~ Calls for transparency on land tax ~
PHILIPSBURG:— While the government focused its Nelson Mandela Day message on “Madiba’s” honorable record on service to the country and overcoming challenges, Independent MP Christophe Emmanuel said he hopes government would finally focus on the principle of effective leadership for the people which were the bedrock of Mandela’s movement.
The MP said he can support the call of the Prime Minister for the return of peace and quality of life in other nations, especially facing a pandemic, but stressed that on St. Maarten a decent or improved quality of life can only be achieved through honest, transparent and decisive government, “not an evasive, indirect and dishonest one.”
“I believe when government decides to mark an important day such as Mandela Day and it wants to frame it to our local circumstances, it should avoid trying to self-praise in his name and instead be self-critical based on his principles of governing and the role of governments to their people,” Emmanuel said.
“It is very easy to look at his life and say we need to be as resilient and strong as he was but not recognize that government has operated in contradiction of the principles he stood for the most. For the past 9 months, honesty has been lacking, scheming is the norm, transparency is a catch-phrase, and changing positions on every subject is the order of the day. This was not Mandela’s style,” Emmanuel said.
Case in point, the MP said, is the ongoing debate of the proposal of the CFT for the enforcing of land and property taxes on St. Maarten. He said the Minister of Finance recently declined to say whether the government will impose such taxes, only stating that the law is on the books but not enforced and that he would be in Parliament in August to discuss tax reform.
“Mandela would have answered the question with yes or no. That is all the Minister had to do. He chose to be evasive. Along with the VAT tax which is part of the current phase of the implementation agenda, a land and property tax, considering our realities when it comes to land, will create chaos in this country, not the peace and prosperity the government chose to mention while invoking Mandela’s name,” Emmanuel said.
He went on to implore the government to remember to of Mandela’s quotes on the marking of Mandela Day: “It is a grave error for any leader to be oversensitive in the face of criticism, to conduct discussions as if he or she is a schoolmaster talking to less informed and inexperienced learners.
“A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” This is a reminder to government about the need to do better in poverty alleviation, in social equity, and in realizing a higher degree of effectiveness for the government.
