PHILIPSBURG–Member of Parliament (MP) Ardwell Irion reiterated on Friday that if the new coalition of eight were serious about forming a national government, they would have done so by tabling a motion calling for such. Irion said if parties really wanted to work together in a national government, they could have found the will to do so.
Re-stating his preference for a national government, the National Alliance MP went on to table a motion calling for the forming of a national government, “because I don’t believe it is ever too late to do something in the best interest of the people of St. Maarten. If you ask people, most of them want to see us work together.”
The motion was not handled in Parliament due to a lack of supporting signatures.
Irion explained that despite the statements by the new majority of eight in Parliament that they sought to form a national government, “I was never asked to join a national government, neither was one of my colleagues [from the National Alliance – Ed.]. We had several motions presented here within a week.
“Never once was there a motion to form a national government. If it was really that important, why no motion? This is a good example of why I tabled the voters record initiative, so we can see who voted for or against a national government. Vote for the motion and have it on your record,” he said.
Irion said the same discussions that were held to form the new “V-8” could have been held about a national government. “I personally, on my own, decided to contact most of the political leaders to ask them about the possibility of forming a national government, not knowing of any other discussions. I personally went and did that. No one ever came to me,” he said.
He also addressed MPs claims that he was not present for the “war,” referring to a previous meeting of Parliament when the motion of no confidence was passed against six Ministers.
He reminded his fellow MP’s that a war isn’t conducted in one day, but from the time MPs are elected they go to “war” for the people. “That was a battle, not a war. You can’t come and have no discussions for a whole year and then show up one day you were in a war,” he stressed.
“When I was in college, I was in several groups with some people who were lazy, some were demotivated, but if a project had to be completed, I couldn’t go to my professor and say, ‘I don’t want to be in this group anymore, put me in a new group.’ We had to get it together. We passed or failed as a group and we do so together.”
He said he wondered what exactly was the excuse for breaking Government this time around and questioned what the excuses were for the previous six times Government fell.
“I enjoy history. I sat down and asked myself if this is not history repeating itself. If the excuse is now Hurricane Irma, what was the excuse in 2010, what was the excuse in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017? Six governments in seven years. We didn’t have hurricanes then,” said Irion.
“We talk about the University of St. Maarten (USM) closing, but USM is 28 years old. Where are your motions, where are your laws? As a Parliament and Government, we never put education first, we put business first, never education. We are reaping what we sowed years ago. Anybody that studies economics understands that a decision that was made last month, doesn’t affect you or your economy today.
“Decisions made 10 years and 15 years ago affect you today. Those decisions are what we are sowing now. We didn’t make decisions to educate our people and to make our population understand about the workings of Parliament, so they could make right decisions when they are voting. We didn’t do that because we like our population not to understand, because then we can use emotions to sway people around. All parties are responsible for this,” he concluded.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/70887-national-government-was-never-a-priority-says-irion
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