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Ferrier resigns from DP, against Sarah supporting UP coalition

~ Richelda feels deceived, doesn't support Sarah ~

PHILIPSBURG--Former President of the Democratic Party (DP) and candidate in the August 29 parliamentary election Michael Ferrier has tendered his resignation from DP over the move by party leader Sarah Wescot-Williams to join the United People's (UP) party-led coalition.

DP candidate Richelda Rodriguez-Emmanuel in an email responding to Ferrier's resignation said she still couldn't "get over the feeling of anger, deception, disappointment and disbelief" to put in any form of communication Read more

All schools to reopen today

PHILIPSBURG--The roads will be a hub of activity today as students and teachers return to school after a week-long closure due to Hurricane Gonzalo, which pummelled the island last week Monday evening.

Education Minister Patricia Lourens-Philip said Sunday that all schools will reopen their doors today, Monday. This includes the St. Maarten Vocational Training School (SMVTS), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Read more

Van Miltenburg, Sarah meet at SXM Airport

PHILIPSBURG--President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams met with President of the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament Anouchka van Miltenburg at SXM Airport on Friday. Van Miltenburg was on her way to Saba for the start of a tour of the six islands.

Accompanying the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament President is Secretary General J.E Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- President of Parliament Hon. Sarah Wescot-Williams on Friday met the President of the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament Hon. Anouchka van Miltenburg at the SXM Airport VIP room.

On Sunday the President of the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament along with support staff will be arriving in transit to the island of St Read more

All Schools ready for Monday Re-opening.

>GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Hon. Patricia Lourens-Philip, would like to inform and reiterate that ALL schools will resume on Monday October 20, 2014.

This includes the St. Maarten Vocational Training School, Martin Luther King Primary School, Genevieve De Weever and the Oranje School. It was mentioned in a communication on Friday that these schools might no Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Former President of the Democratic Party Michael Ferrier submitted his resignation to the Leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot Williams Read more

style="text-align: center;">Transparency International: Dutch corruption mechanisms insufficient

PHILIPSBURG:--- The UP Faction would hereby like to make one thing abundantly clear to the general population and Kingdom partners: The issue with the instruction given to Governor Holiday regarding expanded screening criteria to be executed by appointees of the Dutch government, is not about 'having something to hide' Read more

style="text-align: center;">Dutch govt. will be held liable for damages itsunconstitutional intrusion causes St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG:--- Through an instruction issued to the Governor of St. Maarten last week, the Dutch Government has, on the basis of its earlier initiated character assassination of my person, progressed into an action to ensure that it can prevent my person from becoming the next Prime Minister of St. Maarten.
The measure, void of any legal basis, is drafted to ensure that the screening of Ministers and Prime-Minister to be appointed for the Government of St Read more

MP Lake said he is ready to fight for the rights of the peoples parliament and demand respect for the country constitution.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Hon. Maurice Lake of the United People's (UP) Party said he is not surprised by the instruction given to the Governor of Sint Maarten by the Kingdom Council of Ministers.
"Some of the Dutch Members of the Second Chamber of Parliament in The Hague, and some of our own, are on a witch hunt against this broad based Government which is following all rules and procedures as a collective unit to better serve our people Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Several citizens and persons who bought confiscated items from the Public Prosecutors Office on St. Maarten and Weather Eyes Yacht Sales that was representing the Prosecutor's Office are now calling on the Dutch Members of Parliament and the Kingdom Council of Ministers to send down experts to investigate the Prosecutors that were appointed by them. "We are in full support of the Dutch using their powers to put a halt to corruption and self-enrichment among politicians, but the Dutch must also realize that the Dutch prosecutors they appointed to St Read more

Open Letter From Mp Leona Marlin-Romeo

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - My fellow St. Maarteners,

First I would like to extend deepest sympathies to those who suffered loss during the recent passing of Hurricane Gonzalo, though it may have caused some devastation, we are still blessed to have weathered the storm and come out stronger and united.

Over the last few weeks, there has been no shortage of opinions and criticism expressed publicly regarding my decision to support and join the coalition government which was recently sworn in as the new government of St Read more

Mp Tamara Leonard – Governor Put In Awkward Position By Dutch Government

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – The recent instruction from the Dutch Government to Governor Eugene Holiday to carry out an invasive screening of candidate ministers in addition to the mandated security screening has put the governor yet again in a very awkward position where he has to choose between truly representing the people of St. Maarten and the one-sided interest of the Dutch Government, says United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard.

"This instruction goes against a number of fundamental rights and freedom guaranteed to the people of St Read more

Mp Lake Said He Is Ready To Fight For The Rights Of The Peoples Parliament And Demand Respect For The Country Constitution

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – Member of Parliament Hon. Maurice Lake of the United People's (UP) Party said he is not surprised by the instruction given to the Governor of Sint Maarten by the Kingdom Council of Ministers.

