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PHILIPSBURG--The United People’s (UP) party will not have a representative at the upcoming Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation set for the Netherlands in mid-June. This announcement came on Wednesday from UP fraction leader Member of Parliament Read more

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Meyers Calls On Govt. To Explain How Shortfalls Will Be Addressed

PHILIPSBURG--Government needs to explain to Parliament as soon as possible how it intends to cover the shortfalls in revenue from dwindling cruise ship calls, said United People’s (UP) party deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers< Read more

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Contractor Issues Ultimatum To Mps Heyliger And Meyers

SUCKER GARDEN--Contractor Robelto and Sons BV issued a 72-hour ultimatum on Friday morning to United People’s (UP) party Members of Parliament (MPs) Theo Heyliger and Read more

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Meyers: Dutch Comments Should Not Lead To Any Delay Of Election

PHILIPSBURG--United People’s (UP) party deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers, reacting to the Dutch Government’s expressed objections to the draft electoral law, said, “What’s important now is that the Du Read more

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Mps Pepper Ministers With Questions In Budget Debate

Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo (standing) speaks in the budget debate on Monday.

 PHILIPSBURG--The 2016 draft budget was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Richard Gibson on Monday morning in Parliament House. Members of Parliament (MPs), who had up to 90 minutes to speak, peppered the Council of Ministers with a barrage of questions spanning from the budget and Government policies to general topics of interest.

  The seven Ministers, who all made presentations about the working of their Ministries on Monday, will be back in Parliament today, Tuesday, starting at 2:00pm to deliver answers to the questions from MPs Read more

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Government has ‘autonomous right’ to dissolve Parliament

~ Governor wrote in 2013 letter ~

PHILIPSBURG--“The right to dissolve Parliament by national decree is a constitutional and autonomous right of the Government,” wrote Governor Eugene Holiday in a letter dated May 16, 2013, to then-Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams when she tried to stopped the then-National Alliance (NA)-led Council of Ministers from invoking Article 59 of the Constitution.

The letter came to light this week as political tension intensified between the newest NA-led coalition with a majority in Parliament and the UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo-supported Council of Ministers, after the crumbling of the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

The current Marcel Gumbs Cabinet has held tight to the view that it is its right to dissolve Parliament in the face of the shifted majority in Parliament Read more

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De Weever seeks legal advice, suspends Parliament meeting

PHILIPSBURG--Second Deputy Parliament Chairman Cornelius de Weever took charge of one of the shortest Parliament meetings in the country's history on Tuesday and effectively thwarted the new coalition's move to appoint a new chairperson and two deputy chairpersons of Parliament.
  The meeting for which nine Members of Parliament (MPs) signed in, lasted approximately a minute and nine seconds Read more

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MPs question Dennis on Zebec settlement at Port

~ Sarah’s call for more speaker’s time voted down ~

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) fired off numerous questions seeking clarity on the Harbour’s settlement with Zebec Development during an emergency meeting on Monday.

The meeting was adjourned after the first round of questions to give Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson a chance to obtain answers. The meeting will continue at 2:00pm today, Tuesday.

A proposal by Democratic Party (DP) MP Sarah Wescot-Williams at the start of the meeting for the speaking time to be increased to 30 minutes in the first round and 20 minutes in the second round was voted down with eight MPs voting against the proposal and six voting for it.

The vote was called after United People’s (UP) party MP Franklin Meyers said he opposed Wescot-Williams’ proposal Read more

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Parliament adopts Constitution Day

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten officially has ditched Kingdom Day, December 15, as an official holiday and replaced with it Constitution Day, which is to be observed annually on the second Monday in October, starting this year.

Parliament unanimously adopted the law on Thursday to make the day official and strike Kingdom Day from the calendar. The establishment of this newest holiday comes ahead of the fifth anniversary of St. Maarten’s attainment of country-within-the-Dutch-Kingdom status and the coming into force of the St Read more

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MPs want Constitution Day on 2nd Monday in October

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) want Constitution Day to be observed annually on the second Monday of October instead of the actual day – October 10 – when the St. Maarten Constitution came into force.

