Dear Editor,
It was with serious disbelief that I read MP George Pantophlet’s letter to the editor titled “Irresponsible behaviour” last week. In his letter, he took it upon himself to defend the disrespectful action by the Vice President of Parliament, who gave the order to cut MP Sarah Wescot-Williams’ microphone in the informal gathering with the unity flag representatives. Even stranger is that the Vice President confirms that he gave the order. But back to MP Pantophlet.
MP Pantophlet is one of the oldest and longest sitting MPs of Parliament. But I cannot remember him bringing anything to the table that has benefited the people of St. Maarten in all the years that he has been an MP. Now he has been kicked back to just being a defending mouth champion for ministers who do not want to be held accountable and for a shaky coalition.
On top of that, he had the audacity to call the younger MPs “paskomenkijkers” a while ago. Strangely he had nothing to say when his party’s own young candidates were also in opposition, making noise for the sake of making noise and plotting to throw down the previous government. The new wave of young MPs has done more to bring integrity and transparency to Parliament in the last two years than MP Pantophlet in his lengthy career as a politician. In his letter he asked what will be said when the “coalition” MPs decide not to give the quorum to a meeting called by the opposition. That is the funniest but also saddest thing I have heard in a long time because it has already happened and he does not seem to have noticed.
MP Pantophlet, do you think that the people of St. Maarten are not aware of the games “coalition” MPs have been playing in Parliament? Do you want us to believe that your President of Parliament (PoP) is going to call any meetings requested by the “opposition” MPs? We have already seen what your former PoP Brison used to do when “opposition” MPs requested meetings. The reasons you gave for removing MP Marten as PoP already told the country that you have no problem with only coalition meetings getting scheduled, and that you would be okay with that happening.
Imagine that one meeting requested by the opposition and called by the previous unbiased PoP is the reason that you and your fellow “coalition” MPs voted to remove her as PoP. So much for accountability. MP Pantophlet, many of us respected you in your early days, but now, with all that has happened, we see that the ones playing childish games are you and your “coalition” MPs. The OMC (Old Man Club) has been hard at work, just holding onto positions to serve their own selfish agenda, and making sure to protect their young ministers, who have actually already been bitten by the bug! The bug of greed and corruption! Bring the new wave of young MPs because they have managed really well to expose the cracks in this coalition. For your information MP Pantophlet, people are fed up with the hypocrisy and the OMC earning taxpayers’ money without doing the actual work they have had decades to do!
NVD
