Frans versus Roy battle
continues in IC meeting
PHILIPSBURG--One of the main debates during the discussions on the 2008 draft budget in the Island Council on Tuesday was between Finance Commissioner Roy Marlin and National Alliance (NA) Councilman Frans Richardson.
The discussion via the media of the past weeks, in which Marlin accused Richardson of not championing St. Maarten’s cause at the Central Government level, continued. Again Richardson hit back by stating that NA did not look out for St. Maarten’s interests by attacking the Ministers, but through dialogue within the coalition.
Richardson said that while Marlin was pointing a finger at him and accusing him of not doing enough for St. Maarten in Parliament, three other fingers were pointing back at the Commissioner. He said NA did not need to go to the media or on the floor of Parliament to lash out against a Minister to show that it was taking St. Maarten’s interests to heart.
He said the Central Government had made NAf. 8 million available for St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) in 2007 and another NAf. 10 million in 2008. In addition, through discussions within the coalition, more than 20 police officers had been sent to St. Maarten to provide assistance, he said.
Marlin, holding up a copy of the 2008 Central Government budget, challenged Richardson to show where in the budget the NAf. 10 million had been reserved for SMMC.
He stated once again that only NAf. 2 million of the AOV premium increase would go to pay the NAf. 100 AOV pension increase, while NAf. 14 million collected in St. Maarten would go into the coffers of the Social Insurance Bank SVB.
“These are the things Richardson should be asking questions about in the meetings [of Parliament], but during the entire budget debate he did not say a word,” Marlin said.
He laughed at Richardson’s statement that through NA lobbying in the coalition the police officers had been made available for St. Maarten. He challenged Richardson to produce the minutes of those coalition meetings. He pointed out that it was after the Executive Council had met with Justice Minister David Dick that the ball had started rolling.
According to Richardson, NA posed several questions on the budget in the meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament.
