Editor's Note: The following is the text of an "open letter" to President Frantz Gumbs of French St. Martin written by David Richardson President of the Commission in charge of youth affairs on the French side.
This letter serves to announce that I am resigning from the Presidency of the Commission in charge of youth affairs, culture, and sport. I am sure that this will not come as a surprise to you, seeing that, from December 2008, on several occasions, I have drawn your attention to the fact that I grew more and more uncomfortable with the little consideration you had for the Commission and its role, the little regard you have for democracy and the manner in which decisions were taken.
In fact, the Commission is not to you what it should have been, a place where thoughts and ideas are being formulated and fashioned and actions to be taken are being determined especially with regards to the youth.
I am an elected official, member of the Island Territory Council, like you.
I'd like to remind you that we have been elected by the people to serve the people and not to use the people to our advantage and satisfy our personal ambitions. Your actions are leading our young community to a downfall and one would have to be blind not to see it and that's in every field.
Allow me to remind you of some cases.
What have we done in favour of the youth? We have talked and talked some more, but you have never considered it worthwhile to consult with the youth in the districts like I had recommended that it should have been done.
You even refuse to admit that the youth are left up to themselves and so they are blamed for all the wrongs that are occurring in the community.
In the RSMA (Adapted military service) file, I proposed a joint action with the CLSPD, prevention group against delinquency. What have you done since? Nothing at all! This means to me that you don't believe in second chances for the young people who are in difficulty that live here, wherever they came from. Do you know, Mr. President, that this kind of approach has been proven to be successful in different countries and even in some metropolitan towns?
When I requested help to reward the young people involved in sports, your answer was also negative... and your excuse was that there's no money. Yet for other things, like different contracts, money is always there. What about the contracts given to a private business to take care of the sport infrastructures? Up to today, our Commission has never seen any « cahier des charges», we don't have a clue on what is really going on.
After two years of work with the DDJSS about inclusion, through sports, of so many young people, it seems that we have worked for peanuts. What about the 20 per cent fund promised by the Collectivité? What has become of the documents necessary for the homologation? Did we work for nothing?
The results are here: from 2007 till today, the funds allowed to youth programs have gone down from 1.2 million euros to 350,000. Is this is your policy for thousands of youngsters? It's a shame!
In other fields, Mr. President, I also have questions.
Whereas our Commission, in agreement with the concerned departments, had decided not to grant a new authorization for a private individual to occupy the public domain in the area of Grande Case, you, in your own right decided to overrule our collective decision. The request that we had previously turned down, you approved and had us look like a bunch of fools. And then you have the nerve to send the requests emanating from locals, which you clearly discriminated against.
In the matter regarding public water and the board in which I sit, a recent audit shows that the price of the water in Saint-Martin is 2.6 times more expensive than in Guadeloupe or than on Dutch St. Maarten. Our people are held hostage by these prices, so when are you going to confront this situation?
You are mute on this important matter in which lots of money is being wasted and lost and the same goes for many other matters. But to whose benefit?
Definitely not for the benefit of the people of Saint-Martin that you say you love so much!!
In the bid regarding the airport of Grande Case, as a member of the board, I deeply regret that we are not, in fact, part of the decisions. Even if you have the power to act, don't you think it would be wiser to let the Island Council give its opinion on such important matters which will engage us for years?
We are elected officials. We have commissions that cannot give us information to make a right decision for our population. The majority group meetings never prepare the Territorial Council as it ought to be, so I will no longer attend these majority meetings.
As an elected person I don't even have the agenda of the Executive Council, so I don't even know when it concerns the Commission over which I preside! And like most of my colleagues we learn things from third parties or by the media.
I have been elected by the people of Saint-Martin to work on their behalf and not on our personnel agendas. There is not a day that passes without having many of them express themselves about how they feel and about the functioning of our Collectivité. And your way of being president of the Collectivité is more than I can continue to bear and be silent about because it is, in no way respectful to the initial commitment of our programme announced during the election campaign.
It is to them that I owe my trust and respect.
It's on the basis of that engagement that I remain Island Councillor to serve my fellow compatriots and them alone.
David Richardson
President of the Commission in charge of youth affairs, St. Martin
