National Alliance MPs Ardwell Irion and Silveria Jacobs in Parliament House.
PHILIPSBURG–National Alliance (NA) has questioned the urgency of holding the urgent plenary sitting of Parliament to examine the credentials of two incoming Members of Parliament (MPs) when this could have waited until the legislature resumes sittings in August after its summer recess.
What is the purpose of bringing in new MPs on the day Parliament goes on recess, Jacobs said in a press conference following Tuesday’s sitting in which the credentials were approved. She also made the same query in the plenary sitting.
Jacobs said there had been an “unnecessary rush” to call the meeting on the day before the recess when it was known two MPs were off-island and others had given notice of absence. Dealing with the credentials in the first meeting after the recess “would have been sufficient.”
She said she wanted it clearly known that she was not against the two new MPs Tamara Leonard (United Democrats) and Claude Peterson (St. Maarten Christian Party) coming into the Parliament. It was just that the urgency was not motivated in the convocation and no one had approached any of the non-coalition MPs to get their support, she added. “All that was needed was one more MP.”
The NA members have been “working along with the coalition” since April and had signed in for several meetings when coalition MPs were not present.
“How many weeks were MPs of the sitting coalition absent, how many meetings did MP [Emil – Ed.] Lee attend while in his dual role? How many times did MPs ask us kindly to give quorum to enable important decisions to be made when they had to leave,” Jacobs questioned.
The Secretariat of Parliament is “too busy’” to deal with reports of questions posed in the Central Committee meeting on the permit law until after the recess, but the credentials meeting was “rushed through on the day that the recess officially starts. This has been the modus operandi of the sitting coalition and presidium,” she said.
“NA has had numerous opportunities to stagnate the work of Parliament and did not choose to do so,” said Jacobs about the absence of opposition MPs for Friday’s meeting.
The free mandate of MPs, enshrined in the oath, should be exercised when voting on matters instead of joining the bandwagon after giving the sitting government or ministers a tongue-lashing. “Did those MPs vote their conscience as they pledged or swore to do? Well, I don’t have a dictatorship nor do any of the NA MPs call me captain, as I respect each and every one’s opinion and accept the ‘vrije mandaat’ allows each to vote his conscience,” said Jacobs.
She questioned whether the United Democrats/ St. Maarten Christian Party coalition is not aware a constitutional crisis exists every single day in every single meeting due to its slim majority. “Shouldn’t this then also have been a priority for those saying back then who they refuse to work with in Parliament despite how the people voted, to make sure we had as broad as possible a coalition representing the people?”
The “precarious nature” of the eight-seat majority in Parliament “will continue to raise its ugly head,” Jacobs said, vowing though that “breaking governments will never be part of my legacy. Rescuing them, however, is always a possibility.”
Jacobs and fellow NA parliamentarian Ardwell Irion voiced their discontent with the way Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams has been handling meetings. Irion’s frustration stems not only from the way the credentials meeting was handled, but from what he said is the stalling of several urgent permanent and central committee meetings requested by his party since April.
Irion strongly believes there is an “imbalance of power” set out in the Rules of Order of Parliament. He intends to approach the Council of Advice to get an opinion on several articles in the rules.
The prerogative of the chairwoman to decide when and how a meeting should proceed is one query Irion has. This, he said, was highlighted in Tuesday’s session when Wescot-Williams stated at the start of the sitting there were two rounds of debate. However, after three MPs spoke and the credentials were examined, in answering Jacobs’ query about the second round of debate, Wescot-Williams said she saw no need for such as there was no minister present.
It was the chairwoman’s “opinion MPs did not need to speak again.”
Irion said this should not be the case and should be addressed. “If I don’t agree there should be a way to deal with this,” he said.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/78249-na-questions-urgency-of-meeting-to-examine-incoming-mps-credentials
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