Dear Editor,

Hypocrisy is another buzz word these days, as politicians are revealing their true colours, day after day. It is ironic that Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs could find time to run to every radio station to market herself, but couldn’t find time to address the population on matters of concern. Now that she sensed that she won’t return as prime minister, she is negotiating to be the president of parliament.

Why vote for Rolando Brison, an MP who refused to hold his coalition partner accountable to parliament and to the people whom he was elected to represent? This braggadocio claims that he initiated the most motions in parliament, but never being ratified by government. So, who is fooling who? This narcissist has disgraced the reputation of parliament. Never again should this behaviour be allowed to repeat itself.

MP Melissa Gumbs sat for four consecutive years in parliament and did absolutely nothing. For the most part, she was very much disengaged in the meetings. This MP passed her time by playing games on her computer like a little kid who is bored. She was completely engulfed in her own world, while the business of the people was being conducted.

It’s amazing how her party consistently preached about the issue of change. But what is the real motive behind this change? Is it a change for the youngsters of St. Maarten to adapt her lifestyle? MP Melissa, level with the people and let us know if it’s your intention to go to the schools and encourage the students to be engaged in same-sex relationship?

MP Melissa Gumbs, be up front with the parents and let them know if it is the vision of the party to demand that the schools adopt unisex bathrooms. Be straight with the population and tell us if it is your party’s dream to turn St. Maarten into a woke society, like how it’s destroying America today.

MP Raeyhon Peterson is no different. He too has failed miserably. This MP is always late for meetings and when he does show up, he has absolutely nothing to offer. Probably he suffers from a lot of party hangovers and from smoking too much. It is so sad that this MP can boast about mastery of the Dutch language and has done nothing to elevate the level of parliament.

Finance Minister Ardwell Irion has demonstrated that he is just a little kid, still crying for his pacifier. Imagine, a grown individual constructed a paper plane and had the nerve to look for it by a garbage bin? Then, he rode up and down in front of the government building on a scooter, as if he was still in primary school?

Minister Irion, was your family member correct when she said that you are false; collecting rental payment that should be distributed among the siblings and you are not living up to your obligations? When would you quit going to these houses of ill repute and behaving drunk? This is not the conduct of a minister. It is time that the population hold our elected representatives to a level that exemplifies their positions.

Tamara Leonard is back, still pretending to have God at the center of her being, but running with a party leader who has not displayed any form of respect for women nor the position that he holds. How can she brag about writing books with values, but associate herself with a party that does not value these principles which she is promoting.

Doctor Mercelina is always advocating for the poor and improved healthcare for all. What has he done really, to better these conditions? Absolutely nothing! All he does is talk, talk talk. Why doesn’t he tell us the truth about the amount of amputees that has quadrupled in recent years? Is it true that for every amputation, he is compensated a certain percentage, along with his salary?

MP Sidharth Bijlani is just a rubber stamp for MP Rolando Brison and the UP party. This illiterate was given a chance to elevate himself as the chair of parliament and he blew it, by being too cocky, instead of taking the time to understand the workings of parliament.

Minister Rodolphe Samuel’s time has come for him to retire as a politician. He was just the wrong choice to be appointed as Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. No one likes him in his ministry because he speaks to his personnel like he is so superior to them. And, the worst thing he could have done was to rehire the previous Department Head of Education as his cabinet chief.

Hypocrisy does not blend well with democracy.

Joslyn Morton

Dear Editor,

In September 2021 Minister Egbert Jurendy Doran wrote a letter to the Ombudsman. It was mind-blowing. The first thought on reading the letter; was there no one around him to simply say “very bad idea.” The fact that he had written this letter, most likely consulted with someone or persons from his team, and then they probably reviewed their handiwork, tapped themselves on the back for how brilliant they were and confidently sent that letter, spoke volumes not just about the young man Doran but also about the state of Government in St. Maarten.

The fallout that followed was quite something, the backlash was swift. Faction leader William Marlin called it a “dark day for St. Maarten,” MP Wescot Williams considered the letter “unacceptable and sexist, undermining the constitutional state.” Parliamentarians from all factions united with one voice – something so rare on this island – to denounce the letter and to demand an apology to the Ombudsman. Doran was fully chastised, eventually issuing an apology and a retraction.

There was one person though whose reaction was slow in coming, the leader of government, Silveria Jacobs. It took the Prime Minister more than a week to make a statement and when she did it was sorely lacking. While members of parliament and persons throughout the community condemned the disrespect not only to the Office of the Ombudsman, but also the sexism and overall offensiveness to the person of the Ombudsman, not once did the Prime Minister publicly condemn Mr. Doran’s statements.

In a press briefing the Prime Minister announced that Mr. Doran had apologized, that he was retracting the letter. She noted that everyone should be able to reflect on decisions they had made and retract those decisions, and apologize if necessary. She reflected on how this should be a learning experience and how no one was too big to apologize. All things that are true. But, boy, was that disappointing.

