MP Ardwell Irion calls out Parliament’s “mediocrity” as backlog of meetings stretches

GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Ardwell Irion has sharply criticized the functioning of the Parliament of St. Maarten, describing it as operating at a “mediocre level” with meetings being called months late, if at all. His remarks came during last week’s sitting of Parliament, where Chairlady Sarah Wescot-Williams also presented MPs with a list of outstanding meetings yet to be held.

MP Irion underscored that while motions and letters are critical tools for holding government accountable, they become meaningless when ministers fail to show up or respond. “If you are bringing motions, if you call in meetings, if you send letters, you don’t get responses, the ministers don’t show up. That’s when motions become necessarry, because we don’t get to execute all other rights,” he said.

He went further, questioning why ministers are allowed to simply not respond to Parliament. “We have letters that have gone out over three months already. We don’t get any responses regarding ministers’ availability, we don’t get any responses in terms of hey, the replacement minister will come. You get zero communications regarding these things,” Irion stated. He cautioned that while efforts may be made to “expedite the current backlog,” new backlogs are already forming, and he pressed for structural measures: “What are we going to do to prevent this from happening in the future?”

In response, Chairlady of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams confirmed that the backlog is significant, with some pending meetings dating back as far as 2023, before the tenure of the current Parliament. “For example, we have several draft laws regarding financing, so we have one pertaining to changes to several tax ordinances. This is a draft received from the government of St. Maarten, the Minister of Finance in particular. We have a draft pertaining to changes to the general tax law as well. In fact, both of these go back to October and November of 2023,” she explained.

Wescot-Williams noted that 2024 was not a “regular year” for Parliament due to two elections and changes in government, but acknowledged that several Central Committee meetings, draft ordinances, and requests from MPs and even members of the public are still pending. “From the list that will be provided to the Members of Parliament, you will be able to take note of the requests that have been made to ministers over the period of time in terms of attending meetings,” she said, stressing that the presence of ministers is often crucial before a meeting can proceed.

She added that an overview of unanswered questions submitted by MPs to ministers will also be provided soon. “That is one of the fundamental rights of Parliament, to, outside of meetings, ask ministers questions on topics. The scheduling of meetings to which I referred earlier will definitely continue in an accelerated form, trying to get as many of them out of the way as possible. However, we are going to try to do it chronologically as much as possible unless a matter is time sensitive. Then of course that one will be elevated or pushed forward to be scheduled,” the Chairlady explained.

Irion’s own National Alliance faction has been waiting since March 2025 for meetings on key issues such as the Philipsburg Marketplace, tax reform, the operational condition of the tax office, and the state of housing. He stressed that the inability of Parliament to keep pace with such critical matters is proof of the mediocrity he described.

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