Acting Government Commissioner Mervyn Stegers.
ST. EUSTATIUS–Acting Government Commissioner Mervyn Stegers sat down at local radio station PJB50 Radio Statia for an interview during the “Homeland Defence.” During the show which was hosted by Glenn Schmidt, Stegers took questions from the host and from persons in the community.
Schmidt spoke about the lack of information that is shared with the public. Stegers said the problem is that he and his colleague Commissioner Mike Franco have so many meetings that they sometimes forget to give out information to the public.
“In going forward we will attempt to be better at disseminating information about the many ongoing projects that are taking place,” he said.
Stegers also answered questions on whether an Island Council election will take place in St. Eustatius in 2019. “If Parliament does not make a law stating that an election will be held next year on Statia, there will be no elections.” He said that the Dutch Parliament is set to discuss this issue on September 13.
The Island Government, Stegers said, is in the process of cleaning up the register at the Civil Registry (census office) to solve the problem of undelivered voting cards.
During past elections stacks of voting cards were not delivered and government wants to do its best to ensure that everyone receives their voting card. “We are in the process of putting street names on each street and putting a house number on each home,” he said.
Stegers also said the number of Island Council members is too small. “The number of members should be increased, as it was in Holland.”
He spoke about the many projects that are currently in process, such as the cemetery walls, the extension of the airport terminal, the repair of the Dutch Reformed Church, repairs to dirt roads in Cherry Tree and the drill truck to test the soil which will help with erosion and the building of roads. He also said that farmers who suffered damages from last year’s hurricanes would be compensated for their losses.
Stegers said the government commissioners are accountable to the Dutch government. He said that they handle the budget as if Committee for Financial Supervision CFT was still in place and they are operating under the budget from the previous island government which was ousted in February.
Speaking about the free allowance Stegers said this was “not enough.” And where the minimum wage, poverty and cost of living were concerned, he said that the degree of poverty on the island is “greatly troubling. We have a few programmes in the works to try to help.”
One contentious topic is how the appointment of members of the Social Advisory Board came about. The names were submitted by a group of advisors, Stegers said. “They went through the list and everyone they asked said ‘yes’ and the Advisory Board filled up very quickly. It is a cross-section that represents the population of Statia.”
Stegers agreed with the suggestion to hold the Advisory Board meetings in a public, town hall setting. “I am confident that the Advisory Board would have no problem with that,” he said.
Throughout the interview Stegers remained calm and focussed. Some persons in the audience felt he answered the questions adequately, while others felt he did not fully respond.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/79538-stegers-runs-the-gauntlet-during-homeland-defence-interview
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