PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Justice Egbert Doran announced in Wednesday’s press briefing his vow to find a solution for KPSM workers after the ministerial decree signed by former Caretaker Minister of Justice Perry Geerlings appeared to have been based on a false promise.
Minister Doran said the former caretaker Minister of Justice, Perry Geerlings had ratified a Ministerial Decree on November 12, in which the process of the “rechtspositie,” the function books and the placement process concerning the Ministry of Justice was coordinated via the Personnel and Organisation (P&O) Department.
Doran said a letter was sent to Governor Eugene Holiday which outlined an account of events from Geerling’s perspective. This letter said, “Your Excellency, I can at this present moment only conclude that this matter is a chaos, both the legislation as well as the varying interpretations thereof and the pressure being applied by the various stakeholders.”
According to Doran, five days after having submitted the letter, Geerlings also in his capacity as Minister of Finance proceeded to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on November 17 where a commitment was made for the retroactive adjustment of salaries to be paid out to the employees of Korps Politie St. Maarten (KPSM).
“It was committed to calculate such back to 10-10-10 in the form of an advance, based on their current salary scale, which is to be re-created to include the 16.3 per cent BWT [Windward Islands Allowance – Ed.] and an indexation of 3.2 per cent, representing a new salary scale,” Doran said.
“What I find is very, very disturbing and irresponsible [is – Ed.] that this decision was taken also outside of the legal authority of any one or two minister(s) albeit that of the Minister of Finance to commit the country to such financial obligations,” Doran said.
He noted that on numerous occasions Geerlings had pointed out the country’s financial status. He said that during the signing of the decree not the Secretary-General of either the Ministry of Justice nor that of the Ministry of Finance, the Controller, a legal advisor or personnel advisor were present when Geerlings entered the commitment on a Sunday.
Doran said based on the account of the union representatives the commitment was to be paid from the sale of the United Telecommunications Services (UTS) and 50 per cent of this amount was to be paid out as per December 2019. “We cannot spend a US $1 twice,” Doran said. He questioned how the then caretaker minister could have chosen to pay US $13 million to TelEm of which the 1st and only tranche received from the UTS sale all went to this payment. Then commit that same money to the workers of KPSM.
“UTS shares were sold but due to your handling of said sale, we have not received the full payment and cannot even collect all of said payment until the legislative adjustment is made which you [Geerlings – Ed.] had not finalized,” Doran said.
“I have been confronted with this reality as Minister of Justice and vow to fine a resolution to all the workers of KPSM including that of Border Control division and all the staff throughout this ministry. But what I will not do is commit illegal acts or make false promises. This must be handled the right way.
“There is currently no legal premise, namely; the legally required valid new Salary Table for the calculations to be made. Nor does the current calculations address all of the workers of KPSM. Nor have I been furnished with any explanation on the method used to justify said amounts.”
Doran closed by saying, “Shame on you, Geerlings, for being irresponsible and further causing confusion and frustration amongst the Ministry of Justice, while holding this portfolio for mere weeks.”
