~ Meeting adjourned until further notice ~
PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) William Marlin has accused President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell of "wrongdoing," "abuse of power" and "political manipulation" because of the way the agenda was set up for Thursday afternoon's Parliament meeting requested by the party he leads.
The meeting has been adjourned until further notice although the changes to the agenda were made. The reason was instead of having Justice Minister Roland Duncan, who was present, make his presentation to Parliament the agenda now called for Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto to speak first.
Deputy President of Parliament Leroy de Weever, who chaired the meeting, said he could not commit Shigemoto to a time to appear in Parliament, so logistically the only time to do was to adjourn the meeting. Arrindell was not present as she was preparing to represent Parliament at Aruba's Flag and Anthem Day.
MPs will be notified of a new date and time for the session. However, it is possible that this will come after the plenary session of Parliament to approve the 2012 draft budget set for Monday, an occurrence NA members wanted to avoid.
De Weever pointed out that once a convocation had been sent out to members for a meeting, the order of the agenda points could only be changed when the meeting was called. He stated his willingness to make the change as long as it was agreed to by the MPs.
De Weever had opened the session saying that he understood there were issues with the way the agenda was set out and asked MPs whether they were in favour of the change. He had adjourned briefly for MPs to caucus on the matter.
Based on the Rules of Order, it is up to the President of Parliament to compile the agenda for meetings requested by MPs.
NA had requested a public meeting with Finance Minister Shigemoto pertaining to the draft 2012 budget in a letter dated March 7. This was followed up by another letter a day later asking for an "additional" agenda point calling for the ministers to individuality outline how their policies and procedures fit with the budget.
The meeting notice for Thursday was subsequently sent out by Arrindell listing NA's "additional" agenda point before the one stated in the March 7 letter. This was objected to by NA in a letter of March 12 after the convocation was received and Arrindell's failure to answer their query led to Marlin's accusations on the floor of Parliament.
In protest, William Marlin said he was sorry Arrindell was not present to deal with her "wrongdoing" and that NA was "tired of being pushed around." It was normal to have new agenda points added to already set meetings. "What is happening here today is a clear abuse of power by the chair [Arrindell] probably supported by others."
Arrindell "abuses" her authority to carry out political manipulation. "It was clear it was not an error, but a deliberate act of the chair." He contended that throughout the handling of the draft budget "games are being played" and this "nonsense had to stop."
MP Roy Marlin (Democratic Party) said he could not allow Arrindell to be "bombarded" because the NA was not clear in its request for the meeting because nothing in the two original letters indicated that the fraction wanted to hear from Shigemoto first.
MP Louie Laveist (NA) argued that the March 8, letter clearly stated that his party wanted the detailed presentations from the ministers to be an "additional agenda point."
MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson, who seconded the motion to change the order of the agenda, said the request also clearly asked for an additional agenda point. "I am not going to accuse the chair of wrongdoings," he continued adding that requests were made correctly with one asking for Shigemoto to come to Parliament and the second for ministers to make presentation.
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