NA requests ?urgent? meeting on postal services situation

~ Requests Prime Minister's presence ~

PHILIPSBURG--The National Alliance (NA) has requested an urgent meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on the developments in the postal services in St. Maarten.

The party also has requested the presence of Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams to answer questions on the topic.

Urgent meetings have to be called within four days. The meeting was requested on Tuesday, October 4, two days before postal workers went on strike demanding information on developments pertaining to the postal services, which are at risk of being jeopardised should Nieuwe Post Nederlandse Antillen (NPNA) stop providing postal services here.

In explaining the urgency of the meeting, NA leader Member of Parliament (MP) William Marlin said the party had become aware that postal services were no longer being provided to the public of St. Maarten, which he said was against international treaties and regulations.

"This is ridiculous," Marlin said about the current situation.

"We hope that the chair will see the urgency as well and comply with the request, because to have the uncertainty of workers who have put in many years and suddenly now find themselves basically without a job is not right. There are allegations that all the assets are being transferred out of the company, which is also not right," Marlin said.

Marlin said the public needed assurance that postal services would be guaranteed. He said Wescot-Williams had been the one who had said since 2008 that she had brought St. Maarten Country status and that "we were ready for it, give it to us." He said, however, that "after years of saying this and now that she is in the pilot seat, she cannot make a safe landing in Country St. Maarten."

He said he hoped the meeting would be convened as soon as possible so that Wescot-Williams could shed some light on the "accusations being made back and forth."

"We need facts and the people and postal workers need clarity. The people of St. Maarten expect government to provide them with basic services that they have been used to all these years. Instead of getting better, it is getting worse where the postal services are under threat to disappear."

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/21368-na-requests-urgent-meeting-on-postal-services-situation.html

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