~ Says govt. broke itself ~
PHILIPSBURG–The board of the United St. Maarten Party (US Party) on Monday questioned why the current caretaker government wants to call for new elections that the country cannot afford, noting that it was government that in fact broke itself.
The party board responded to what it called “veiled attempts to spin facts” by caretaker Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin to blame her government’s collapse on others to justify forcing a face-saving election on the population of St. Maarten.
The US Party board stressed that it was the faction leader of the United Democrats (UD), Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers who broke government two weeks ago when he pulled his support (verbally and in writing) from the UD/St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) coalition. When Meyers pulled his support, the US Party board said, the Romeo-Marlin cabinet lost its support in Parliament “and we all know what that means: government fell.
“The prime minister attempted on Monday to say that she knew all along about attempts to break the government and sabotage the government, etc. We wonder if the prime minister knew of these attempts from her own party because that is who eventually broke her government,” the US Party said. “Furthermore, the prime minister wants to run to the people now and cry sabotage when she is losing power. What ever happened to acting in the best interest of your people? If you knew of those attempts why not say something? We know the answer, because the attempts were from within the UD/SMCP,” the US Party board said.
The board added that the UD/SMCP government has been scandal-plagued from day one and suffered publicly from infighting. The board said that it appeared that UD/SMCP MPs could not get any information from their ministers/government, being forced to go public and question why their ministers were not appearing in government.
“The most recent indictment of the relationship between UD/SMCP MPs and their government was the invite extended to State Secretary Raymond Knops for him to update Parliament on World Bank funds, etc. So, we needed to invite a Dutch civil servant to update us and not our own government? The infighting in the UD/SMCP coalition was/is toxic,” the US Party board said.
“Now the prime minister invokes Article 59 to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections. Why? There is a strong majority of nine, more than the majority they had of eight. Why an election that the country cannot afford? Government struggles to pay civil servants and other services, but now has to find money for an election? Why? For them to save face that’s why and it’s a shame,” the US Party board said.
The party said the UD faction leader gave up on his own government, “a truly historic moment when one of your leaders give up on you.”
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/91150-us-party-asks-why-have-elections-when-country-cannot-afford-them
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