Grisha: Stalling tactics on TelEm meeting and SOAB report raise suspicion | SOUALIGA NEWSDAY

SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) - In a press statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, MP Grisha Heyliger Marten issued a final ultimatum to the Prime Minister, Hon. Silveria Jacobs, to provide Parliament with the SOAB audit report on TELEM.

According to Heyliger-Marten, she sent four (4) letters to the Prime Minister regarding this matter: on September 29^th, 2021, March 22^nd, 2022, June 27^th, 2022, and again on August 17^th, 2022. On October 25^th, 2022, the Prime Minister finally responded to Heyliger-Marten by requesting a 21-day extension on submitting a response.

Subsequently, MP Heyliger requested an urgent meeting of Parliament regarding the status of TELEM, which request was co-signed by MP’s Melissa Gumbs and Ludmila Duncan. As per the rules of order of Parliament, such a meeting must be called within 4 times 24 hours.

“To date, however, the urgent meeting was not called, and the deadline for the requested 21-day extension came and went”, Heyliger-Marten stated. “This is yet another example of the Prime Minister keeping the people in the dark and the blatant disregard that she has for the Parliament. It is unacceptable that the concerns of the employees of TELEM, a Government owned company, and the unions who represent them about how the company is being managed have been ignored for more than two years now.

It also raises the question if the Prime Minister has something to hide or protect when it comes to TELEM. The stalling tactics regarding this SOAB report certainly seem to indicate that the Government does not want to share the conclusions of the report with the people of Saint Martin”, according to Heyliger-Marten.

“As we enter 2023, what we do know is that the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) project still has not been completed, and the SOAB report was still not received. It begs the question if something is suspiciously wrong at TelEm”, the MP stated.

“We as MP’s are awaiting the first convocations of the year to be sent out. I certainly hope that the (still) urgent meeting regarding TELEM is included, and that prior to that meeting being held, the Prime Minister will provide Parliament with the SOAB report. If not, Parliament will seriously have to consider how to address the lack of follow-up and transparency from the Government moving forward”, Heyliger-Marten concluded.