PHILIPSBURG:--- In the view of the Democratic Party of St. Maarten, the incoming UP/NA coalition has to clear the air on a number of issues, if they desire to start their political relationship on a footing of credibility. The leaders of these 2 parties can not get away with the excuse that "this was part of the political and campaign rhetoric". These are critical issues to the people of St. Maarten and the 2 parties have taken hard and sometimes diametrically opposing positions on these matters, long before the campaign begun.
"We therefore await the publication of the UP/NA governing accord and we hope a governing program will soon follow. After all, none of them are new to this, however, their past records of presenting governing programs are not encouraging.
In the governing accord, we expect to receive answers to these 2 parties' positions on at least the following issues:
1. Independence for St. Maarten: yes or no?
2. Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten: yes or no?
3. Pearl of China project: yes or no?
4. The inclusion of different ethnicities in our parliament: yes or no?
5. Financial disclosure and full-time position of MPs: yes or no?
6. Electoral reform to stamp out ship jumping: yes or no?
7. Continued transparency in the new hospital project: yes or no?
8. Tax reform: yes or no?
9. Labor reform: yes or no?
10. Transparency in government-owned companies: yes or no?
11. Rescind the obscure solid waste MOU, yes or no?
12. New school bus policy: yes or no?
13. New screening law for ministers: yes or no?
14. The Harbor's monopolistic position for our waters: yes or no?
15. Arm's length from government-owned companies: yes or no?
And there are more to follow.
Already the corridors are filled with talk about the changes to come.
As the opposition in the incoming parliament, we will observe with a magnifying glass the actions of this government. Already the question is being asked, "Are we going back to the days when board members of government-owned companies were served notice in the middle of the night?"
We await answers from the UP and NA parties.