The proposal to make October 10 a holiday and to have it replace Kingdom Day, December 15, by amending a number of laws, including the labour ordinance, was tabled by Education and Culture Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs in a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

The minister is slated to be back in Parliament for a vote on the law changes Thursday Read more

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Richardson to Schram: Prove underworld claims or ‘shut up’

PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister Dennis Richardson minced no words when he publicly called on Attorney-General Guus Schram to prove his claims about the mixing of the so-called underworld with civil society.

Richardson said in Monday's plenary session of Parliament that Schram should prove his claims or "shut the hell up."

Richardson was reacting to comments made by the Attorney-General on Friday at the swearing-in of a new judge for the Court of First Instance. Schram said, "The Friendly Island has lost its innocence."

He said another threat existed in St Read more

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Achievements and lack thereof highlighted as MPs close year

PHILIPSBURG--The achievements or lack thereof in the first Parliamentary year of the second Parliament came into focus as Members of Parliament (MPs) closed off the 2014-2015 legislative year in Parliament House on Monday. The 2015-2016 year opens today, Tuesday, with much pomp and ceremony.

The call to work together was issued by fraction leaders representing the coalition partners while the two opposition fraction leaders MP William Marlin (National Alliance) and Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party) were straightforward with their criticism about lack of action by the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

Destiny impaired

UP fraction leader MP Franklin Meyers laid the blame for the country’s stagnated growth and development in the past year at the door of The Hague saying that government and Parliament have spent the past year battling instructions and financial constraints due to financial supervision Read more

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Meyers criticizes Mullet Bay state

PHILIPSBURG--It is “a shame” that former Mullet Bay Beach Resort property is still the same way as it was when Hurricane Luis devastated the island 20 years ago, United People’s (UP) party deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers said in the last meeting of the 2014-2015 Parliamentary Year on Monday.

St Read more

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Governing Programme presented to Gumbs

PHILIPSBURG--The United People’s (UP) party-led coalition submitted its 2014-2018 Governing Programme, titled “Ready To Work For You” to Government on Thursday. The presentation comes one day ahead of the coalition’s ninth month in office and almost seven months after the Marcel Gumbs cabinet took office.

UP deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers, MP Tamara Leonard (UP) and independent MPs Leona Romeo-Marlin and Cornelius de Weever presented the Governing Programme to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Claret Connor on behalf of the UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo/United St Read more

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Sarah concerned about Connor’s move from Tourism Ministry

PHILIPSBURG--A pending shuffling of portfolios in the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet, particularly the move of current Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Claret Connor to the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI and the appointment of a new minister in Connor's place, has drawn concern from Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams.

She has termed the pending shuffle as "cabinet shake-up." She based her position on comments made by United People's (UP) party faction leader MP Franklin Meyers recently in a television interview.

Conner's post is tipped to be taken by a minister candidate proposed by coalition member independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo Read more

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Leona calls on govt to table integrity amendments soon

PHILIPSBURG--Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin says Government should speed up its work on amendments to the national ordinance to establish an Integrity Chamber for the country, and head back to Parliament as soon as possible even though it is the annual July recess.

Marlin-Romeo told The Daily Herald on Tuesday that she believed Government should bring the amendments to Parliament.

She has been in touch with MP Franklin Meyers, faction leader of the United People's (UP) party, this week on the matter and is waiting to hear how the matter will be dealt with, in particular from fellow coalition partners.

Commenting on Dutch Minister Ronald Plasterk's statement last week to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament that there would be consequences for St Read more

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Minister shares viewpoint, MPs to get GEBE answers Monday

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament’s plenary session on developments at utilities company GEBE, focusing on the ongoing dispute between the Supervisory Board and Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Managing Director Romelio Maduro about his position at the company, was adjourned to Monday afternoon, after Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Marcel Gumbs gave some perspective on Friday, but needed more documentation to answer questions posed by Members of Parliament (MPs).

