Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs speaking to MPs.
PHILIPSBURG--Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs said on Thursday that she will be following the advice of Members of Parliament (MPs) and will apply her best efforts to pursue “a better solution” for the 3,084 Ennia policyholders in St Maarten.
Gumbs announced her decision during a public meeting of Parliament on the Ennia outline agreement. Her decision came after several MPs asked her what her solution would be and some suggested that she should pursue a better agreement.
“Most of the questions as it relates to the Ennia debacle were questions that myself and my team asked when trying to get information to come to Parliament. … I too believe that … there is the possibility can be pursued to come to a solution – a better solution for the 3,084 St. Maarten policyholders – and hearing the comments made today, I think we will be in pursuit of doing just that – with all that I can, in my best efforts having to exhaust all possibilities, I will take up that suggestion,” Gumbs said just before the meeting was adjourned.
The meeting opened with Gumbs providing a detailed overview of the current agreement and its financial impact on St. Maarten. She also outlined the consequences of either accepting or rejecting the current agreement, on which MPs would have to vote. Gumbs made it clear towards the end of her presentation that the current agreement on the table is not a good one for the county.
“Personally, even though I am not aware of all possibilities considered, I do not believe that this was the best solution for St. Maarten," she said adding that being forced to solve Ennia’s financial mishaps as well as the lack of supervision by various stakeholders, including the Central Bank for Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS), is setting a precedent for other institutions under CBCS supervision.
She said the fact that CBCS has not paid dividends for years, but can now suddenly promise to make dividend payments of NAf. 18 million per year is a slap in the faces of the people of St. Maarten and, by extension, Curaçao (see related story).
“And the irony to include a peak facility where the Central Bank and Ennia New is safeguarded, but the countries accumulate more debt to save a private company, cannot have been the best solution,” she said.
MPs during the meeting.
She said it is unfortunate that St. Maarten could not have secured some benefit as it relates to the picturesque Mullet Bay and indicated, to add insult to injury, the Netherlands placing a condition in a draft loan agreement whereby St Maarten cannot ever discuss partial or complete forgiveness of the COVID loans, which were a result of a worldwide pandemic.
“Yet we must smile and be happy when we receive the apology for slavery. But they continue to use threats of high interest on pandemic loans to force the islands into more debt.
“Don’t be confused, as I do not believe in biting the hand that feeds us, but what about equality within the kingdom? The interest rates on the COVID loans are different on all the islands because they are dependent on how compliant the countries are. In our case, it is compliant if we save the private entity Ennia and we must make sure the solution is the same as Curaçao who has 27,000 policyholders.”
Gumbs said she is sympathetic to the 3,000-plus policy holders in St. Maarten and she believes that they are entitled to their fair share, as they have contributed to their pension with the promise that they will receive it; however, she maintains that a mutually beneficial solution could have been found.
After Gumbs’ presentation, National Alliance (NA) MP Ardwell Irion, the former finance minister, said that if there was a better solution, he would have expected to hear it during the meeting. He said the solution that is on the table now had been the best solution with the data that was available at the time.
“If [this] solution, in your opinion, is not the best solution, then you could have found a better one,” Irion said. He told the minister that she used “very, very strong words” and said he wants the best for St. Maarten and its policyholders. He suggested that the minister take the time and present a better solution.
Irion, like several other MPs, also questioned in what capacity Gumbs had sought advice from Richard Gibson Sr., a former National Alliance (NA) finance minister and candidate, who also had ties with Ennia. “How can you go to the rat to ask questions about the cheese? How can you go to Ansary to fix problems about Ansary?” Irion asked.
NA MP Egbert Doran said it seemed as though the minister was not in agreement with the Ennia agreement and he also asked her what her solution was.
NA MP Cloyd “Ohndhae” Marlin asked why Irion had not been consulted, given that he had been the immediate past minister of finance, yet Gibson Sr. had been consulted. He asked whether Gibson Sr. had been consulted as a former finance minister, as a former director of the supervisory board of Ennia, or as “the personal advisor” of Hushang Ansary. He also asked what was the new proposal that Gumbs wanted Parliament to approve.
“What I saw today was a fancy, nice presentation, but what I am missing is what is the minister’s solution,” said Marlin.
Nation Opportunity Wealth (NOW) MP Christophe Emmanuel suggested that the General Pension Fund APS take over the St. Maarten Ennia policyholders. He said that while the “good gentleman”, referring to the former finance minister, had worked hard, the current finance minister should work harder to ensure that St Maarten takes over its responsibility for the 3,084 policyholders. He told the minister to have a discussion with APS, as the current agreement “is not a good deal for St Maarten.”
He also questioned the non-payment of dividends from CBCS, asking what had happened to the dividends of 2020, 2021 and 2022. “How is it that St Maarten wasn’t getting those dividends?” He also asked why St Maarten was not going after Ansary for the “hundreds of millions that he is condemned in court.”
He said it cannot be that St Maarten has to give up its dividends because there were reckless persons from the CBCS who sat back and saw the plundering of Ennia and did nothing about it. “I think another solution should be found. We should have another discussion with BZK or the new individuals who are coming in,” said Emmanuel. “This is a bad deal,” he added, noting that if the minister was asking the MPs to turn down the agreement that was on the table, he could be considered as the first vote.
Unified Resilient St Maarten Movement (URSM) MP Sjamira Roseburg asked whether another solution with less risks would be presented and, if so, in what timeline.
NA MP Silveria Jacobs offered some advice to the minister and expressed support if the minister wanted to renegotiate the deal.
Democratic Party (DP) MP Sarah Wescot-Williams asked a number of questions related to, amongst other things, Mullet Bay.
