People of St. Maarten needs to stand up and hold their government accountable.

September 4, 2018

“We are in the peak of the hurricane season and still no shelters, schools, and homes repaired.”

PHILIPSBURG: — Former Prime Minister William Marlin who was ousted from office months after the passage of hurricane Irma in 2017 said in an interview with SMN News that the people of St. Maarten should stand up and hold their government accountable. Instead of marching for someone that sold the country out, people should be marching for themselves and their country.
Marlin said now more than ever the people could see that toppling Marlin’s cabinet in October 2017 had nothing to do with the recovery funds but instead it’s the mighty eight that sold out the country to the Dutch while the Dutch got what they wanted which was to control the local administration and the only way to do that was to get rid of him as Prime Minister since has been the one that was protecting St. Maarten and its people as well as the country’s freedom.
Marlin said that the Dutch Government wanted full control over St. Maarten reason why they demanded the establishment of the Integrity Chamber which the famous 8 had agreed to way back in 2016. He said that the Dutch had control of the country’s finances and the judicial system and they were fighting for that control which was given to them by the current administration. “At the time it was Heyliger and Wescott- Williams that agreed to the establishment of the integrity chamber. I really thought that would have been a change when MP Franklin Meyers went down on his knees on the floor of Parliament and said that he would rather die to stand than to live on his knees.”
Marlin further explained that he did absolutely nothing wrong but instead did everything that was humanly possible post-Irma, and most of all did everything to protect St. Maarten and its people from the Dutch control. He said in 2015 when he took office as Prime Minister, the very first thing the PM of the Netherlands Mark Rutte asked him there during his first visit was when would the integrity chamber be established. He said he made it clear back then that the integrity chamber was not a priority for his government.
Marlin said its St. Maarten and its people that have to clean up their mess, “we have problems here and it should be cleaned up by us and not by anyone else unless St. Maarten hires people to do that job.”
He said one year later after Irma’s passage and while the island is in the peak of the hurricane season schools are not repaired, that serves as shelters and many homes still without a roof. The former Prime Minister said that in 1995 when hurricane Luis devastated the island the Dutch along with the Government of St. Maarten had a different system in place that worked well. However, this time the Dutch accused all St. Maarten politicians of being corrupt and they chose to use the World Bank. Marlin said back then government gave people materials while they also repaired the homes of some people who could not find people to work for them. At the moment people are not able to come to St. Maarten to work as construction workers because the Dutch made it clear that they did not want illegal immigrants to make money on St. Maarten and they also chose a company from the Netherlands they want doing business on St. Maarten. “The World Bank has their own rules and regulations which in my view is a delay tactic that will bring the people of St. Maarten down further on their knees, while you have a government that is just happy to take photos with the Dutch. Just recently the Prime Minister told Parliament that St. Maarten is not ready, and the money is not available.”
As for the cleaning, up of the island, Marlin said that the former Minister of VROMI did everything humanly possible to clean St. Maarten up in record time after the passing of IRMA and he also was crucified by the people for the fires on the dump. Marlin said that right now no one is even interested in putting out the dump fires because at times the new dump burns for days at a time and so far, the current coalition government does not have a plan or anything in place to construct a waste management plant.
On reflecting on what transpired after the 2018 snap elections Marlin said the leader of SMCP Wycliffe Smith said he was not willing to work with the leader of the USP Frans Richardson but today he is in government with an MP that has been condemned by the courts and the leader of the UD is under intense investigations. He asked where the principle in all of this is and in the leader of the coalition partner Wycliffe Smith. Marlin said the political parties that gained seats in parliament last February did everything to prevent the country from having a national government.
He called on the people to do everything they could for the remainder of the hurricane season, people secure their valuables, their homes, and they should also ensure that they have enough food and water in the event of a hurricane.
He said that St. Maarten people need to stand up against the injustices done to them by holding their government responsible.