SXMElections.com

Tranquillity, stability and civility

Dear Editor,

The new government is hardly in place and already I find myself having to comment on the behaviour of our political leaders during Parliament meetings. Let me say that I cannot say A said so and so when everyone knows that B said it. On Saturday, December 20, 2014, I read in the paper how the newly sworn in Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs said the country needs tranquillity, stability, civility and prosperity Read more

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MPs to get answers about housing foundation in Jan.

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) will have to wait until mid-January for answers about the suspension of St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) Director Henry Lynch and two other members of the management team. Prime Minister/Ad Interim Housing Minister Marcel Gumbs said he required time to gather the facts about the investigation ordered by the foundation's supervisory board and the other actions leading to the suspensions.

Gumbs, who had only been in office for a mere 72 hours, was before Parliament on Monday in an urgent plenary session requested by opposition MPs Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party), Frans Richardson (United St Read more

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MPs meet today about Housing Foundation

PHILIPSBURG--The St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation supervisory board's request made to Government Accounting Bureau SOAB to carry out a forensic investigation into the foundation's operations will be one of the issues Members of Parliament (MPs) will discuss today, Monday, in an urgent plenary session of Parliament in the House of Parliament starting at 10:00am.

The meeting is open to the public.

New Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, who is ad interim Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI, has been requested by Parliament to be present for the meeting.

MPs also will discuss with Gumbs former VROMI Minister Maurice Lake's request to SOAB to halt the investigation and the board's decision to suspend three members of the management team, including foundation director Henry Lynch.

This urgent plenary session was requested by National Alliance MPs William Marlin and Christophe Emmanuel, Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, and United St Read more

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Youth Parliament wants more of a role in decision-making

PHILIPSBURG--The Youth Parliament wants a more active role in the decision-making process of the country.

A delegation of the Youth Parliament, headed by Dwayne Griffith, presented a motion requesting the possibility to make recommendations on the findings of the various integrity reports to the Parliament of St. Maarten on Tuesday afternoon in a Central Committee meeting in Parliament House.

The "emergency" meeting during which the motion was presented to the Parliament was requested by the Youth Members of Parliament (YMPs) Read more

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Frans, William see discussion on integrity report as waste of time

PHILIPSBURG--Discussions in a Central Committee meeting of Parliament about the integrity reports from the Wit-Samson Committee and PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC was deemed a waste of time at this transition period between governments by United St. Maarten Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson and National Alliance (NA) MP William Marlin.

The reports were referred for handling in a Central Committee meeting in the final meeting of the 2013-2014 Parliamentary year on October 9.

The discussions with Deputy Prime Minister/Justice Minister Dennis Richardson on Wednesday centred mostly on whether the reports should be before Parliament now or be handled when the new Council of Ministers is in place Read more

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What democracy?

Dear Editor,

What democracy was the march on Sunday held for? Was it for the democracy that this island never experienced? Those of us who have lived on this island for the last 5½ decades know that this island was never governed in a democratic manner. This island was ruled during the last 5½ decades, with the exception of a few years after 1979, by a clan. The members of this clan are of the firm belief that only the clan should run this island.

To achieve their goal, this clan has used and is still using unconventional methods Read more

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MPs unanimously reject instruction

~ Motion to be sent to UN Decolonisation Committee ~

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) unanimously adopted on Wednesday a motion rejecting the instruction handed down by the Kingdom Council of Ministers to Governor Eugene Holiday for the execution of a boundless and limitless investigation into the backgrounds of candidate ministers, their families, friends, business associates and others.

Parliament is not in agreement with the instruction from the Kingdom Council, because the screening of candidate ministers is "not flawed Read more

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Editorial - Better understanding

It appears the incoming UP/DP/Marlin-Romeo coalition plans to fight tooth and nail the instruction by the Kingdom Council of Ministers regarding the screening of nominees to become minister. Today's Parliament meeting probably will lead to some type of action in that sense.

It will be interesting to see what position the prospective opposition fractions take in this matter Read more

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Holiday says MPs play critical role to foster good governance

~ MPs sworn in ~

HARBOUR VIEW--The fifteen Members of Parliament (MPs) elected during the August 29 Parliamentary Elections took their oaths to serve in the presence of Governor Eugene Holiday on Friday.

