~ State Secretary Knops at Statia townhall ~
From left: Deputy Government Commissioner of St. Eustatius Mervyn Stegers, Government Commissioner Marcolino “Mike” Franco and State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops at Monday’s townhall meeting.
The return to democracy in St. Eustatius has to be done in a responsible way, said State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops during Monday evening’s town hall meeting during which he announced that Statians will be able to elect a new Island Council on October 21, 2020. He also introduced a four-stage plan under which Statia will be obtaining self-governance step-by-step.
Large crowd
Knops, Government Commissioner Marcolino “Mike” Franco and Deputy Commissioner Mervyn Stegers answered a number of questions during the meeting, which drew a large crowd in- and outside of the Lions’ Den.
Concerning the question how long the gradual process of the return to democracy will take, Knops said the first phase is to have an Island Council election on October 21, 2020. In the following phase certain standards will have to be met. The financial system has to be in order and the administrative organisation has to be at a certain level, which will be specified at a later date. The next step, Knops said, would be the return of Commissioners appointed by the Island Council.
The election is the only phase with a specific timeframe. All the other phases will be defined by the level of the government organisation.
It is being done this way, Knops said, because the Dutch Government wants its efforts to be sustainable. He said the process to restore self-governance can go faster or take longer. “It all depends on the way the organisation is progressing in the goals that have been set for them.”
He said the details of the step-by-step plan will be worked out in a proposal that will be submitted to the Dutch Parliament. The processing timeframe is unknown, Knops said, because Parliament has the right to amend the proposal and there is also legal process for advice.
He said the election date could have been set for September 2020, but due to it being in the heart of the hurricane season, October 2020 was chosen instead.
Knops said October also was chosen because the legal process has to run its course and the proposal needs to be approved in the Dutch Parliament’s First and Second Chambers before it can be turned into law, after which the preparations for the election can start. Holding an election in June, Knops stated, would have given less time to prepare.
As to the next steps in restoring the democratic process, Knops said he hopes and foresees that this will not be a process of years, but as soon as possible.
“But it has to be done in a responsible way,” Knops said. “No one wants to fall back into the scenario where the island was previously at.”
He said it is the plan to invest in island projects and to do this at a sustainable level, “so that if I return in five years the roads are in good condition.”
Some of the attendees at the townhall meeting at Mike E. van Putten Youth Centre/Lions’ Den.
Autonomy
Referring to his speech in Parliament about autonomy and having an open discussion on the topic, he said he was open to having a discussion about this topic. “But please, do not let us have this discussion instead of all the other things that have to be done.”
He said Statia is facing bigger problems and these have to be tackled first before the question of autonomy can be dealt with, but the discussion can always be held, Knops stated.
Asked about what he has learned since Statia was put under supervision on February 7, 2018, he said he had learned “a lot” during the past 18 months pertaining to life on a Caribbean island instead of in a European country.
In taking the road and erosion projects as examples, he said that, contrary to the European Netherlands, “everything” has to be shipped to Statia, and “you are affected by the weather conditions which cause delays, which makes these projects more complicated.” The backlog in the island’s administration was also surprising, he added.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked about the rules and regulations hampering small enterprises on the island, which also impact the access to funds.
Knops said the economic sector is very important for Statia’s sustainability. He said he would look into the possibility for the national government to find funding for small businesses, similar to the hurricane projects in assistance of the agricultural sector.
He promised to check into how rules and regulations are being applied in Bonaire, Saba and Statia, as “what works or is necessary in the Netherlands might not always work on the three islands.”
Asked about the possibility of St. Maarten-based banks being blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) for non-compliance with anti-money laundering laws, Knops said this could eventually harm all islands in the Dutch Caribbean.
“That is one of the reasons that we demanded strongly that the Government and the Parliament of St. Maarten implement that law, because all the banks are interconnected.” If the banks do not meet the criteria, all the islands will have a problem, Knops said.
Questions were also posed about the alleged corruption concerning the Emergency Operation Centre project that was awarded to a civil servant in the Governor’s Cabinet, but no answers were forthcoming.