The Prime Minster is not just the leader of Government, she is the leader of the country, the leader of the people. She is one of the few female leaders not just in the Caribbean region but in the wider world. That week waiting for her to do the right thing, to stand up against disrespect to another woman, to denounce the words and actions of her colleague, and to show women and young girls that she meant it when she spoke of female leadership and female empowerment, was quite a disappointing one. The real Silveria Jacobs stood up and her actions and handling of that mess showed she was not a real one.

No one was asking that she pull support from Doran, as least not then, not yet; people watching were only asking her to do the right thing, call a spade a spade and denounce the blatant sexism and disrespect against a woman in high office, sexism and disrespect not only meant to paint her in a bad light, but to undermine her accomplishments and stain her office.

It must be noted that in the same briefing the Prime Minister railed against persons leaking government documents to the press. She said leaking information threatens everyone’s integrity and she was looking into the legal ramifications of the leaking of documents into the public domain. Jacobs stated, “It is the Government’s responsibility to safeguard the integrity of Government.”

Fast forward to 2023; on November 24 the Prime Minister is standing outside the courthouse having just won her defamation case against Olivier Arrindell, with one of his accusations being that she is a corrupt politician. “I stand for all women of St. Maarten, the disrespect to me was a disrespect to all women in St. Maarten,” Jacobs said. Weeks earlier, after the hearing of her case, Jacobs gave a briefing outside the courthouse. “I am a person of integrity,” she said before going on to deny that she is in anyway responsible for actions of her cabinet’s members that are contrary to the interest of the public.

And herein lies the issue. When I am disrespected, all women are disrespected, and when someone who defames me is shutdown it is a win for all women of St. Maarten. However, just two years prior Jacobs was not able to stand up for one woman in St. Maarten, and somehow Doran’s disrespect to the Ombudsman did not constitute a disrespect to all women.

The more telling, though, is, “I am a person of integrity, not responsible for the corrupt actions of my cabinet. I am the leader, of Government, of the people, but the wrong things done by my cabinet have nothing to do with me.”

When Silveria Jacobs took over the helm of the NA – at the time the party of the people, of the working class – she was to maintain the base of the party while taking it to higher heights. There were some who thought William Marlin dragged his feet and should have given her the leadership earlier, so much they believed in what she could accomplish. Sadly, what Jacobs has shown is that she is lacking the skills for true leadership.

There are many qualities that make a great leader, but some of the key qualities are integrity, self-awareness and courage. Integrity, of course, is a buzz word among St. Maarten politicians, quite some who may know the dictionary definition of the word but cannot apply it to their actions.

In railing against the release of documents pertaining to civil or governmental matters to the press and public, the Prime Minister at no time questioned why civil servants felt the need to do this. She did not acknowledge that most times these leaks painted the Government in a negative light and were meant to highlight a conflict of interest, or sometimes blatant corruption. At no time over the years in Government did the Prime Minister encourage civil servants to stay on the straight and narrow, and help weed out corruption at the highest levels of this country by enacting a robust whistle-blower policy, transformed into a modern whistle-blower protection law, to ensure that lives were not destroyed when persons wanted to do the right thing.

No, what the Prime Minister sought to do was simply punish persons who leaked documents.

And so, it comes as no surprise that after two years of the VROMI [Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure – Ed.] waste collection tender saga, documents have leaked and, boy, do they tell a story, from companies being disqualified to somehow coming back to win the contract, to department employees removing themselves from the evaluation and advise process to eventually all the way out of the country, refusing to be part of the misconduct. And worst of all, Government inexplicably (so far) using taxpayers’ hard-earned money to give out contracts to the least qualified, disqualified, most expensive bidders while dismissing capable, qualified companies with lower bids.

For two years the Ombudsman investigation was stymied, the people were told lies and given a runaround, the opposition MPs who would not let it go were painted in the worst light, and now because of leaked documents, they that have eyes can see exactly how the country running. What will the Prime Minister say now, will she say anything?

An effective leader knows what her people are doing and if she doesn’t she finds out. A good leader keeps her cohorts inline, and when necessary roots out rot for the good of the team, and in this case the good of the country. Mr. Doran has shown that he is a danger to the office of a good and trusted civil servant. He is also showing that he lacks the smarts to not take the most obvious risks to facilitate his and his cronies’ agenda. In an age of information, and with the characterization of the whole political field as corrupt by those who want nothing more than to be proven right, the hubris and the audacity is mind-blowing.

As Silveria Jacobs said in 2021, it is the responsibility of Government to safeguard the integrity of Government! Those were her words. Can she and Mr. Doran defend his position, can the documents be explained away, can there be a defense of no corruption? Will the Prime Minster even try, or as leader of this country will she let us know again that this is not her responsibility? Will we as a people continue to let it slide?

A concerned female voter

Name withheld at author’s request.

Dear Editor,

By now we should know that without stability in government not much happens.

A person who always needles me about my opinions called me on Wednesday and told me that he expects me to vote for Anna Richardson tomorrow because I have highlighted what she has done throughout her reign as Minister of Justice, because he has to accept that even though she was criticised, when it come down to facts, she did more than plenty of the others since she got in there.

