PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism Stuart Johnson has yet to appear for a single TEATT Committee meeting of Parliament, four months after informing the Secretary-General of Parliament that he would “hold the request into consideration.”
The request or the Minister to appear was made by Member of Parliament Rolando Brison, Faction Leader of the USP and Vice-Chairman of the TEATT Committee of Parliament. On Monday Brison said he is very disappointed that Johnson still has not appeared since being sworn in in June of this year.
“Today marks 4 months since the Minister has been requested to appear for at least 7 TEATT committee meetings, and to date, has attended zero committee meetings,” stated MP Brison, “This really goes to show the attitude of this Minister towards Parliament and by extension the people of St. Maarten that we represent.”
Brison recalled that the Minister in an earlier press release stated that he is available to meet with any member of parliament at any time in the national interest of the country. “Yet has not appeared before the Parliamentary committee that directly handled TEATT related matters in Parliament. In addition, it took the Minister 4 months and 25 days before he appeared in his first public meeting of Parliament,” Brison said.
“Even more mind-blowing is the response from the Minister of TEATT to me as Chairman of the Committee of TEATT regarding the meeting request. These meetings were requested and booked in on July 30th. The one and only reply the TEATT Committee has received were done on August 17th, more than 2 weeks later, stating that in his view, the requests of the committee meetings were “premature”. Our constitution nor rules of orders do not leave room for the Ministers to make the determination for whether a matter is “premature”; the committee has already decided that it is an important matter for the country. The minister is out of order,” stated Brison.
The Minister further stated that he would “hold the request into consideration and be more than willing to present the requested information at the appropriate time”. 4 months later, the Minister seemingly has not found the “appropriate time”.
Brison said while ignoring his duties to the TEATT Committee, the Minister has chosen to constantly appear in photo ops, and lofty press release with little substance, continuing to shun his responsibilities to the representatives of the people.
“The Minister seems to have replaced the T’s in TEATT (Tourism, Transportation and Telecommunication) with P’s: Photo-ops, Press Releases, and Passes; these more aptly represent the accomplishments of our Minister of TEATT since taking office, instead of the real issues of Tourism, Transportation and Telecommunication,” stated Brison. “This Minister seems more focused on photo ops, literally giving away taxpayers money, and expensive travel, rather than doing real work for the country.”
Brison explained that these meetings are geared to address urgent matters including Civil Aviation, the St. Maarten Tourism Authority, improvement of the Statistical information of the country. A lot of the information provided in these meetings could also be used by members of Parliament to make necessary legislative initiatives.
He further explained that the purpose of the committees of Parliament is to conduct preliminary investigations. These Preliminary investigations are done in manners that the committees (I.E not Ministers) see fit. As per article 63 of the constitution, Parliament has the right to request a Minister’s presence at meetings, and unless the matter is deemed in conflict with the interest of the country or the Kingdom, the constitution allows the Minister no further room to deny such a request.
http://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/30777-teatt-committee-still-waiting-on-tourism-minister-4-months-later.html
