PHILIPSBURG:---- The matter of meeting (or not) with the quartermaster recently gained some traction again. The Chairlady of Parliament in responding to the question whether she met with the Quartermaster during his visit to St. Maarten in February, explained:
Yes, an invitation to meet was extended to me via the Representative of the Dutch Government in Philipsburg. I politely, yet resolutely declined due to the fact that a few days before Mr. Leijtens came to St. Maarten, I was co-signatory to a unanimous motion of Parliament, condemning the way this appointment came about and furthermore urging our government to “inform the Dutch government that the government is of the opinion that the protocol signed on May, 24. 2015 is no longer executable.” The request to meet came about one week following the meeting of parliament.
In my response to the request to meet with Mr. Leijtens, I pointed this fact out, as well as to the fact that the parties to this protocol were the Dutch and St. Maarten governments.
‘I am of the opinion that an introduction of the quartermaster(s) should be on the strength of the 2 parties involved, not unilaterally and surely not with disregard for the position taken by the parliament of St. Maarten. This too was communicated, thus I left the door open for the St. Maarten government to proceed, taking the position of parliament into account.”
For good order’s sake, it must again be stressed that the motion as mentioned above was passed unanimously in the meeting of parliament of January 30, 2017.
Chairlady of Parliament declines meeting with Dutch-appointed quartermaster.
