Romney says Democratic Political Process stand to be obstructed by informateurs
Now that the government for St. Maarten is formed and sworn in on Monday June 25th 2018, a St. Marten scholar of comparative government and politics and a political analyst, Mr. Julio Romney has been anything less than disapproving of the use of informateurs in the formation process. He issued a statement claiming that the democratic political process of the formation was impeded by the use of informateurs who were given specific instructions by the governor to explore the possibilities for the formation of the broadest combination of the elected political parties to form the new government.
The instructions on the surface might sound good says Romney since it seek to bring the best political parties together that have won seats in the election to form a stable government but he says the process is unconstitutional. The process should have been left up to the democratically elected parties and fair elections and not the intervention of unelected actors like informateurs according to Romney. The political scholar and analyst explained how this works in the Netherlands; He said granted, the idea and use of informateurs to support the formation of government after elections has been prevalent in the Kingdom, after elections it was meant to serve the Monarch on the advice and consultation with advisors, who then would appoint informateurs to explore options because there were many political parties who tend to win parliamentary seats and it becomes challenging and time consuming to form a majority government in the two chamber parliamentary system in Holland. Romney says that this process has since been amended, yet, St. Maarten ignored the crucial amendment taken by the Netherlands to ensure that democratic control over the process is not undermined.
Julio Romney was equally critical of what he called the gross misrepresentation and misuse of the term “Cabinet” with reference to the Council of Ministers by the media and political leadership. It is obvious says Romney that the misapplication of the word “Cabinet” is borrowed from the Netherlands. He is however blaming the media for failing to take into account that when the term “Cabinet” is used in the Netherlands it’s in reference to Ministers and State Secretaries, whose primary task is to assist the Council of Ministers with research and development of public policy. Thereafter it’s the Council of Ministers that solely approves, implement and executes public policies and laws. On the other hand the executive body of government on St. Maarten does not consist of any such cabinet as the Netherlands, nor does it have State Secretaries; it consists only of Ministers. Thus any further reference to the present executive body of Government of St. marten should be the Council of Ministers and not as The Leona Romeo Marlin Cabinet. It is a gross misrepresentation of government facts says Romney.
The Prime Minister is an equal member of the council of Ministers with no extra privileges other than the leader and chairperson of the Council. Factual knowledge is essential when we take seriously the responsibility we have to properly educate the community as oppose to disseminating information to both readers and listeners with “alternative facts” says Romney.
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