MPs Ottley and Lacroes push for clearer framework after Soul Beach controversy

GREAT BAY--Members of Parliament Omar Ottley and Francisco Lacroes on Wednesday added their voices to Parliament’s ongoing scrutiny of the Soul Beach Music Festival, focusing on the handling of public funds, the procedures followed by government, and the need to learn from the controversy surrounding the event.

Speaking during the parliamentary debate on Soul Beach and the Social Economic Council’s review of the 2025 festival, both MPs made clear that their concerns were not rooted in opposition to events that stimulate the economy, but in the way government managed the process.

MP Omar Ottley said plainly that his issue was never Soul Beach itself. Instead, he said his concern was the use of public funds and whether the proper procedures were followed.

He noted that if he were Minister of TEATT, he too would be willing to invest public funds in major initiatives capable of generating economic activity and visibility for the country. At the same time, he stressed that government cannot bypass fundamental processes when public money is involved.

Ottley said Parliament had been raising concerns for more than a year about whether the proper procedures were followed and questioned why it appeared to take an independent report and a year of public debate before government acknowledged that steps had been missed.

He said the discussion should not be reduced to whether someone supports or opposes Soul Beach, but should remain focused on accountability and the handling of the people’s money.

“The issue for me, my faction, has never been Soul Beach,” Ottley said. “The issue for me is the misappropriation of funds of the people.”

He also argued that Parliament’s questioning of the matter should not be interpreted as an attack on the Social Economic Council itself. Rather, he said MPs were reading directly from the report and raising concerns based on what the report itself stated.

At the same time, Ottley warned against rushing into major spending decisions without proper preparation, particularly when government is dealing with limited fiscal space and unresolved budget issues. He said the country must learn from the Soul Beach experience and make sure future events are handled with stronger planning, fuller stakeholder involvement, and closer adherence to established procedures.

Ottley also suggested that while some good may have come out of the controversy, including a broader discussion about how government supports large events, the larger lesson is that public spending must always be supported by sound process. He said St. Maarten should use the experience to improve how future festivals and economic initiatives are structured.

He further stressed that Members of Parliament have a duty to apply scrutiny where necessary, regardless of personal relationships or political comfort, and said if that scrutiny leads to hard questions, then that is part of the job Parliament was elected to do.

MP Francisco Lacroes took a shorter but pointed approach, centering his intervention on what he viewed as the essential issue before Parliament: learning from the missteps acknowledged in the Soul Beach process and improving government’s policy framework moving forward.

Lacroes said he appreciated that the minister admitted some steps in the financial and budgetary process had been missed, describing it as important when public officials acknowledge shortcomings instead of avoiding them.

He argued that no one is perfect and that mistakes can happen, but said the real test is whether government uses those moments to improve. In his view, the discussion should now shift toward ensuring that the same issues do not arise again.

Lacroes pointed to the minister’s own slide on policy improvements and strengthening the framework, saying that is where Parliament’s focus should be, namely how to create clearer guidelines that better fit St. Maarten’s economic realities and support future events without repeating the same controversy.

He also defended the idea of government being proactive when opportunities arise, saying the minister saw an opportunity to stimulate the economy and acted on it. For Lacroes, the more useful discussion is not whether economic initiatives should happen, but how policy can be improved so they can be carried out more effectively and with less backlash in the future.

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