~ Short-term contract proposal sent to Advisory Council on July 11 ~
PHILIPSBURG--President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell said, in response to National Alliance faction claims that its revised draft amendment to the Civil Code had not yet been forwarded to the Advisory Council, that Member of Parliament (MP) William Marlin should stop playing politics.
Although Parliament is on recess, the President of Parliament called a press conference Monday afternoon to address the issue. She said the documents ? intended to pave the way for curbing abuse of short-term labour contracts -- had been approved by Parliament and had been sent to the Central Committee for further handling.
She added that the proposal had been sent to the Advisory Council on July 11. Following the Parliament recess, the revised draft amendment will be placed on the list of documents to be discussed in the next Parliament meeting.
"To be clear, when it is sent to the Council of Advice, it is for their advice. If they make any changes to the document once received officially, the persons/faction that submitted it will then review the changes and make the necessary adjustments, if they so require.
"If the Council of Advice decides that the document is complete and everything is in order the way it was proposed, then it comes back to Parliament. The document has not yet been sent to the minister in charge, because it still awaits the comments of the Council of Advice," explained the President of Parliament.
She further commented, "We have to collectively ? and this includes MP William Marlin leader of the National Alliance ? stop playing politics with every decision and every procedure made and spend more time on the governing process. Parliament is a new creature of governance and it's evolving and its getting its feet on the ground over the last eight months."
She said Marlin's energy would be better served by trying to work with government to get the country moving in the right direction, "with a climate and environment to induce investors to come to St. Maarten and to invest and generate jobs for our people. We must stop the bickering and constant political grandstanding to win a point. The elections are over; it's time to govern."
The President of Parliament said that, in her view, the substance and/or the assertion was that, because she had referred the draft law to the Central Committee, she had supposedly violated a constitutional protection and thus, "I ought to be removed or I'm trampling on fundamental rights of some legally-protected interest."
She explained that the draft law had been submitted and received by the Secretary of Parliament on June 6. It was put on the list of incoming documents for the public meeting for June 29, with a proposal for its handling to be referred to the Central Committee.
"During this meeting, with that document and proposal in place, it was simply that ? just a proposal. The final decision to approve or disapprove the proposal lies with the Parliament. The proposal and where it should be sent was approved and no one in that meeting ? not one member of any faction ? objected to the referral," she said.
Moreover she said, "The Rules of Order are clear: in this case they do not state anything with regard to the Council of Advice. The Rules of Order only mention the MPs and government."
Therefore she said, in her opinion, the editorial of the TODAY newspaper on Friday, July 15, was factually incorrect and without merit. The paper's editorial suggests and supports NA's claim that the document it had presented to the Parliament President had not yet been sent to the Advisory Council in accordance with parliamentary tradition and therefore "a huge mistake" had been made.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, although this opinion may be wrong and very political. Parliament is a very important entity in the entire process of government. The manner in which reporting is done affects us all," Arrindell added.
On another note, she said ongoing issues since October 10, 2010 were legislation, drafting of laws and employing persons who were schooled and well-trained in preparing laws. The rules governing the entire process, from the inception of a draft to the final decision and publication, have been worked on for quite some time, she said.
"Again it takes time. Legislation is not something that transpires from one day to the next. You need the available schooled personnel to do that," said Arrindell.
She noted that during a meeting with the legal affairs and legislation department on June 24, it had been made clear that this preparation was ongoing and that a proposal, the so-called guide or in Dutch "draaiboek" to prepare these regulations, was in its final stages. This "draaiboek" should have been in place prior to October 10, 2010.
"This is one of the critical issues that were not ready before us assuming our new status. And even if that was not the case, at least the decision should have been made to take over the existing regulations of the former Netherlands Antilles," said the President of Parliament.
Once this "draaiboek" is ready, she said, it will be a great step forward towards finalising the process that will be uniform for all entities involved in the process, which includes government and Parliament.
Moreover, she pointed out that the current Rules of Order of Parliament were still under review by the committee chaired by the faction of the National Alliance. In this process, it had taken more than four to five times to go over the Rules of Order line by line. The final advice from this committee and other committees is still pending to be sent to the Central Committee and then to the public meeting for a final approval.
Out of 67 laws, there are six critical laws that have to be approved before October 10, 2011. Therefore from August onwards, there will be a full schedule of meetings called to meet this deadline.
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