Dear Editor,
Joslyn Morton and Koos van K, I must say, you two have been doing a great job keeping this section of the newspaper really entertaining. But Joslyn, you and I are going to become pen pals through this newspaper – if you’re willing after you read this piece I’m writing.
I believe the leader of the PFP, Melissa Gumbs, is an imposter, and that her personal interests will override her professional intentions. Let me elaborate on this.
Throughout MP Melissa Gumbs’ snap election campaign, did you notice she never mentioned on any radio station that she wanted to become the Minister of Education or showed any interest in the position? It’s clear to the people of St. Maarten that her motives are more about bringing Rayon Peterson back into Parliament than anything else. She can and will deny it a million times, but it is what it is.
Joslyn, the people of St. Maarten are not dumb – they get it. MP Melissa Gumbs is just trying to save the ones who started the party with her. This is one of the reasons why there are some dark clouds of suspicion. She has to “stop peeing on our legs and telling us that it is raining” (as you mentioned in your Dear Editor piece from April 15, 2015, Joslyn Morton).
Yes, I agree with you, Joslyn, MP Ludmila de Weever has her flaws, but we can’t act like MP Melissa Gumbs is innocent, especially with her well-honed manipulation tactics. I think this is PFP’s last run. Why? Because the party leader is always lagging behind in numbers, just like in those video games she plays! MP Ludmila de Weever is going to go independent.
Let’s face it, Joslyn, we can say what we want about MP Ludmila de Weever, but thanks to her, the PFP is still relevant, whether through bought votes or not. Where did all those votes for Rayon Peterson come from? During his 4-year term, he didn’t even pass anything in Parliament, and he’s a lawyer – or is he not? Former MP Silvio Matser isn’t going to have his back forever because Silvio also has to support Minister of Finance Mariska Gumbs, just like he did for the snap election.
PFP has been asked many times whether they would implement LGBTQ topics in schools. To this day, MP Melissa Gumbs hasn’t answered – she dances around the question.
MP Melissa Gumbs has been good friends with former Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion for years – the same one you mentioned as “like a little kid still crying for his pacifier” in your January 11, 2024, Dear Editor piece. He is in opposition but still has an influence on how MP Melissa Gumbs votes in Parliament and on decision-making regarding who she should bring into her cabinet. They’re so close that he was even supposed to be on the PFP candidate list when the PFP first started, but because of how he speaks, the decision was made for him to stay with the NA.
Leroy de Weever’s wife was right to call MP Melissa Gumbs a dictator because she is one. The sad part is that MP Melissa Gumbs is very proud of being called that. But she needs to understand that the same mentality is what got her father, Marcel Gumbs, fired on a plane coming back to St. Maarten some years back.
In MP Melissa Gumbs’ first interview with Lady Grace after the snap election, she said she took the Ministry of Education because it needs a manager. She needs to stop – she can’t even manage a group of 12 people. I bet you anything she’s making her “muppet faces” reading this editorial, but I hope she really enjoys being Minister of ECYS because her dream of becoming Prime Minister one day isn’t going to happen. She is not as transparent as she portrays herself to be.
Joslyn, I don’t understand why, if MP Melissa Gumbs made it clear that she believes in continuity, she has now shifted to take the role of Minister of Education. MP Ludmila de Weever was right not to take the position of ECYS – she knows her limitations. The ministry is full of exposed and breached people. You’ve got a department head who’s been on sick leave forever (working from home, whatever you want to call it) yet still collects a stipend of 1,000 guilders just for ink at home. Do you really think they’ll help MP Melissa Gumbs run the ministry the right way? I doubt it.
MP Melissa Gumbs is planning to make number 8 on her PFP candidate list the executive secretary. How can a schoolteacher with a history of issues with parents and students manage the flood of emails that will come into the cabinet? It’s going to be crazy. Good luck with that. She is also putting her cousin Erin in a position who is already working in the Ministry of Education – another dictator, so I’ve heard. But I guess birds of a feather flock together.
Joslyn Morton, you mentioned that “dead weight is a liability that keeps a ministry spinning in circles every single time.” Well, MP Melissa Gumbs’ ECYS cabinet is already looking like that. I believe it’s not going to be any different from how former Minister of Education Rodolphe Samuel ran his cabinet.
We have to stop saying, “I believe in giving people a chance to prove themselves” or “give people the benefit of the doubt.” I strongly disagree. That’s the same mentality NA had with former Minister of Education Samuel, and look where that got the ministry. I think we just need to start calling a spade a spade and stop sugarcoating things, because that old way is not working anymore, and that is why our island is where it is today.
Thank you, Joslyn Morton, for inspiring me to finally start writing to the “Dear Editor” section. It’s been a long time coming.
Mason Rivers
St. Maarten-born
