GREAT BAY, St. Martin (July 2, 2003) — Lt. Gov. Franklin Richards recommended yesterday that the Island Councilors here read the book Introduction to Government Island territory of St. Maarten, by Louis Duzanson.
Lt. Governor Richards included Introduction to Government among the financial, administrative and protocol documents that he recommended for the councilors to read following their taking of office to form the new island government here. The Lt. Governor made his recommendation to the councilors before concluding the first Island Council Meeting, which followed the swearing-in ceremony for the new council on July 2. The councilors were elected in the May 2003 IC election.
The Lt. Governor, as chairman of the 11-member Island Council, which is the legislative branch of government in the South of St. Martin, had also made copies of the book available to civil servants following his own swearing-in a few years ago to the supervisory post as representative of the Governor General and the Dutch Kingdom in the colony.
Introduction to Government was published in 2000 as the first book in English about the basic workings of the Island Council, Executive Council, Island Secretary, Lt. Governor and other aspects of the island government and a window view of the structure of the Court system.
In fact, “an increasing number of schools and students have been inquiring about the book within the last year, because only a few copies remain in bookstores and at the Jubilee Library,” noted Jacqueline Sample, president of House of Nehesi Publishers.
The publisher is still considering whether the demand and/or the last constitutional status referendum would give significant enough cause to invest its limited resources in reprinting Introduction to Government.