MP Grisha Heyliger- Marten Floors 2 Motions ~As the saying goes 3 strikes you’re out~
United People’s (UP) Member of Parliament (MP) Grisha Heyliger- Marten announced two motions in Parliament during the hearing of the budget debate that’s still ongoing. In her motivation of the motions she spoke about her disapproval of the budget due to it not being aligned in the interest of St. Maarten and expressed her personal support of this government as a team player. However, Marten said her efforts to support and guide the government via multiple questions she sent, have either not been answered or took several months to receive a response. Marten’s disapproval of this was made clear as she stated she’s disappointed and felt it’s a disrespect to her and the rest of Parliament. “Passing this motion is a condition sine qua non (latin for an essential condition)” she affirmed.
Her first motion mandated that the government update and finalize the legal status (rechtspositie) for the St. Maarten Police Force (KPSM) and other justice ministry personnel “in order to calculate the retroactive payment” within three months from today June 30. Marten’s motion included a report to Parliament at the end of the three months as well. The motion includes a request for payment of outstanding amounts since 2010 by December 31 2022 since there’s no provision for it in the current draft budget. The motion is supported by chairman Rolando Brison and MP Sidharth Bijlani.
Her second motion followed statements chiding the government for not starting the decolonization process. “This motion offers the government the authorization and support it requires from this house to address the structural shortcomings in the budget and work towards creating a future budget that truly reflects the needs and rights of the people of St. Martin” she said in her motivation. She termed the motion “the decolonization motion 3.0” to reiterate her prior motions on St. Maarten becoming decolonized. “This is the last motion I will be tabling to get the decolonization and related process going.”
She said she won’t carry hard feelings towards anyone who doesn’t support her motion but stated that if that’s the case do not expect any future support from her to approve any “unlawful budget.” The motion also includes resolutions requesting the government to provide a comprehensive recovery plan based on the Minister of Tourism Economic Affairs Telecommunications and Transport (TEATT) “Path to Economic Recovery”and proposed tax legislation by December 31 2021. The motion has a request to the government asking for a multi-annual overview of the resources the government will need to execute this motion before the budget for the fiscal year 2022 begins. Marten concluded by stating, “I hope we can continue as a team moving forward to bring this country to the level of which it deserves to be.”
