ST. PETERS – MP Lake has sent letters through the President of Parliament to the Caretaker Government to get the long awaited answers that was promised to Parliament.
“The first request for answers is from the meeting with the outgoing Minister of VROMI Claret Conner. The first meeting was called on Wednesday, September 9, 2015 but couldn’t proceed due to illness of the Minister but the next day he was on a flight to Miami looking at another company for the Waste to Energy Facility.
“The meeting was called again for Friday, September 18, 2015. This meeting was adjourned. The outgoing Minister of VROMI promised that he would submit the answers to Parliament in writing before September 25th, 2015. By letter of October 28, 2015, the outgoing Minister informed Parliament that he couldn’t provide the answers on September 25, 2015.
“The meeting was supposed to continue on October 1, 2015 but was postponed upon the request of the outgoing Minister due to urgent reasons. Parliament never heard from the outgoing Minister again about providing the answers to the landfill. I didn’t expect this from the former Minister who has integrity and transparency high on his list.”
The MP sent another letter to the outgoing Minister of VROMI and Minister of Finance about the status of the recommendations and documents that the Ombudsman had requested from the Cadastre. He also would like to know if the board fired the former Managing Director. If yes, who then is paying his rent at the apartment at this point in time? What is the status of filling the position of the Managing Director position at Cadastre?
In closing, MP Lake would like to know if the University of St. Martin (USM) has been legally officially recognized.
“The Caretaker Government promised to legally recognize our National University and increase the subsidy on the draft budget 2016. I would like to know what is the amount that Government has provided in the budget for USM. The University of St. Martin initially requested an increase in subsidy in the amount of NAF. 700.000.00. This amount was in line with subsidizing solely the teaching personnel cost.
“One should bear in mind that the Teacher’s Education Program (TEP) was a request of the Government of St. Maarten who wanted to promote local teachers. And this makes a loss of approximately NAF 500.000.00 yearly which has been known for quite some time.
The University is currently paying the Government’s desire to have local teachers. It is a national shame how the caretaker Government is playing politics with our University.
“The caretaker Ministers have to live up to their promises of providing the answers to Parliament and USM before they leave office, especially for the Gumbs led Government that has integrity, transparency and accountability high on their list.”
