interest. There is some level of concern about their possible impact on effectively governing the country.
A second attempt to examine and approve the credentials of incoming Members of Parliament (MPs) Richinel Brug of United Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM) and Viren Vinod Kotai of the Democratic Party (DP) in a plenary session failed (see related story). The initial one last week was postponed due to lack of a quorum.
The latter was provided with the help of opposition factions National Alliance (NA) and United People’s (UP) party. However, they walked out after NA’s Egbert Doran asked for a roll call when his request to first handle his proposal for changes to the presidium was denied by President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams (DP), as was his subsequent call for a vote on the matter.
It must be said, Nation Opportunity Wealth (NOW) leader Christophe Emanuel and Party for Progress (PFP) faction member Ludmila de Weever – be it both with notice – were still missing. This meant the new URSM/DP/PFP/NOW coalition could muster only four of the current 13 occupied seats.
Since the intention of the law is obviously to smoothly replace elected representatives who join the executive branch, the lack of a quorum and/or majority probably cannot stop forever the admittance of these two persons next in line. As recently explained in this column, a similar stand-off in Curaçao ended up before the judge, who got “Movementu Progresivo” leader Marilyn Moses to cooperate so Shaheen Elhage of PAR could take his seat.
Hopefully things won’t go that far here. Parliament has a lot of work to do and should be restored to its full 15-seat setting sooner rather than later.
A lot may depend on what happens regarding Emmanuel and former PFP parliamentarian Raeyhon Peterson, whose national decrees to become ministers were not signed by Governor Ajamu Baly. These were consequently to be sent to the Kingdom Council of Ministers in The Hague for annulment.
The latter generally – although not necessarily – backs governors in the Dutch Caribbean, but the Council of State may have something to say about all this as well.
