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Sint Maarten Deserves A Stable Coalition Government

After the new interim UP/DP/Brownbill government is sworn in, Sint Maarten would have had seven coalition governments in seven years. This is an average of one government per year. If we also count the number of elections since 2010, including the upcoming February 2018, Sint Maarteners would have gone to the polls four times which boils down to an average of one election every two years.

For a small young country such as ours, having on average, a change of government every year and elections every two years is unacceptable Read more

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Minister Christopher Emmanuel To Coalition Partners “Anyone In Line With Dutch Position Should Not Be Part Of The Coalition.”

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — This is the statement that apparently caused the bombshell statement by the leader of the Democratic Party and Chairlady Sarah Wescot-Williams during a tension-filled parliamentary meeting on Friday last.

It was clear even before the Chairlady’s “announcement” on Friday that the ire of Democratic Party was invoked, when DP member Perry Geerlings in no uncertain terms disagreed with the Prime Minister’s handling of especially the request for aid from the Netherlands.

To make matters worse, Minister Emmanuel’s statement was reiterated on October 26, 2017, as follows: “I have said it before and I will say it again anyone agreeing with the conditions should not be part of this government Read more

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Mp Wescot Inquires About Gebe’S Electricity Supply And Load Shedding

PHILIPSBURG – With the recent spikes (again) in electricity outages/load shedding and GEBE’s statements regarding same, such as regular maintenance, unexpected stoppages, safety concerns, overheating and such, Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams urgently requested Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure Christophe Emmanuel to answer the following questions:

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Message Of Hon. Prime Minister Mr. William Marlin At The Opening Of The Basic Legal Course

St. Maarten, Monday, August 14, 2017.

Our governing program for 2016-2020 is entitled, “Stability for Prosperity”. It is anchored on five strategic objectives, all of which can only be achieved by upgrading our government apparatus.  We are not even one year into this governing period yet and we can see that various initiatives that are geared towards a profound transformation of our society are already taking shape. One of those initiatives is why we are gathered here today. Nobody knows the challenges that this coalition government faces better than the civil servants who do their utmost day in, day out, to give professional support to government Read more

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Inmates And Guards Fed-Up With Situation At Pointe Blanche Prison

Dear Editor,

Inmates and guards are fed-up with the current situation at the Pointe Blanche prison.

The prison is facing a great number of issues: lack of guards, malfunctioning locks, showers and toilets that are not functioning, rusted gates, poor health care, no dentist, no phone calls, all falling under this new management team, who seem incapable for the job.

Steven Carty and Wilfred Williams have been placed at the prison since February 2017, as the interim directors for a period of three months in order to have the situation at the prison “normalized,” which has been very unsuccessful.

The situation is very worrisome at the prison Read more

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Update: Hikers Find Partially Submerged Body In Water

UPDATE by French Prosecutor office:

OYSTER POND, French Saint Martin – At 12:25pm on Wednesday, July 26, hikers near the Whale Watch Observatory in Oyster Pond on the French side reported to Gendarmes the presence of a body that was partially submerged in the water, some 50m from the edge.

This lifeless, but recently deceased body, was of a man about 35 years old, 1.80m and of Latino ethnicity Read more

Update Police Report: Armed Robbery At Princess Casino And One Person Got Shot

UPDATE POLICE REPORT

Armed robbery at Princess Casino

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — This morning at approximately 2.00 am, a call came in to the police central dispatch about an armed robbery taking place at the Princess Casino located in Cole Bay. Patrols were immediately dispatched to the scene.

Upon their arrival it was learned that 4 masked men dressed in dark clothing, three of which were armed with hand guns stormed the establishment Read more

Gov’T Should Do What’S Right For The Neighbourhood And The Public’S Safety

Dear Editor,

Our house was built by us in 1981 and is located at the intersection of Billy Folly Road and Welfare Road. We have lived here for 36 years.

In May 2016, we noticed that a huge and hazardous looking billboard was being erected next to our property. The 3 poles placed one above the other would join together the 5 huge sections of the billboard and would be held in place by 6 screws and bolts. The distance between this humongous billboard and our house is less than 6 meters Read more

The Empty Seat In Parliament

For several weeks now, one seat in parliament has remained obviously empty. When, the President of Parliament, at the beginning of public meetings or of Central Committee meetings, asks if there are any notifications, not one parliamentarian, not even the USP faction leader reports on the absence of MP Silvio Matser.

In my opinion, only sickness can justify the continuous absence of a member of parliament Read more

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Dp And Coppal To Rekindle Ties

PHILIPSBURG – During his recent visit to St. Maarten, Rudy Croes paid a courtesy visit to DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams, also in his capacity as vice-chairperson of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (COPPAL).

The Democratic Party (DP) is a long standing member of COPPAL, however, during the last few years, has been inactive as far as this regional political body is concerned.

COPPAL is an international organization of political parties in Latin America and the Caribbean Read more

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Mission To Unify The Caribbean Islands Of The Dutch Kingdom

A delegation of ‘Nos Ke Boneiru Bek’ (We Want Bonaire Back) left for St. Maarten last week on a mission with the objective to unify the Caribbean islands of the Dutch Kingdom to counter arrest the division of the peoples that was created on 10-10-10 (October 10 2010) and start a new era of cooperation, collaboration and support and restore the ties of friendship and cooperation toward each other’s needs in particular.

