"Dear fellow citizens,
I speak to you today solemnly because no one will do it for me. Others are responsible for expressing themselves in the press on subjects that concern us.
In the continuation of the procedure which started on October 10 last with a police custody that nothing justified, if it is not the will to humiliate by seizing the press, I am summoned before the criminal court of Saint-Martin, with my two vice-presidents Valérie Damaseau and Annick Pétrus, for alleged acts of "favoritism".
After advice from my lawyer, I would like to share my feelings with you. I want to be clear with you because words are important, misinformation is dangerous: none of us three, elected officials of Saint-Martin, is accused of personal enrichment, as some people like to spread it.
The terms used must be precise and the presumption of innocence must prevail as for ALL the citizens of this country.
I also note that the declarations in the press clearly emanating from circles very close to the investigation, and which should be held to the duty of reserve, already condemn us!
Where is the neutrality of our Justice?
The quest for the sensational, the attack on our honor ... does not honor anyone. And I trust the trial judge to assess, in all objectivity, the facts of which we are accused, in the very particular circumstances that we have unfortunately suffered.
It is necessary to restore the context:
I was elected on April 2, 2017 and bears the brunt of mismanagement from 10 years of previous terms.
4 months later, September 6, 2017… IRMA!
And from that date, the only goal of my team is to protect populations that have been largely tried and abandoned.
Our territory then passed into a period of imperative emergency. This means that our community is then authorized to place urgent orders with companies able to operate, over the counter.
I remind you that having a market to distribute food donations in particular after Irma would have taken 6 months, which is unthinkable in times of crisis!
Was it necessary to wait 6 months to distribute these donations?
Should we wait 6 months to clear the roads?
Was it necessary to wait 6 months to supply gasoline to the emergency services? ...
So I ask:
What should have been done in the degraded context that we know?
And dear friends, imagine that barely 3 months ago, that is to say on August 19, 2019, I learned from the Prefecture of Guadeloupe that on October 9, 2017, one month after Irma, Saint- Martin and the Saint-Martin were already out of the urgency!
On that date, you experienced it, we were in chaos, and the President of the Republic himself indicated that we had to “shake up the procedures”!
Do you find it normal that this end date be stopped 2 years after Irma.
You have understood: the date of the end of the pressing emergency is a crucial point in this case.
I leave this point of comparison for your critical reflection:
The fire at Notre Dame de Paris cathedral was deemed so catastrophic that 6 months of pressing emergency were fixed by the prefecture ...
For Saint Martin, after Irma, the biggest natural disaster in our country: 1 month!
Those who condemn us too quickly today were clearly not in Saint Martin on September 6, 2017…
They did not experience the immense desolation left by IRMA, nor the cases of absolute emergency and the pressures from all sides to resolve human situations.
Those who have experienced these chaotic situations have not forgotten them…
We know what we went through together.
So yes, we took decisions in an emergency where legalism was not the primary concern of the affected and traumatized inhabitants.
Let us keep in mind the state of vulnerability, even danger, in which certain people found themselves who had to be helped.
60% of uninsured people, I remind you.
I ask the question: who was going to put the sheets on the roofs of the most vulnerable?
How can some people forget our determination, since 2017 to initiate a necessary reform of our administration?
Remember!
We paid the full price again at the start of the year with a 4-month strike!
Politics requires courage and sometimes unpopular decisions.
I have always said that we would apply the recommendations of the Territorial Chamber of Accounts in its 2007-2016 report and we do.
Today, they want me to pay for the failings of the authorities of the time ... including those of the State!
Yet our mandate is the first to tackle the root of the problem and it is also the one that is being brought to justice. I take note!
Dear fellow citizens,
These are some of the elements that I wanted to share with you to clarify the approximate statements and misleading comments on our account and that of the Collectivity of Saint-Martin.
We sometimes have the feeling that as Saint-Martinois, we are alone against everyone, that nothing is spared us, but what does not kill us makes us stronger.
Thank you for your solidarity and for being here with us ”.
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Unfortunately Mr Gibbs, Mrs Damaseau and Mrs Pétrus you have enriched yourselves on the people of Saint Martin that you defend according to your statements….
This is not new, it has been 40 years since all the Mayors or Presidents of this Collectivity have been doing it… ..
They will stop when one of them has been in prison.
I would like to remind you that since you were elected Mr Gibbs that your land has exceeded that of the Flemings!
Ms. Damaseau when she is a specialist in private travel on the backs of taxpayers, When to Ms. Petrus, the repeated scandals of the Sensamar should By a Prosecutor have been the subject of a warrant of deposit for a long time.
I dare to hope that there will be thorough investigations in the direction of the Arnell family who also think that taxpayers' money goes to Saint Martinois… ..
You largely deserve the Criminal Court and if the Head Judge does his job, everyone must go to prison. A little delinquent who flies to eat immediately dives to Basse Terre!
You all put on cyclone IRMA, believe me I was present and I suffered it. I saw people from the Collectivity stealing from shops and even employees of the Municipal Police in Home N'Tol stealing, without even hiding ……. Do not urge the People of Saint Martin to revolt under the pretext that you are going to court for legitimate acts!
You speak of the Saints Martinois, but you do not think of the other Communities which suffered much more during the cyclone, because leave to total abandonment!
Please assume your Mistakes, Defects and Profits Mr Gibbs!