The Root of Political Instability: A Critical Examination of URSM and NOW’s Leadership Failures
Dear Editor,
Concerns about the disarray within the URSM and NOW parties suggest that this could lead to a significant loss of seats in the upcoming election. The limited time the URSM leader has allowed his party and coalition partners to prepare raises questions, especially as these groups appear to be overwhelmed by internal issues. The problem with these snap elections is that the treatment of candidate’s post-elections is still fresh in the minds of the candidates.
On the other hand, the leader of the 2×4 coalition has seemingly made a critical rookie error. Despite expressing concerns about the nation’s dire financial situation, he simultaneously committed to a costly half-million-dollar election. This contradiction suggests a lack of political maturity that was previously expected from the coalition.
MP Maingrette has received heavy criticism from Prime Minister Dr. Luc Marcelina. However, in 2019, Prime Minister Dr. Luc Marcelina withdrew his support from the UD/SMCP, which led to a snap election in January 2020. Therefore, the new PM is no stranger to costing the country money.
Moreover, the strategy of painting the country in doom and gloom has backfired. Although MPs like Heyliger-Marten, Sarah Wescot-Williams, Christophe Emmanuel, and Melissa Gumbs, have been long-standing members of Parliament, they failed to use their positions effectively. Despite consistently approving budgets, they rarely challenged the government directly, raising questions about their oppositional role. Every year they received notice of VROMI missing SG and staff, and our financial position yet nothing was done or said to that tune.
Blaming only the past four years for the country’s financial woes oversimplifies the issue. Historical challenges date back to post-10-10-10 developments, with figures such as ###### #####, ######## #######, Theo Heyliger, and Sarah Wescot-Williams, involved in these early struggles. Accusations have also surfaced about Theo Heyliger embezzling a staggering five million dollars, allegedly benefiting MP Heyliger-Marten. The constant political instability, frequent loans, a major disaster in 2017, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 have compounded the nation’s financial difficulties, illustrating a prolonged period of mismanagement and crisis.
In conclusion, the failure of the 2×4 government stems from the failure to have strong parties, which makes for weak governments. The so-called Great 8 does not have this problem and will surely deliver another four years.
Name Withheld On Request
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Publisher’s Note: Eventhough it is this publisher’s policy to encourage letters to the editor and to withhold the writers’ name if they may become victims of political victimization, linking persons who are no longer active politicians in ongoing political issues and especially with accusations about financial woes is not fair to these persons as they are not afforded the same protection from public exposure as the writer. Therefore, with apologies to the persons mentioned, I have deleted their names from this article.
Terrance Rey
Publisher & Editor
STMAARTENNEWS.COM
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