PHILIPSBURG – United People’s (UP) Party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake has sent a letter through Parliament to the Minister of Finance and the Acting Minister of VROMI concerning the recent developments at Kadaster and advising the Minister of Finance to set a time frame to the Board of Kadaster to provide Parliament with the management reports and financial reports and the answers to the Ombudsman recommendations.
“As a representative of the people, I am very surprised that the Netherlands who has Integrity high on their list would allow the Kadaster Director Clemens Roos to finish his contract on the island before sitting out his sentence. This is a breach of integrity at its best I think. Is this integrity? Is there one rule of integrity in the Netherlands and another one for Sint Maarten? I don’t understand this, he was convicted and now returns here with the intention to take up his position. How will the Kadaster board handle this? What message does this send to the staff at the Kadaster and to others in the community?
“Imagine, we had our own young professionals the former Minister of Finance Hiro Shigemoto, Edward Dest and Denicio Richardson with expertise in their fields, had their good names drag through the mud without conviction, lost everything and without placement in their respective positions and to be found not guilty and Government has not done anything for them,” UP MP Lake said on Wednesday.
The UP MP request is based on a parliament Central Committee Meeting that was held concerning the recommendations of the Ombudsman.
The MP would like in line with transparency and good governance, would like the recommendations and the management reports sent to the President of Parliament based on Article 4 section 2 and 3 of the LVO Verzelfstandiging K&H.
“The Central Committee meeting was good looking at the overall operations of Kadaster, but we can’t lose focus on the main issue to get the Minister of Finance to get Kadaster to answer the recommendations of the Ombudsman and to present Parliament with the current management reports of Kadaster which is not a difficult task by law.
“Kadaster Board has to be more transparent and accountable to providing Parliament, the highest legislative body of the land with the requested information for the Ombudsman.
“Government has to also appoint a full board with a Chair person as soon as possible in order to continue with the works of the people. Don’t appoint an additional member, but fulfil all open board positions. We can’t continue working like this anymore. We need to raise the bar and give staff regular training so they can also move forward within the organization. Presently, we don’t have any one signing meetbrieven, admeasurements for apartment divisions which is just lying on the desk. The Minister of Finance has to make sure the Board also handles the extra contribution (toelage) for the hypotheek bewaarder which was appointed by Government.
“As a Member of Parliament, I am looking forward to the Minister presenting Parliament these documents on behalf of Kadaster. I am also looking forward for Parliament to start addressing the structure and changes of the articles of incorporation for Foundations. I am not too impressed on how the Board is handling the affairs of Kadaster.
“The same thing is also happening at NIPA, St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation. We can’t continue using the same old articles. They have to be updated since integrity, transparency, screening and accountability are at the forefront of Government,” UP MP Maurice Lake concluded.
