PHILIPSBURG--"They should be disbanded," said Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Leroy de Weever about the Corporate Governance Council. "One day when I had enough of it, I will propose to disband it."
De Weever "corrected" statements by National Alliance (NA) MP William Marlin that he wanted the council to be starved into "evaporation."
Speaking during Monday afternoon's continuation of a general session about the council's functioning, De Weever said he was very much in favour of the council being disbanded, because he did not need any "good corporate government or bad corporate governance council" to tell the prime minister or government "to pull up their socks."
He told his fellow MPs: "If you don't know, you are the keepers and the supervisory board of government. I don't need a corporate governance council to come tell me how to do my job."
That sentiment was shared by United People's (UP) party MP Johan Leonard. "I want no Corporate Governance [Council]. I don't need no one to tell me to do my work."
De Weever said people who wanted to include themselves in decision-making should "get on a political list." He accused the former NA government for "saddling" government with committees peopled with its political appointees who were using their posts to frustrate government. He recommended that people of the high councils of state should be changed as government changed so that the political will was serviced.
Targeting the Corporate Governance Council, De Weever said nowhere else in the kingdom had such a grouping and MPs should stop "trying to justify something that is not justifiable," because "none of us believe in it." He added that NA only supported it now because it was in opposition and wanted to frustrate government.
The council has created "all sorts of excuses" not to collect the money that was allotted to it and instead has been "creating obstacles for government," he charged. He added that much fuss had been made about the money for the council and put down the financing of the council to "squandering taxpayers' money."
He likened the situation of stalling government to the General Audit Chamber's first undertaking being to investigate civil servants to see if correct salaries were being paid. "Don't we have more important things to do?"
Questions from NA MPs to Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto revolved around why the Corporate Governance Council had not received its funding and why its budget had not been approved. The meeting on the topic had been requested by NA to get answers to why, in its members' opinion, the council's work was being stalled.
MP William Marlin had queried why there appeared to be "a delay tactic" from government and the government-owned companies that need to finance the work of the council. He drew this conclusion from the fact that the companies were asking what services the council would be rendering to them.
Picking up on that issue, De Weever said the companies had the right to know under what chapter they needed to book the financing of the council.
Shigemoto said the reason the budget had not yet been approved was that government had sought clarity on some budget items, but was yet to hear back from the council. The council has met some five times in the past year and has been claiming some NAf. 229,000. However, there has been no explanation about what the money covers.
As for the payment of the cell phone bill for Council Chairman Louis Duzanson, Shigemoto said there should be no discussion about that because it was a government phone assigned to Duzanson when he was a department head. The phone was never turned in after he retired more than a year ago. MPs William Marlin and Louie Laveist (NA) said it was "distasteful" of the minister to raise this matter as he did.
Laveist questioned why the request of the council to become a high council of state had not been taken up by government. Wescot-Williams said the request had been received and the response had been given. That response outlined that the designation of a high council was in the constitution and to add another council to the list would require an amendment to the constitution.
MP George Pantophlet (NA) asked what Shigemoto thought should be the actual budget of the council. To this, the minister said government could only make suggestions and at present the budget as presented had not been approved because certain queries had not been answered.
Tony Cottee Peter Beardsley Fulham Soap opera Nuclear weapons US healthcare
No comments:
Post a Comment