MP Sarah Wescot-Williams
PHILIPSBURG--The allegations indicating that the governance process is being destabilised, contained in the September 23 national decree to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections, should be taken seriously, United Democrats (UD) Member of Parliament and former Chairperson of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams said.
Wescot-Williams said at a press conference on Wednesday morning, when she was still Acting Chairperson of Parliament, that the statements are serious and warrant being looked into.
The statement, which is part of the considerations motivating the need to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections, states: “Undesirable influence from outside of the Parliament and the Council of Ministers is destabilising the governance process and therefore the required constitutional principle of the trias politica [separation of executive, legislative and judicial arms of government – Ed.] cannot be guaranteed.”
Wescot-Williams said the decree is signed by the governor and now-caretaker Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin.
“I think it behoves the government and any other relevant authority to take note,” Wescot-Williams said. “If this statement in an official document dissolving Parliament and calling for new elections is not something that requires all of our attention, then I don’t know what is. …
“This is a heavy statement. You are basically saying that our democratic government process is being destabilized – but by whom, by what actions? I honestly believe that this cannot just go down to motivate our elections decree in that way. This is an official decree.
“I hope that … government and the governor are paying specific attention to this part of the decree that was signed. You cannot put something like that in a decree that is describing the dissolution of Parliament and an election without doing whatever you think you can do under the circumstances [to resolve it], because then election and a new government will not necessarily change [anything].”
When asked, Wescot-Williams said she had spoken to the caretaker prime minister on the matter, but indicated that she had not received any specifics from Romeo-Marlin. She had recommended that Romeo-Marlin name and identify persons in the coalition who, she had claimed in other statements, had been working against government; however, this was not done.
