PHILIPSBURG--Deputy Prime Minister Wycliffe Smith said in a press statement on Sunday that United St. Maarten Party (US Party) Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson was the only MP to apologise to him after the adjourning of last Thursday’s public meeting of Parliament on Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).
Smith said the only MP who had the courtesy to shake his hand, apologise and to officially inform him that the meeting had been reconvened and adjourned until a later date, was Richardson.
Chairperson of Parliament, William Marlin had requested Smith to get the written answers to questions posed by Members of Parliament concerning the state of affairs at PJIA and to return to Parliament with them in an hour’s time. Smith was also asked to return with advisors Claret Conner and Able Knottnerus from the National Recovery Programme Bureau (NRPB).
Marlin then adjourned the public meeting at 3:00pm and promised to reconvene the meeting in an hour’s time.
Smith said when he returned to the Parliament Building at 4:00pm, he saw, MPs were filing out of the Legislative Hall. “Strange enough, the Chairman of Parliament, William Marlin, was nowhere to be seen. The MPs of the newly formed Coalition of nine, on their way out of the Hall, passed Smith with a smile or a smirk on their faces.” He said Richardson shook his hand, apologised and informed him that the meeting had been reconvened and adjourned until a later date.
“If the Chairman could have waited some 40 minutes for the Deputy PM to arrive to attend the first part of the meeting, surely he could have waited until the agreed upon hour that Smith was to return to Parliament to provide the requested written answers that the Chairman seemingly so desperately needed to have during the meeting,” Smith said in the press release. He said the meeting had been re-opened and adjourned within 51 seconds. Smith said he complied with the request of Parliament as he had returned with the requested written answers and was also accompanied, as requested, by the two advisors from the NRPB who were following very close behind.
“What really happened? The “Griffier” of Parliament explained (to) Deputy PM Smith that the clock in the Legislative Hall is known to be two minutes fast. It appears, according to Smith that in order not to receive the answers, because seemingly it was not about the answers in the first place, the Chairman re-opened the meeting at 4:00pm according to the Parliament’s clock, which was 3:58pm normal time. Smith said he replayed the video of the meeting and timed its duration. The meeting lasted exactly 51 seconds. In other words, by 3:59 the meeting was adjourned. According to Smith it appears as if the matter of the Airport is not being taken seriously by Parliament.”
