THE RULE OF LAW

There are a lot of things going on in the political front these days, Commissioner Laveist was unceremoniously picked up and held for a few days for questioning. Now anyone paying even a little bit of attention cannot be surprised that one of our high ranking officials has been picked up for questioning. In fact, this is not the first time that a Commissioner has been asked to report to the police station for questioning.

In the past the questioning was done and the official released after a few hours, but this time the Commissioner was actually held for a while.

The question in the community is why was this Commissioner held for such a long time and others were released after just a few hours? The answer could be that he was a flight risk, or that he would be able to destroy additional evidence but they have since released him without searching anywhere else. This means that neither option was a concern.

Now we have to look at the way the DP decided to deal with the situation. In the past Commissioner Roy Marlin typed up his resignation which was promptly torn up by the DP Leader. Additionally, Commissioner Buncamper was legally given a vote of non-confidence in the Island Council but yet after what must be called a FAKE resignation she was welcomed back with open hands. All indications were that if the authorities had investigated this issue, a case of forgery could have been brought against the Commissioner. I make this claim based on the fact that TelEm was asked to change financial records and checks were quickly returned.

What is so different about Laveist’s case, that he wasn’t even incarcerated for 2 days before the Leader of the DP was putting pressure on him to resign not only from the Executive Council but from the Island Council as well, a seat he earned fair and square.

The real question here is what is happening to the society of St. Maarten. While Commissioners are living high on the hog through questionable means, we are suffering as a people and as a society. The deal making environment of the sitting Government has led to overbuilding to a point where professionals are warning of environment disasters due to flooding. Yet we as a people are fast asleep.

In addition to this, there are several properties being completed or continuing to be constructed in an environment where real estate all over the Western World is in a downward spiral. Will all these properties become white elephants I the near future.

We need to take a hard look at our ‘business first’ society and start spending some tax money on social programs. Not on programs to benefit your friends and family like it’s structured now but a comprehensive plan to benefit those who really need the assistance. It’s a matter of survival of our way of life, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out that our societal fabric is seriously torn. Just take a look at the front page of the daily papers to see proof and the situation with Commissioner Laviest only makes the situation worse.

Kendall