Saba News News and Information from Saba Island, Dutch Caribbean
A delegation of thirteen members of the Standing Committee on Kingdom Relations of the Senate (KOREL) is leaving today for a working visit to the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom. In just 10 days, all six islands will be visited.
The delegation wants to be informed by its Caribbean partners about the matters that are important for the islands. For the senators, the discussions serve as a deepening of the legislative files that the Senate deals with or will deal with and also aim to strengthen relations within the Kingdom.
The working visit also offers the spokespersons of medium-sized and smaller political groups in the Senate the opportunity to get acquainted with the Caribbean part of the Kingdom in person, since they are usually not part of the delegation of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to the six-monthly Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IPKO).
The Members of the Senate will speak on the islands with, among others, the governors and governors, governments of the countries and administrators, representatives of the people, employers’ and employees’ organizations, school boards, representatives of the health care system, entrepreneurs, persons and organizations from the law enforcement chain, consumer organizations, young people and others.
The delegation consists of the Members of the Senate Paul Rosenmoller (GroenLinks, delegation leader), Toine Beukering (Fraction-Nanninga, vice-delegation leader), Annemarie Jorritsma-Lebbink (VVD), Ria Oomen¬Ruijten (CDA), Boris Dittrich (D66), Jeroen Recourt (PvdA), Arda Gerkens (SP), Peter Ester (ChristenUnie), Peter Nicole (PvdD), Martine Baay-Timmerman (SOPLUS), Peter Schalk (SGP), Jeroen de Vries (Fractie-Otten) and Ton Raven (OSF). The delegation is officially supervised by Fred Bergman, committee clerk, and Maarten van Rooij, staff member.
The delegation will visit: Sint Maarten (25-26 February), Saba (27-28 February), St Eustatius (28 February-1 March), Bonaire (2-3 March), Curacao (3-4 March) and Aruba (4-5 March).
There are ALWAYS delegations from the Dutch government coming to visit the Caribbean islands during their cold months. We are continually getting surveys to fill out. We are being looked at and studied a bit like new species of animals. Then more consultants and interns and government officials come to look at us and ask the same questions. Some say they need to understand from the top down, some from need to understand from the bottom up. There are very nice articles written about their comings and goings. It is unclear if they care about our answers. It is often unclear if they are listening. We never get real answers to our questions. The process is sad and exhausting.