Mullet Bay Inquiry Commission members installed by Parliament
- Published in Soualiga Newsday Top Stories
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From left: The members of the Mullet Bay Inquiry Commission Chairman MP Rolando Brison, Substitute Member MP Solange Duncan, MP Anna Richardson, Vice-Chairman MP Christopher Emmanuel, MP Tamara Leonard and MP Sidharth Bijlani.
SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) - The members of the Mullet Bay Inquiry Commission were appointed on Wednesday by Parliament with MP Rolando Brison being appointed Chairman and MP Christopher Emmanuel as Vice-Chairman. The commission is a bi-partisan body that also includes MP's Tamara Leonard, Sidharth Bijlani, Anna Richardson and Solange Duncan as a substitute member in case another MP cannot make a meeting.
MP Brison is the initiator of the Parliamentary inquiry into Mullet Bay which received unanimous support from Parliament last month. It was a historic moment for the Parliament of St. Maarten being the first time an MP submitted a proposal to initiate a Parliamentary inquiry and the actual approval by Parliament to execute such.
Brison has maintained that a Parliamentary Inquiry is the strongest tool the legislative body has at its disposal to address the many current issues related to Mullet Bay.
The inquiry will be executed in four phases: The preliminary information gathering Phase, Verification and Hearing Phase – the phase where the commission will be able to verify information, hear witnesses and seek advice from external entities for possible solutions, the Reporting Phase – The information is placed by the commission into a report and Conclusions and Actions - the conclusions from the report are delivered and debated by parliament, actions agreed, and the commission continues to follow up to ensure action is taken after the report is debated by Parliament.
On Wednesday Brison re-iterated that the inquiry is more than just a question and answer session. It is a platform from which the commission can actually propose solutions to whatever information comes out of the inquiry. The commission, he added, has real power and will be summoning several persons and entities to obtain the information it requires for effective functioning, reporting and solution finding.
All of the members of the commission expressed that they were honored to be part of the commission in an effort to finally get some real answers about Mullet Bay, a property than spans generational involvement. Vice Chairman MP Christopher Emmanuel also re-iterated that he does not need a reason to support the inquiry into Mullet Bay after almost 25 years and does not need to ask additional questions. "We deserve answers," he said.