Everybody who was in the SOL meeting need to open their mouth

Dear Editor,

Every Minister and Member of Parliament who attended that campfire session with SOL now owes the public a simple explanation: Do you know more today than you knew before walking into that meeting? If yes, what did you learn? If not, what was the point?

And whatever you learned had better concern the questions people have been asking about fuel pricing, GEBE's charges, the calculation and application of its fuel clause, and precisely how SOL fits into that arrangement. Anything else is a waste of time.

In fact, it is obvious that they believe the people of St. Maarten are incapable of thinking for themselves, asking questions or recognizing a political performance when one is unfolding right before their eyes. Unfortunately, some people are only too happy to gift-wrap the whole spectacle, put a pretty bow on it and call it "teamwork." Funny. Very funny.

Consider what has already happened.

The Government spent public money bringing in experts from Curaçao to examine GEBE. That report was completed and confirmed, in several instances, concerns that many of us already suspected were justified. The Government then moved by decree to designate BTP SXM as the regulatory oversight body responsible for examining matters involving GEBE, including pricing and fuel clause fluctuations.

At the same time, the Government indicated that SOL was also being subjected to a form of inquiry, investigation, review, or whatever terminology they prefer to use this week. GEBE has already submitted documentation to Government, while SOL has reportedly been given until next week to provide its information.

So there is already a process underway. There are questions to be answered, documentation to be submitted, deadlines to be met and a regulatory body tasked with providing oversight.

For what, exactly?

After nearly two years of the Prime Minister weaving from one explanation to another about GEBE without providing the clarity people deserve, why organize this meeting now? What could SOL possibly reveal around that table that it is not already expected to disclose through the ongoing inquiry?

SOL is not some rinky-dink company. It knows its business, understands its interests and knows how to protect them. The proper way to deal with a company of that size is through documented questions, written responses, regulatory scrutiny and a paper trail that can be examined and challenged. Not a political comfort session where everybody walks away feeling important simply because they were invited into the room.

And judging by the speed with which the Prime Minister and MP Omar Ottley issued separate public statements afterward, that is precisely the impression this meeting left.

Both seemed eager to claim credit. Both had plenty to say about how productive the encounter supposedly was. Yet neither offered the concrete answers that matter to the people paying GEBE bills.

Do they seriously believe we are still at the stage where words like "fruitful," "engaging" and "willingness to cooperate" are supposed to impress us?

Did SOL explain anything new about fuel pricing? Did anyone obtain answers about the fuel clause, its fluctuations or how those costs reach consumers? Did anybody challenge SOL on the issues already under review? What commitments, if any, were secured beyond the existing inquiry?

If you received information, tell us what it was. And please, spare us the announcement that SOL showed a willingness to cooperate. That is already the expectation under the formal process. It is not some extraordinary achievement for which politicians deserve applause.

So was this meeting about obtaining answers, or creating a political moment, a headline and another opportunity to collect likes on social media?

And since accountability must have names attached to it, let us identify those who attended: Veronica Jansen-Webster (URSM), Ludi de Weever (PFP), Omar Ottley (UPP), Egbert Doran (NA) and Minister Marinka Gumbs.

Every single one of you, along with the Prime Minister, now has a responsibility to explain what you learned. You cannot sit with SOL, celebrate its supposed openness, and then return to Parliament making grand speeches about unanswered questions as though you were never in that room.

You had direct access. You had the opportunity to ask questions. Now you are all on the hook.

There is another political story unfolding here, involving the timing of this gathering and the effort to claim credit for it. That discussion is for another letter, and perhaps the politics behind it will eventually reveal itself.

For now, what we witnessed looks like a public relations exercise. And to some extent, it worked.

Predictably, some on social media swallowed it whole. They saw politicians sitting together and immediately started celebrating "Team SXM." Never mind that the public still has no new answers. Apparently, politicians sharing a table is now enough to qualify as progress.

This is the warm and fuzzy nonsense politicians love. A few compliments, likes and shares, some applause for cooperation, and mission accomplished. Meanwhile, the electricity bills remain, the questions remain, and the public is expected to be grateful that its representatives managed to attend a meeting.

Teamwork is not a photograph. Cooperation is not a glowing public statement. And accountability is not measured by how pleased politicians look when they leave a meeting.

SOL knows how to protect SOL. The question is whether the politicians who attended remembered that their responsibility was to protect the public interest.

Because from where I sit, this looked less like elected officials holding a powerful company accountable and more like a powerful company knowing exactly how to stroke a few political egos.

And judging by the reaction afterward, those feathers were stroked just right.

Until somebody produces concrete answers, spare us the campfire stories. We have had enough smoke.

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