York calls VROMI Minister’s road excuse ignorant, Irion says response was petty

GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Darryl York sharply criticized Minister of VROMI Patrice Gumbs in Parliament on Friday, calling the minister’s explanation for the lack of emergency intervention on Sucker Garden Road “plain-out ignorance,” while MP Ardwell Irion dismissed Gumbs’ overall response as “petty” during a tense discussion sparked by the recent accident involving police officers on the badly damaged roadway.

The strong reactions came after Minister Gumbs sought to explain why urgent road repairs had not been carried out, arguing that longstanding unpaid government bills and limited road funding have severely weakened the ministry’s ability to act quickly on infrastructure problems.

According to Gumbs, the Ministry of VROMI currently has only NAf. 600,000 budgeted for roads, but that money is being absorbed by old outstanding debts to contractors and vendors rather than being used directly for repairs. He said that upon taking office in June 2024, he discovered a single unpaid balance of approximately NAf. 580,000 owed to one vendor since 2020, and suggested that similar debts to several main vendors had damaged government’s credibility to the point where contractors are reluctant to carry out emergency work unless payments are first settled.

Gumbs told Parliament that this credibility problem is not unique to VROMI, but has affected government more broadly, saying other ministries have also spent the last two years trying to rebuild trust with vendors. In that context, he said, the road budget is effectively being used to clear old bills, limiting the ministry’s ability to respond with urgency to infrastructure needs.

The minister further pointed to a major intervention in Ebenezer, which he said cost taxpayers 530,000 euros, or approximately Cg. 1.1 million, and described that project as the result of more than 20 years of inaction. He argued that when infrastructure problems are allowed to worsen over time, the eventual cost of addressing them becomes significantly larger. Gumbs said that out of the limited funds available for roads, erosion, and stormwater management, a large portion had already been consumed by major longstanding problems that previous administrations had failed to address.

He maintained that infrastructure interventions will continue to move slowly unless government improves its financial management and begins making proper long-term investments in public works. He also suggested that some criticisms coming from Parliament amounted to little more than “sound bites for popularity,” as opposed to recognition of the financial realities facing the ministry.

York rejected that explanation forcefully.

MP York said what he heard from the minister was mostly a series of complaints about the condition of infrastructure before he took office, with little detail about what he had done since assuming responsibility for the ministry. York said that blaming old debts and inherited problems for the failure to fix the dangerous stretch of Sucker Garden Road, which he said may have contributed to a serious accident, was not a valid excuse.

“At the end of the day, he’s in the seat now,” York said, arguing that every ministry has had outstanding bills for years and that government debt is neither new nor unique to VROMI. He said using that reality to justify why a known road hazard was not addressed amounts to “plain-out ignorance” and reflects a wider culture of hiding behind excuses instead of focusing on solutions.

York also challenged the minister’s apparent suggestion that Parliament members may not understand the cost of road repairs. He said he was uniquely qualified to respond because he had personally worked on road repairs through a private company in the past (Note: the MP is an engineer by profession). Based on that experience, York argued that some type of emergency intervention could always have been carried out at Sucker Garden Road, especially given the small size of the most badly affected area.

He stressed that the issue was not an entire roadway stretching for dozens of meters, but rather a much smaller section that, in his words, was no more than “three by three,” and not even 10 square meters at its worst point. For that reason, he said, the minister’s claim that nothing could be done due to lack of money was unacceptable, particularly after a serious accident had already occurred.

York also rejected the broader suggestion that there had been no meaningful infrastructure spending before Gumbs entered office. He pointed to major projects carried out in recent years, including Bush Road, Union Road, and Point Blanche Road, and said the minister had in fact walked into office with several infrastructure works already advanced or completed. He also accused Gumbs of making choices about spending priorities.

York also contrasted the government’s inability to find money for an emergency road intervention with its willingness to fund other priorities. He argued that while officials have repeatedly pointed to limited resources when asked about dangerous road conditions, basic school supplies, and support for athletes representing St. Maarten abroad, the government was still able to find money for Soul Beach and other favored initiatives.

The MP said he is "sick and tired" of hearing ministers continue to blame former governments whenever they have no answers for present-day failures. According to York, the public is also tired of that line of argument and deserves more empathy for those now suffering the consequences of inaction, including the injured officers involved in the recent accident.

Irion followed with his own criticism, saying he found the minister’s tone and approach to the matter “petty.” He said Gumbs came into the meeting appearing prepared for a different debate, but used the opportunity to complain instead of accepting responsibility for the conditions under his watch.

Irion said the minister cannot distance himself from the budget constraints he now laments because he and his coalition approved the same budget that allocated NAf. 600,000 for roads. “You decided in the Council of Ministers to approve a budget,” Irion said in substance, adding that once the minister accepted that budget and brought it to Parliament with coalition support, he also accepted responsibility for working within it.

He argued that Gumbs therefore cannot now complain about inadequate funding as though it were imposed on him by others. If the road budget was insufficient, Irion suggested, that was a decision taken by the current administration itself.

Irion also said the full blame now rests with the current minister, the current Council of Ministers, and the coalition that supported the budget. He said the road problems are in front of the country now, not in the past, and that residents are looking to the present government for results.

Beyond roads, Irion broadened his criticism to the minister’s handling of the garbage issue, saying the latest explanations offered by government amounted to more excuses. He questioned how garbage haulers who had worked under the same system for years were suddenly being treated as if they no longer understood the process, and he suggested that the administration’s struggles with procurement were especially troubling given that members of the minister’s party had long campaigned on procurement reform.

Irion noted that procurement policy had been a major talking point of the PFP for years, including references to ombudsman findings, yet said the current administration had still failed to implement the reforms it once promoted while in opposition. (See related story for the Minister's explanation about the garbage issue).

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