Sworn in were United People's (UP) party MPs Theo Heyliger, Franklin Meyers, Silvio Matser, Tamara Leonard, Maurice Lake, Lloyd Richardson and Johan "Janchi Leonard; Democratic Party (DP) MPs Sarah Wescot-Williams and Cornelius de Weever; United St Read more

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Sarah, Leona join UP/De Weever to form broad-based government

PHILIPSBURG--Outgoing Prime Minister and Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams and United St. Maarten Party Member of Parliament (MP)-elect Leona Marlin-Romeo have joined the United People's (UP) party/De Weever coalition to form a broad-based government for 2014-2018.

The two new coalition members signed on to the existing UP/De Weever governing accord as "addendum two and three" on Thursday, paving the way for a majority of 10 seats in Parliament.

The news of, in particular, Marlin-Romeo joining the coalition comes after much speculation about this possibility taking place even after she publicly had denied any such intentions Read more

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Sarah: Counterpart policy was ‘moot point,’ unclear why Cornelius de Weever defected

~ He has not resigned from DP ~

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams says the counterpart policy was a "moot point" and could not be the reason DP Member of Parliament (MP)-elect Cornelius de Weever had pulled his support from the slate on which he was elected to help United People's (UP) party form a one-seat Parliamentary majority.

Wescot-Williams told reporters at a press conference at Holland House Beach Hotel on Sunday that the policy never had been an issue, as De Weever's proposal in the Council of Ministers on August 12 to establish a counterpart policy had been approved.

De Weever indicated at the time that the policy would be introduced as a pilot programme in collaboration with social partners and said there were some businesses that were willing to work with him on the initiative Read more

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Vorst land purchase to be omitted from 2014 budget amendment

~ Roy's amendment to budget amendment passed ~

PHILIPSBURG--An amendment to remove the purchase of the Vorst Estate property from a budget amendment tabled by Finance Minister Martin Hassink was passed during a public plenary session of parliament on Monday.

It was the third time the meeting had been convened to handle this and other issues. The first two meetings were cancelled due to lack of quorum. The motion, which was tabled by Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Marlin, was passed by seven of MPs voting in favour of the amendment and six voting against it.

Supporting the motion were author Roy Marlin, National Alliance (NA) MPs William Marlin, Hyacinth Richardson, George Pantophlet and Louie Laveist and Independent MPs Frans Richardson and Romain Laville Read more

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Editorial - Wait and see

Governor Eugene Holiday's decision to appoint two "informateurs" – Joe Richardson and Marcel Gumbs – (see Saturday paper) is interesting. He obviously had to do something when it became clear that "formateur" William Marlin (NA) no longer could deliver a majority in Parliament after DP's MP-elect Cornelius de Weever signed an agreement with the seven UP fraction members-elect and thus torpedoed the envisioned NA/DP/UP Party coalition.

The governor, based on the document presented to him by UP leader Theo Heyliger, could have named the latter "formateur" instead, but stopped short of doing so Read more

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William says too many use their parliamentary seats for leverage

~ 'Just a matter of time before another shifting' ~

PHILIPSBURG--"The sad reality" of politics in St. Maarten is that too many persons "peddle off" their parliamentary seats "to the highest bidder" and use their seat for leverage, former formateur William Marlin said on Sunday.

Marlin said he was not specifically referring to the trading of seats for financial gain, but the use of one's seat for opportunity, though he said he has heard about offers being made.

Marlin was at the time speaking at a press conference Sunday called to address the events leading up to the National Alliance/Democratic Party/ United St Read more

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Budget amendment meet called off again due to lack of quorum

PHILIPSBURG--The public plenary session of Parliament on amendments to the 2014 budget was cancelled for the second time on Friday, as only four Members of Parliament (MPs) showed up and signed in for the meeting.

The meeting was first called off on Wednesday, due to the lack of a quorum when seven MPs were signed in, though United People's (UP) party MPs and Independent MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson had been in the building.

Present at Friday's session were National Alliance (NA) MPs Hyacinth Richardson and George Pantophlet, Democratic Party (DP) MP Roy Marlin and United People's (UP) party MP Gracita Arrindell Read more

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Editorial - Majority rule

A lot of frustration is being expressed by voters about the meanwhile-confirmed latest political twist that will see a UP-led government take office after all. Many uttered disbelief as to how something like this was even possible, let alone allowed to take place.