This crusade started with a meeting with Rudy Croes, vice-president of COPPAL which recently in a meeting held in Mexico, affirmed that the International community will support and cooperate with the Dutch Caribbean islands, especially Bonaire and St Read more

Civil Servants Of The Secretariat Of Parliament Take Oath Or Pledge Of Office

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – On Friday, March 3, 2017 the civil servants of the secretariat of Parliament took an oath or pledge of office before the President of Parliament, MP Sarah Wescot Williams, during Parliament’s first ever oath and pledge ceremony for its staff members. Also in attendance for this occasion were Vice President MP drs Read more

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Library Board Seeks Termination Of Monique Alberts

~ In the meantime, she is suspended as Library Director ~

PHILIPSBURG – Last week the news broke in the media that the board of the library had suspended Monique Alberts as Director of the Library. She has held that position for over 7 years.

Alberts has been employed by the Philipsburg Jubilee Library (PJL) since August 2006, and has held the position of Director of PJL since February 2008.

According to information reaching 721news, in a meeting that took place on January 4, 2017 between Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Silveria Jacobs, the PJL Board, Alberts and several civil servants, Minister Jacobs implored those members of the Board who had exceeded their maximum tenure of eight years (Clayton Holiday and Udo Aron, among them) – as stipulated in PJL’s bylaws – to step down and start recruiting new board members.

According to reliable information obtained by 721news newsroom, in that same meeting on January 4, Minister Jacobs addressed the persons, who were representing board members, and informed them that they were illegally executing orders Read more

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We, The People And Our Representatives In Parliament

Last week, the Office of the Ombudsman held a very successful Open House, with the aim to inform the public of its functioning.

For me, the highlight of the Open house was the very simple, yet profound, presentation given by the Ombudsman herself, Dr. Nilda Arduin. The presentation centered on the topic “We, the People.”

Dr. Arduin pointed out that in a democracy the people rule. She went on to compare a country to a house. As the owners of the house are working people and therefore unable to do their own house chores, they hire a domestic aid or servant to handle the chores and to run the household on their behalf Read more

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Bobby Ingesloten Voor Diefstal

SURINAME — Bobby B. (24) is op donderdag 22 december door de politie van Uitvlugt ingesloten.

Een jongeman deed eerder op de dag aangifte van diefstal tegen hem. Volgens verklaring van de aangever heeft zijn zwager Bobby enkele goederen uit zijn appartement weggenomen.

De aangever woont in een ander appartement niet ver van de verdachte. Bobby nam op een onbewaakt moment ongevraagd de sleutels van het appartement van de aangever weg Read more

*** Update***: Man Loses Life In Traffic Accident

UPDATE POLICE REPORT: Road fatality

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — On Wednesday, December 21, at 1:45am, a fatal car accident took place at the intersection of the Hulda B. Richardson/Oyster Pond/Bishop Hill roads.

The driver, a 56-year-old male with initials C.S.T., born in Suriname, was traveling in a beige 2012 Suzuki Vitara P-8938, on Hulda B. Richardson Road where the driver apparently lost control of his vehicle, ran off the road, resulting in the vehicle landing on its left side.

The Fire Department was called in for assistance to cut parts away from the vehicle in order to get the victim out Read more

Minister Jacobs Attends “I Am King” Youth Forum

BELAIR – The Youth Department in collaboration with the Division Educational Innovation (DEI) is coordinating and executing a series of events falling under the “I Am King” project.

The “I Am King” project was launched in 2015, and the “I Am King” Youth Forum was held on Wednesday December 7, at the Belair Community Center, where Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Silveria Jacobs was in attendance Read more

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Copppal Rejects Possible Attempt To Recolonize Dutch Caribbean

SANTO DOMINGO/ KRALENDIJK РThe Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean COPPPAL, rejected by a communiqu̩, the possible attempts to recolonize the so-called Dutch Antilles as a violation of the agreement signed at the United Nations in 1954, urging the Netherlands to initiate a process of decolonization and self-determination of the people under its control.

“In a meeting led by Manolo Pichardo, president of the entity, in Bonaire, the islanders expressed their fear of what they define as redeployment actions such as: Financial Supervision, Judicial and the massive entry of European Dutch to the islands with the right to vote, because this could have a decisive impact on matters concerning the natives,” said the document.

Also present at the meeting was Rudy Croes, vice president and coordinator of the COPPPAL decolonization commission, where Statia and Bonaire rejected – by referendum – the current status of the Dutch colonial municipality.

According to the statement, COPPPAL, demands to put Bonaire, Statia and Saba on the list of the Committee of Decolonization of the United Nations of Non-Self-Governing Territories that do not have its own government Read more

Successful Conference On Bonaire On Political Future Of Dutch-Administrated Caribbean

Kralendijk, BONAIRE – Recently, Foundation Nos Kier Boneiru Bek organized a conference at Plaza Hotel, which addressed a better future for Bonerian people, and for the other sister islands administrated by the Dutch.

After the conference, a gala dinner was held at Eddy’s restaurant with keynote speaker Dr. Corbin. Both events were successful and participants said that the conference was very informative and of international standard.

The Aruba delegation represented by Dr Read more