PHILIPSBURG — Just two members of Parliament keep insisting that the Brian Mingo has to be fired from his position as CEO of the Princess Juliana International Airport Exploitation company: Claudius Buncamper (United St. Maarten party) and Christophe Emmanuel (independent). This became clear during Friday’s Central Committee meeting of Parliament where Minister Ludmilla de Weever and Mingo provided updates about the situation at the airport.
Minister De Weever repeatedly said during her presentation “according to information I received” as if she did not completely trust the accuracy of the information she provided. In this context it is interesting that the minister described the reconstruction of the airport as “a national priority,” said that she had listened to the grievances of the airport personnel and that the employees are the airport’s “greatest assets.”
She listed US Pre-clearance, the construction of the Fixed Base Operations facility and the relocation of the fuel farm as “long term objectives that should not slow down the reconstruction of the terminal building.”
Mingo told Parliament that, due to Hurricane Irma and the COVID-19 crisis “all capital investment projects have been put on hold.” He also said that since November 30, the supervisory board of the holding company has been presented with the names of the final two candidates for the position of counterpart next to the airport’s Chief Financial Officer.
Mingo furthermore said that the presence of the CFO does not present a conflict of interest as he was appointed by the holding and not by Schiphol.
In 2020 the airport accommodated 5,139 private jets which is 80 percent of the number that used the airport in 2019.
Minister De Weever made clear that the loan proposal Piper Jaffray put on the table back in February 2019 would have been extremely expensive. The company proposed a 20-year loan of $224 million against 7 percent interest. With this loan the existing bondholders would be repaid $102 million and the financing costs amounted to $8 million, leaving $114 million for the reconstruction project and for the airports liquidity needs.
The airport would have to pledge all of its revenue. This deal would have increased the annual debt burden by $10 million – $200 million over the20-year term of the loan.
De Weever said that if the airport does not strengthen its corporate governance it would be considered a breach of the financing agreement the government signed with the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. In that scenario the funding could be withdrawn.
MP Buncamper bluntly stated that the airport’s CEO has a problem if he cannot get along with the employees, the stakeholders and the shareholder and that if CFO counterpart candidates are not from here they should be sent packing.
Buncamper again attacked the positive evaluation CEO Mingo got for his performance in 2020. He also questioned why the reconstruction of the airport has to cost “$131.3 million” (currently the projection is $107 million with a possible increase to $119 million) and that the project could probably be done for “not even half that amount.” The MP also pushed the involvement of local contractors and suggested to let governor Holiday (who was in charge when the terminal was built in 2006) take control over the reconstruction.
As a parting shot, Buncamper turned his attention once more to Brian Mingo: “If it is up to the USp, you can fire the CEO today.”
Melissa Gumbs (Party for Progress) expressed her thoughts about this issue in a Facebook-post: “What’s being done to the airport CEO at this point is a clear-cut example of what happens when you stop being pleasing and agreeable with those who need you to be exactly that. And if we continue to elevate those latter people to positions of influence and power, then we can say farewell to actual growth and development for all our people, instead of just the ones who are hunting long-lease water rights and land from Cupecoy to the Simpson Bay Bridge.”
MP Christophe Emmanuel echoed Buncamper’s sentiment accusing Mingo of presenting “misinformation and lies” to Parliament. He said that the candidates for the CFO counterpart-position are from the Netherlands and from Curacao, even going as far as divulging their names.
“I have looked at their CVs and these people do not need training. How can they be counterparts?”
Emmanuel also criticized Mingo’s statement that the names of the members of the bidding committee for the reconstruction project are kept confidential to prevent undue influence. He called out their names, saying that three of the members are Dutch.
Emmanuel furthermore claimed that the cost for the CFO is 468,000 guilders per year and that the total cost for four external airport-employees amounts to $1.8 million per year, while the average monthly salary of an airport worker is 2,200 guilders ($1,229).
“They are fleecing the airport,” Emmanuel said. “Mingo is the head of it with the CFO and the supervisory board. And who is suffering? St. Maarten.”
Lastly, Emmanuel wanted to know whether the shareholder (the government) agrees with the reasons the holding gave for demanding that Mingo steps down.
Mingo did not get any criticism from MPs Sarah Wescot-Williams (United Democrats) and William Marlin (National Alliance).
Wescot-Williams asked for an overview of all actions undertaken since the Jacobs-government signed the funding agreement with the World Bank and the European Investment Bank.
“We were very close to an agreement about US Pre-clearance when I was prime minister,” Marlin said. “It was also offered to Schiphol but they did not want to enter into an agreement, fearing discrimination.”
Marlin brought the issue up in 2017 during a visit of then Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders to St. Maarten. “One detail was the question whether American customs officers would be allowed to take their service weapon back home after their shift. And the answer was no, because the airport had a safe place to store those weapons.”
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Related articles:
The airport-saga: facts and fiction
How the airport became a political football
Opinion piece by Hilbert Haar: “An irresistable pie”
Christophe Emmanuel: Airline handlers letter is biggest indictment of PJIA CEO
St. Maarten Airline Handlers Association letter