Some reason that especially as DP candidate and caretaker minister Cornelius de Weever had failed to earn a Parliament seat outright in terms of preferential votes, he should not be able to "jump ship" and torpedo the seemingly-incoming NA/DP/US Party coalition of which his party was to be part Read more

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No quorum for budget amendment meeting

~ UP, Dr. Richardson, Illidge, De Weever absent ~

PHILIPSBURG--The public plenary session of Parliament on amendments to the 2014 budget was cancelled on Wednesday due to the lack of a quorum, as only seven Members of Parliament (MPs) were signed in.

Parliament Press Secretary Roddy Heyliger said in a press release last night that the session had been rescheduled to Friday at 10:00am.

At least eight MPs are needed for the meeting to proceed Read more

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Holiday starts new consultations after end of ‘Marlin’ formation

PHILIPSBURG--Governor Eugene Holiday started new formation talks on Thursday after United People's (UP) party leader Theodore Heyliger submitted a signed "coalition agreement" for the governing period 2014-2018.

The agreement was signed by UP's seven elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and Democratic Party (DP) MP-elect Cornelius de Weever.

Holiday said in a press release that in view of these developments, National Alliance (NA) leader William Marlin had informed him that the majority in Parliament necessary for the formation of the planned NA/DP/US Party coalition government no longer existed Read more

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Editorial - Better now than later

It seems the formation of a new government might not go as smoothly as expected after all. Although “formateur” William Marlin (NA) presented Governor Eugene Holiday with his report and the incoming NA/DP/US coalition’s governing programme yesterday, DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams confirmed that her party’s number two vote-getter Cornelius de Weever had indicated meanwhile that he preferred to occupy his seat in Parliament rather than remain Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs as intended.

This creates a problem, because DP quickly will have to choose another nominee to become one of its two cabinet members, while the names of all seven candidate ministers already had been submitted Read more

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Pastor Smith urges incoming coalition govt, ‘make it work’

~ Governing programme finalised ~

CAY HILL--The incoming coalition partners have completed the governing programme and will be presenting it to formateur William Marlin today, Wednesday. Marlin is expected to report to Governor Eugene Holiday on the formation of the new government on the deadline today.

St. Maarten United Ministerial Foundation (SMUMF) President Pastor Wycliffe Smith, who met with the coalition leaders and their representatives as they finalised the document at Bearing Point yesterday, urged the coalition to "make it work."

He said a coalition of three was much more challenging than a coalition of two, noting that in this case the margin was thin as there was just a one-seat majority Read more

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Editorial - Solid enough

The names mentioned in today's paper as the reported candidates for the various positions of the incoming NA/DP/US-party coalition inspire confidence. The screening process will have to determine whether they all qualify in the end, but for now the apparent nominees certainly sound adequate.

It was already clear that NA leader William Marlin would be the next Prime Minister in charge of General Affairs, while the party's number three candidate and top vote-getter Silveria Jacobs had been a "shoo-in" to again become Minister of Education, Culture and Sports.

Whom NA would make its Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Development and the Environment VROMI was not known, but Rodolphe Samuel with his experience as President of Parliament certainly had been among the frontrunners for the job on the party's election list Read more

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Kingdom Relations Committee swiftly deals with hefty agenda

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations, chaired by outgoing Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Marlin Democratic Party (DP), swiftly dealt with a twelve-point agenda covering several kingdom treaties, motions and other business on Tuesday morning, in Parliament House.

Marlin outlined the agenda and suggested the points that needed the committee simply to take note of and the ones that needed to be left for the incoming committee and its new chairman to handle.

A list of treaties in the preparatory phase and Country St Read more

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Prime minister tenders resignation of Cabinet

HARBOUR VIEW--Prime Minister Wescot-Williams has tendered the resignation of the entire Wescot-Williams III Cabinet to Governor Eugene Holiday. The governor, according to a statement from his Cabinet, has informed the prime minister that he will consider her request.

The governor also reiterated his call to the ministers and the minister plenipotentiary in The Hague to continue their duties in the interest of St Read more

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MPs close off fourth year of Parliament

PHILIPSBURG--The 2013-2014 parliamentary year closed on Monday with several Members of Parliament (MPs) taking the opportunity to give a farewell speech outlining their accomplishments, hopes for the new parliamentary year and for the incoming government.

Based on the Constitution, the parliamentary year must close before the second Tuesday in September – the official opening of the new parliamentary year. The opening will take place today, Tuesday, at Parliament House, with Governor Eugene Holiday delivering the traditional governor's speech containing government's plans for the coming year.

At Monday's session, outgoing independent MP Romain Laville said being an MP has been "one of the greatest experiences" he has had in life Read more

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