The meeting was adjourned after Gumbs, as shareholder representative for the Government-owned company, gave a summarised overview of developments on the current dispute and questions were posed by National Alliance MPs William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs and Christophe Emmanuel Read more

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UP tables changes to Integrity Chamber law

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten should chair the Integrity Chamber that will come into being for the country should Parliament pass the draft National Ordinance to establish the Chamber. That Chamber also should render "advice" to the Council of Ministers and not "binding advice" as the draft currently states.

These are among the changes the United People's (UP) party wants to see in the draft law when Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Justice Minister Dennis Richardson bring it back to Parliament possibly in August to continue deliberations on it.

UP faction leader MP Franklin Meyers, speaking on Monday in the now-suspended plenary session of Parliament on the law, outlined the changes his party wants to see made to the law Read more

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UP does not support call for minister’s resignation

PHILIPSBURG--The United People's (UP) party does not support the call of coalition partner United St. Maarten Party (USP) for Justice Minister Dennis Richardson's resignation.

UP's stance is said to have been communicated to USP leader Member of Parliament Frans Richardson in a coalition meeting on Monday and was followed on Thursday evening with an official letter signed by UP fraction leader MP Franklin Meyers.

USP was informed that UP could not support the removal of the Justice Minister because this would only create turmoil for government and possibly have far-reaching consequences for the country.

St Read more

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AUC wins tax appeal, NAf. 70 mil claim off

PHILIPSBURG--The former owner of American University of the Caribbean (AUC) at Cupecoy won its case against the Tax Inspectorate of St. Maarten before the Tax Court in Philipsburg on Thursday. The court ruled the appeal admissible and destroyed the decision to impose an additional profit tax assessment of 61.4 million guilders, plus 9.2 million in fines.

The additional assessment was issued on April 27, 2012, on 2011 profit tax of the company that is part of a group owned by a Cayman Islands-based holding Read more

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Ministers to face MPs this week about missing info

PHILIPSBURG--Ministers of the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet are to be called before Parliament's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations to provide information the committee has requested for several months.

The committee became displeased two weeks ago with the sluggish pace of government's response and issued a 48-hour deadline for all information to be submitted Read more

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MPs review options for new building

PHILIPSBURG--The creation of a building team and deciding on whether to opt for government lease land or to purchase a parcel for the construction of a new Parliament Building were among the topic Members of Parliament (MPs) dealt with in a meeting of Ad Hoc Committee for the New Parliament Building on Friday morning.

The meeting, chaired by United People's (UP) party MP Franklin Meyers, was originally opened to the public, but was closed after committee members decided "due to the sensitivity" of the subject that the meeting should be closed.

Independent MP Cornelius de Weever has suggested before the closure for the committee to get a list of available land from government that is suitable for the building MPs want to have constructed.

Meyers said a list of possible locations was on hand as well as some possible options of private land for purchase.

United St Read more

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Meeting on Checkmate contract proves fruitless

Various Members of Parliament speak with Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication Claret Connor and his support staff.

~ ‘Sensitive answers’ to be given in two weeks ~

 PHILIPSBURG--The meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament, which had been called by National Alliance (NA) Members of Parliament (MPs) seeking answers about a hefty rise in pay in a security contract signed between St Read more

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Corallo says opening of Starz is ‘first step’ of ‘bigger project’

CUPECOY--The Atlantis Group inaugurated its Starz City concept and celebrated the rebranding of Atlantis Casino to Starz Casino on Friday.

The rebranding of the casino marks the "first step" of a bigger project that will include a hotel and commercial centre.

A large cross section of the community, including several dignitaries, attended the inauguration of Starz City. Atlantis World Group owner Francesco Corallo told The Daily Herald during the inauguration that plans were afoot to construct a 120-room hotel and commercial centre in the area.

"We have to upgrade our product and that is what I try to do myself with my small environment," Corallo said in a brief interview Read more

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