I personally will not boast about that because I realize that Minister Anna Richardson was aware of the fact that she was put in government to do a job and that according to me she did it to the best of her ability. Also, when I evaluate the kind of blows she got, and from those whom one would least expect, with her endeavor to get more than 700 justice workers what is due to them, and she was not deterred from completing that which she set out to do.

Right now there is a picture of a party leader circulating social media who as of present spent 10 years in government and in those 10 years did not propose any laws or propose to amend any laws. He did not have any laws passed nor did he achieve anything for the people, but his accumulated salary during those 10 years was NAf. 2,280,000. That is one circulating on social media, but I believe that there are a few more who have similar records who dare criticize the Minister of Justice negatively.

I do not have to think twice. I worked for the Justice ministry since 1965 and in St. Maarten since 1975 when the police were practically involved in everything pertaining to the government in St. Maarten, Statia and Saba, and I also believe that I have a good idea how things work in government. The St. Marten government has certain stalwarts who have sustained the daily operation of the government for years, who because of their tireless effort could be the cause of envious tongues saying, “Nobody is indespensible.” That’s the kind of impression I got of Minister Anna Richardson as she went about making sure she got things done for those 700 justice workers. I do not believe that everything is perfect, but it should only take the finishing touches.

I believe that any normal-thinking citizen of any country would like for there to be stability in their country. Take it or leave it, we all know that this has not been the case for almost 10 years since 2010. Stability in government has returned to St. Maarten since the National Alliance-led government took over and is the first government which against all odds was not toppled before the end of its term, putting St. Maarten back in a positive light, while members of the other political parties also being part of the government, but constantly positioned themselves in opposition.

What I would like to see if justice is done, with a little tweaking, is for the majority of those people in government to return in order to anchor the stability.

In ending, permit me to state this: When I stressed that stability in government is a big thing, I was asked, “what did the stable government do?” Knowing which political party he patronizes, I asked him to mention to me something that his party, whose members have consistently claimed to be in opposition, had done for the people in four years? His answer also was they are not in government. Automatically I retaliated with, “What have they done to justify that salary which is almost 10 times the minimum wage?”

Could it be that because Minister Anna Richardson did her utmost to accomplish what she did for those justice workers, envy is showing its ugly head?

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Editor,

How do the electorate respond to a group of politicians who have pawned their souls and are now depending on the voters to redeem them? Where were they when the people were crying and begging for their attention? But the public didn’t have to look very far, because these cold-blooded politicians hid behind their jet-black tinted cars, and went about their business as if the people did not exist.

For four long years, they sat back and did nothing significant to elevate the lives of the people. Now, all of a sudden, these sitting ministers and parliamentarians who support the coalition finally found their tongue to brag about the accomplishments that previous governments have started. On every street corner, the people are bombarded with lies after lies.

For four long painful years, they refused to speak to the people. Then when they feel like, they either dodged the pertinent questions that journalists and radio hosts asked, or blatantly refused to show up in parliament to give an account to the people. But because journalism is at its worst, the population were forced to accept their incompetence, their total lack of empathy and accountability.

Imagine one month before elections, every minister came out with all kinds of projects that were in the pipeline. They even gave specific timelines for these schemes to be executed. Perhaps the pipes were blocked before. None of them started their ministry from scratch, because the running of government is continual. So, why are they begging to stay in office to stifle the population again?

Haven’t these ministers realised that they have brought the executive branch of government to the lowest degree ever? There is no leadership whatsoever. When Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs declared that she is not responsible for the decisions that the other ministers have made, this is a clear indication that she is not the right choice for that position.

Yes, the prime minister cannot micro-manage the ministries, but she is expected to pay attention to what is happening in her colleagues’ ministries. This hands-off attitude is like having a minor who misbehaves on the streets, and when the complaints reach to the mother, she ignores the criticisms, even though the child is degrading the family’s name. This why the population is catching hell with GEBE.

It’s amazing that the prime minster wants to take credit for all of the “good things” that the other ministries have achieved, but is unwilling to own up to the situations that have threatened the integrity of the Council of Ministers. Why stress on the matter that she only has one vote when there is a decision to be made within the Council of Ministers?

Fine! But is she not in charge of the council? Is Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs telling this public that she is totally oblivious to the issues within the other ministries that have damaged the reputation of government? Then what do the weekly meetings entail? My suspicion has always been that this prime minister is there by name only, but the other ministers are running the show.

This lack of accountability and shunning the public were allowed to go on because of these lame-duck parliamentarians who sat there and let the ministers ruin the country. Now they too are pleading to the people to vote them back in. For what exactly? It’s time for this fake majority to experience the hardship that so many families are feeling these days.

Just the other day, Olivier Arrindell had them in a choke-hold for months and none of them uttered a word. They didn’t dare to challenge him. Only because he went off track, that is why they were given a chance to breathe again. Now that they catch their breath, they are poking lies down the public’s throat all day.

People, don’t be fooled with all this hype! They were paid to represent the population and they have failed miserably. Their only recourse now is to do damage control.

Joslyn Morton