PHILIPSBURG – Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers on Tuesday commended the chairlady of Parliament Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams, for her contributions made over the past eight years to the country.
MP Meyers added that for the record, he has known Wescot-Williams for more than 20 something years, and had the opportunity to serve and work with her in Government in the past.
“In connection with when we question the process leading to the sale of government projects, it still boils down that the new government building, the harbors, the airports, and the causeways were products of our imagination, Those were not just done on paper but are actual living feeling things that you can touch today and you can say that we have a harbour, we have an airport, we have a boardwalk, we have the beautification of different parts of the island, and we have the causeway.
“As I told parliament on Tuesday, the causeway did not have to come to parliament for parliament’s approval, because the causeway was not government property. The causeway was an imagination and a dream that was put on paper and it came to fruition.
“Again when we twist things in the people’s House, and we talk about the Financial Supervision Committee of Curacao and Sint Maarten Cft giving an instruction; well if the Cft gave an instruction to sell the harbour and the airport, I would like the honourable Prime Minister to present to me that instruction, because, I don’t recall any instruction coming from the Cft where the sale of the people’s patrimony are concerned.
“I remember the Cft came into a closed door session when the honourable Prime Minister was an MP, and made a proposal to balance the budget, and the Cft stated that these are the things that we can consider, and I know that unanimously all the MPs in this parliament at that time basically told the Cft no way that will not come into consideration.
“If there was an instruction to sell the harbour and airport, please produce me with that document.”
Faction Leader of the United People’s (UP) MP Meyers added that we live in a time of openness and transparency in government affairs. “What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. We expect the current Government, the current Ministers to provide this House of Parliament with the answers to questions asked. We expect nothing less as was preached by those in Parliament who sat in the opposition last year.
“The current Government cannot name one project that they have produced for the people of this country. There is nothing tangible. Come up with your own ideas. A sewage plant in the middle of the Simpson Bay Lagoon still has to materialize. The sewage plant in the middle of the lagoon will in no way benefit the people of Sint Maarten. The idea to have SZV or APS purchase the New Government Building was a past idea from the UP-led Government. A new Hospital for the people of Sint Maarten came from the UP-led Government and was being worked on when the Government fell.
“The current Government is giving the impression that they are responsible for lower fuel prices. This is irresponsible, as Sint Maarten does not have any influence on the world oil price. We are as a country benefiting from lower oil prices on the global market, and Government has a responsibility to pass this along to the consumer which was done under an UP-led Government and is being continued by the current Government.”
