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Published On: Sun, Jan 14th, 2018

Press statement regarding the delayed appointment of Claret Connor as incoming “Minister”

Dear Editor,

The names of the new ministers, scheduled to take office have been released and one could rightfully ask: Was Claret Connor not put forward for a ministerial position? Indeed I was. Persons nominated for a ministerial position must be screened according to the applicable procedures, conducted by several agencies, and reported upon to the so-called “Formateur” and the Governor.

The reports from the different agencies are confidential, however I learned that hindering my appointment was the verdict in a civil court case, initiated against the government. In its defense, the government criticized the manner in which the then minister (my person) acted in the matter in question. The court, in its verdict, which was critical of the then minister (Connor), in my opinion was insufficiently apprised of the case in question, namely the decision taken by the COUNCIL OF MINISTERS to acquire land for the construction of the waste water treatment plant in Cole bay to serve both sides of the island. Important to mention is that the joint waste water treatment project is part of the cooperation agreement program titled: “St. Martin/St. Maarten Territorial Cooperation program 2014-2020”. This cooperation agreement was signed in June of 2014 between the EU, the Government of St. Maarten, the Collective of St. Martin and representatives of the State of France.

A critical requirement for the project was for the government of St. Maarten to identify adequate land to meet the technical and physical aspects of constructing this plant. More importantly, government then could no longer delay this project and risk losing the funding available under this program estimated at appr. 1.3 million euros.

It was with these considerations in mind that this decision was taken. It was therefore wrong to portray this decision as one that was taken at the 11th hour, when a new government was about to take office and wrong to be put in the lap of one minister, when the Council of Ministers had approved such. Albeit in my final days as minister in the Gumbs cabinet, that project was and remains a critical project for the people of St. Maarten. In this light, I did all I could do to finalize it before leaving office in 2015, aware that it could have become the victim of a change of government. Given the negative image for a person not completing the screening for minister, I Claret Connor will leave no stone unturned to clear my name in this matter, which at the end of the day was done in the interest of the people of St. Maarten.

Claret Connor