Without apologies
Minister Ingrid Arrindell slightly changed her story about the process surrounding the appointment of Rolando Brison as the director of the St. Maarten Tourism Authority. In a lengthy statement (see related story) the minister demands an apology from this newspaper for calling her a liar. Actually we did not call the minister a liar; we wrote: It appears now that Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Ingrid Arrindell has been lying about the candidacy of Rolando Brison as director for the St. Maarten Tourism Authority.” That’s a subtle, but important difference.
These are the true facts of this story.
On August 13, a picture appeared on the front page of the Daily Herald. It showed Minister Arrindell, MP Silvio Matser and Rolando Brison at the signing of what seemed to be a contract for the position at the STA. The accompanying article stated that Brison had signed a one-year contract and Minister Arrindell was quoted as saying: “This is a historic day for St. Maarten as we see the new director take office and move the organization forward with his fresh ideas.”
Businessman Mike Ferrier reacted to the report on Monday, August 15 with a report about the embezzlement of more than $41,000 at Winair by Brison.
Minister Arrindell said in a Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday, August 16, that Brison had not yet been formally appointed. Finance Minister Richard Gibson related her statement in the press briefing the following day.
Minister Arrindell did not come to that press briefing for further explanation. Instead, she issued a press release on August 18.
The release speaks of Brison as an interim-director and not of the ‘new director:’ “An offer letter has been extended to Mr. Brison; however, the finalization of the process (the signing of the actual contract) won’t be done until the vetting process, which includes a background check, has been completed.”
The minister then explains the makeup of the selection committee and writes: “All six members of the selection committee independently scored Mr. Rolando Brison highest, as a result of which he was selected as the candidate for the position of interim director of the STA.”
The supervisory council of the STA sent out a press release last week that contains the following line: “It should be mentioned however, that not all six members of the selection committee independently scored Brison the highest, as has been reported in press releases.”
In the press release issued this week, the minister admits this: not all six, as she claimed earlier, but five of the members of the selection committee gave Brison the highest score.
Based on this obvious error, this newspaper called the minister a liar. Maybe we should have been polite by writing that her statement was incorrect, but no matter what words you use, the facts remain the same.
Minister Arrindell has been appointed by MP Silvio Matser. According to the minister, Matser “happened to be in the building on other business” when the offer letter was to be presented to Brison. While this letter was not even a real contract, Minister Arrindell describes the signing as “an important event.” That Matser was there and appeared in the picture was “out of professional courtesy.” Really?
Furthermore, the minister accuses this newspaper of publishing “misinformation and disinformation.” What is that all about? We reported about Brison’s history at Winair, where he embezzled more than $41,000 based on copies of letters that substantiate the story and that have been signed as true statements by none other than Brison himself. No misinformation there, and no disinformation.
Minister Arrindell claims that Brison’s former employer Winair “provided a positive reference” but we were unable to obtain independent confirmation of this statement. “It is not the policy of Winair to comment on past or present employees. Not the response you requested but this is our company policy,” Winair director Michael Cleaver wrote in response to our request for verification.
Now the minister demands an apology or a retraction from the supervisory council of the STA of its “totally incorrect and misleading information.”
In other words, now the minister is accusing the supervisory council of lying; that’s the correct word when you accuse someone of providing incorrect information.
Like the minister, we rest our case. Without apologies, as Leopold James used to say in his heydays.
