PHILIPSBURG–The United Democrats (UD) and St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) coalition has not yet selected a candidate for the position of Minister of Public Health, Labour and Social Affairs VSA.
“Nothing has been decided by the coalition as yet,” UD Deputy Leader Sarah Wescot-Williams said on Monday, when asked for an update on the selection process. The coalition will be meeting again this week on the matter. “There are several potential candidates out there, but I have mixed feelings about putting energy into finding a replacement,” Wescot-Williams said, noting that she feels this way about the issue because of the manner in which the former VSA minister was removed from office. “The way that the position was made vacant is not a normal way, and you can imagine that the coalition needs to find a way to deal with it.”
The position of VSA minister became vacant after a motion of no-confidence was passed against former VSA Minister Emil Lee on July 3. Lee later made his position available and vacated his office. Presented by governing coalition UD Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Luc Mercelina, the motion was passed by all seven members of the opposition and Mercelina voting in favour and the seven remaining members of the coalition voting against. The passing of the motion goes down in history as the first time an MP in St. Maarten initiated a motion to dismiss a minister appointed by his own coalition. Both Lee and Wescot-Williams were Democratic Party (DP) members who teamed up with the United People’s (UP) party to form the United Democrats to contest the last parliamentary elections in February 2018.
Wescot-Williams commented: “I realise that the responsibility is still with us [to select a new candidate minister – Ed.] because we still are the governing coalition, but I don’t have any one specific person on my mind, but it has to do with the circumstances.”
When asked, she made clear that the comments being made in the community about her being against the candidacy of a potential candidate stemming from the Department of Labour are “absolutely not true,” as the person’s name had never been brought up and even if it had, it is not something she would have been against.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/90143-no-candidate-yet-for-vsa-minister-coalition-to-meet-this-week-on-matter
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