PHILIPSBURG--The handling of the appointment of a permanent Parliament Clerk, originally planned for yesterday, was put off until the legislature meets again on Thursday to give Members of Parliament (MPs) more time to review the two top candidates for the post, President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell said.
After opening the parliament session on Friday, she deferred the appointment as well as the handling of several incoming documents, mainly letter from MPs to ministers, until Thursday when another plenary session is already scheduled.
MP Lloyd Richardson of National Alliance (NA) questioned the deferral and asked if it had to do with the second candidate not responding to enquires from parliament about the post. Arrindell said it had to do with several members requesting more time to review the matter.
The contract of interim Parliamentary Clerk Frank Hanze comes to an end on May 8.
According to information received by this newspaper, this second postponement of the appointment has to do with some disagreement within Arrindell's own party - United People's (UP) party - about the top candidate.
The candidates' names have not been publicly stated to date. The main candidate, according to sources, is from Aruba while the other is from St. Maarten and had been originally trained for a similar position.
That upcoming meeting was requested by the National Alliance (NA) to discuss matters related to the 2011 budget. When the meeting was requested on April 11, government was still struggling to get the budget approved by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT.
A new draft budget has been prepared and has received CFT's approval on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Richardson expressed condolences to Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams on the death of her brother Thomas "Tommy" Williams this week. He said he and Williams were very close.
MPs also expressed wishes for speedy recovery to NA leader/MP William Marlin who was hospitalised on Thursday morning with low blood pressure.
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