Injustice at the Ministry of

We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice, not in love with publicity but in love with humanity ~

Martin Luther King Jr.

Dear Editor,

On 30th December 2022, the Ministry of Justice published the press release: Governor requires total sum calculation prior to signing legal position regulation. This release has two critical statements, and I quote, “With the approved Ministry of Justice Function Book of December 2021, the draft Legal Position Regulation for the Police of Sint Maarten currently pending approval and signature from His Excellency Governor Ajamu Baly, and the start of the placement process of the personnel of the Ministry”.

“Once the draft Legal Position Regulation is approved by Governor Baly, and finally by Minister Richardson, the decrees for police personnel stating the new salary scale and step of each concerning civil servant will be drafted and formalized. This final step will then enable the Function Book of December 2021, to be ratified and established”.

Note: In the former Governor of Sint Maarten, drs. Eugene B. Holiday, address delivered on the occasion of the opening of the parliamentary year 2022-2023, mentioned that an important priority of the Government is the ongoing work to complete legislation regulating the legal position of the personnel in the justice chain, in general, and of the police, in particular. The function book can only be approved if the financial con- sequences are known. There are inconsistencies, for instance, when it comes to scaling. A civil servant cannot be paid higher in a department of the Justice Ministry and lower in another department for the same function in the rest of the Government. The same should also apply to the position of a section head. A section head within the Ministry of Justice should not earn more than a section head within the rest of the Government. It is inequity. Some functions in the function book need a function description and adjustment of specific job titles.

Justice Ministry needs to fix all these and other inconsistencies in addition to the financial consequences. Only then can the Minister of Justice resubmit the final revised draft to His Excellency Governor Mr. Ajamu G. Baly. LL.M. Only when he receives those corrected documents and signs them off will the Ministry of Justice have an approved function book and then be able to implement it. As a former bank worker, the Minister of Justice has deemed it fit to include Compliance positions within the function book. The Government apparatus already has specific laws, regulations, policies and procedures that ensure civil servants adhere to them. Has she created these positions to give more of her former bank colleagues and friends jobs? After all, with the emergence of digital banking platforms, jobs are slowly becoming obsolete in the banking sector. They have also created the Facilities Worker function in several departments within the Ministry of Justice. At the same time, there is al- ready a general Facilities Services department within the Ministry of General Affairs that handles all the building maintenance etc., for the Government.

Sint Maarten has gained country status within the Kingdom of The Netherlands for almost thirteen years. There is no approved Function Book for several departments within the Ministry of Justice nor an approved Legal Position Regulation for the Police of Sint Maarten (KPSM), the Immigration and Border Patrol (IBP), the Customs Department and the Coast Guard of Sint Maarten. Still, by order of the Minister of Justice, the placement committee has sent placement offer letters to some Justice workers of several departments. In these letters, the justice workers are informed, among other things, to notify the HR department of the Ministry of Justice if they need to correct the information in their placement offer letters. They should do this within 30 days. The letter further states that this correction notification should not be seen as an appeal according to the “Landsverordening Sociaal Statuut Opbouw Land Sint Maarten”. During this placement process, each justice worker can appeal the placement decision. How can the staff appeal to the placement decision when there is no approved Function Book of the Ministry of Justice nor an approved Legal Position Regulation for the Police of Sint Maarten (KPSM), the Immigration and Border Patrol (IBP), the Customs Department and the Coast Guard of Sint Maarten?

The placement committee has two members who are crucial in this placement process. They are Mr. Alvin Daal and Ms. Florence Marlin.

Mr. Alvin Daal, who has a contract with the Ministry of Justice as a consultant, is also the chairman of the placement committee and advisor on HR restructuring to the Minister of Justice.

The National Decree (LB) Minister Richardson granted to Mr. Daal gives him the legal basis to function as a consultant. When was this national decree issued, and what is the content? Does it give him the right to be a placement committee member and sign official personnel documents? Why didn’t the Minister of Justice sign those placement offer letters?

In her last parliamentary public meeting, Minister Richardson stated that the signatures on the placement offer letters looks digitalized to the Justice workers. She continued to try to explain that when she came into the organization, the immigration system was not digitalized. Every Friday, she would sit signing hundreds of permits by hand, which gets tiring, and she would then structure herself digitally that the signature is digitalized. This only confirms that the Minister has a digital signature. The Minister could have easily signed the placement offer letters herself. This would not be tiring, seeing that she has a digital signature.

It should be noted that all signatures on each placement offer letter are identical copies of the other, which means they are digital. This makes it very dangerous because the letters are susceptible to fraud.

Minister Richardson also stated on the floor of parliament that Mr. Daal would assist the Ministry, and only his per diem is covered when he comes to Sint Maarten. Is Mr. Daal then working for free? Currently, Mr. Daal is a civil servant from Curaçao with the Ministry of Health Environment and Nature and owner of the sole proprietorship AD Change Facilitators B.V. registered in Curaçao while working from his home for the Ministry of Justice. He never lived or resided on Sint Maarten. Mr. Daal exhibits superiority and always shows a lack of respect towards locals and belittles them. It was once rumoured that Mr. Daal said that the majority of Sint Maarten’s civil servants are unqualified for their present positions. The Minister of Justice later debunked this comment in a statement in the press. Mr. Alvin Daal has caused restructuring issues in Curaçao. Does he now have the same agenda for Sint Maarten?

In an article earlier this year, Minister Richardson introduced Ms. Florence Marlin as HR Senior Policy Advisor. The Minister placed Ms.