"Some of the Dutch Members of the Second Chamber of Parliament in The Hague, and some of our own, are on a witch hunt against this broad based Government which is following all rules and procedures as a collective unit to better serve our people Read more

Heyliger: Instruction For Extra Screening Disrespect To Country, Dutch Govt. Will Be Held Liable For Damages Its Unconstitutional Intrusion Causes St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Through an instruction issued to the Governor of St. Maarten last week, the Dutch Government has, on the basis of its earlier initiated character assassination of my person, progressed into an action to ensure that it can prevent my person from becoming the next Prime Minister of St. Maarten.

The measure, void of any legal basis, is drafted to ensure that the screening of Ministers and Prime-Minister to be appointed for the Government of St. Maarten for the governing period 2014-2018 only is executed by the Dutch Government, without whose approval, the Governor is not permitted to sign the National decree of appointment.

The measure states that the Candidate Minister must provide an unrestricted permission to the investigating experts of the Dutch Government to undertake a screening of the candidate and its family members for an undefined period of time, through an undefined method of investigation, with yet to be established screening parameters Read more

President Of Dutch Second Chamber Of Parliament Meets With President Wescot-Williams

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – President of Parliament Hon. Sarah Wescot-Williams on Friday met the President of the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament Hon. Anouchka van Miltenburg at the SXM Airport VIP room.

On Sunday the President of the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament along with support staff will be arriving in transit to the island of St Read more

After 55 Years Of Support, Mike Ferrier Opts To Resign From Dp Party St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Former DP stalwart Micheal Ferrier in a letter dated October 17th 2014 and sent to the board of the party, their 15 candidates who ran in this years Parliamentary election and to key supporters, announced his decision to resign.

This decision comes after 55 years of support for the party and more recently, his diligent support for its leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.

The reason given for his decision is that he believes that the leader with her decision to join the UP/de Weever coalition government has taken the party along a different path than it had collectively chosen prior to the elections on August 29th 2014.

He stated in his letter that he understands the reasoning behind the need to be in government in the interest of the people of St Read more

Majority Of Schools Ready For Monday Re-Opening

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – In the second Emergency Meeting of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports (Ministry ECYS) and School Boards, the decision was taken by the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Hon. Patricia Lourens-Philip that school will resume on Monday October 20, 2014 for all students attending subsidized schools and for most Public Schools.

The decision regarding the date for the resumption of classes for the St Read more

Three Up Mps Requests Urgent Parliament Meeting On Screening Instruction

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - United People's (UP) party Members of Parliament Franklin Meyers, Silvio Matser and Tamara Leonard have requested an urgent meeting of Parliament to respond to the recent instruction by the Kingdom Council of Ministers for Governor Eugene Holiday to execute a thorough screening of all minister candidates of the new coalition government.

The request for the parliament meeting was submitted on Friday to President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams Read more

St. Maarten Will Not Allow Dutch To Make A Mockery Of Its Democracy

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - With the instruction given to Governor Eugene Holiday by Dutch Minister of Kingdom Relations Plasterk, the Dutch government has one again shown that it will spare no measure in setting aside St. Maarten's constitution and continue disrespecting St. Maarten's Parliamentary democracy.

This time, they have put Governor Holiday in a complicated unenviable position by instructing him not to ratify decrees appointing candidate ministers and the Prime Minister until an expanded vetting process that they (the Dutch) want to set in place in addition to St Read more

Efforts To Increase Tax Compliance Fail

Audit Chamber report Optimizing Tax Revenue

St. Maarten – All efforts to increase tax compliance and tax revenue during the past three years have failed. This appears from the performance audit Optimizing Tax Revenue the General Audit Chamber published last week.

The Finance Minister in the first Wescot-Williams cabinet, Hiro Shigemoto, stated in the 2011 budget “that improvement of the functioning of the organization for assessment and collection together with the introduction of a simplified system should lead, in the coming years, to an additional 20 million guilders in tax revenue Read more

 Lake On Gebe Outages: “We Can’T Continue To Live In The Dark Ages”

St. Maarten – “We can’t continue to live in the dark ages,” Vromi Minister Maurice Lake noted as he cited the current location of NV Gebe’s water transformer house in Cay Bay as a reason for the lengthy utility outage in the wake of hurricane Gonzalo.

While Lake commended the staff of Gebe, emergency personnel, contractors and others who have been working to restore the island back to pre-Gonzalo glory, for their dedication and resilience, the minister noted that he will be seeking a meeting with NV Gebe board and management to address certain issues.

First on Lakes list of issues that needs to be addressed is the Gebe Cay Bay water transformer house which he believes needs to be relocated and upgraded to meet the needs of the people.  “We can’t continue to live in the dark ages of having a transformer house right next to the sea when a hurricane or storm hits everything goes dark….transformer houses should be more protected around the country.

“We can’t have the community and businesses go two days without water due to oversights that could have been prevented.  I also would like for Gebe to improve and restructure their organizational chart structure of who is responsible for which department in-case of emergencies in order to better serve the community,” Minister Lake said.

Minister Lake apologized to consumers with respect to the loss of essential services such as electricity and water based on the passing of the category one hurricane Read more

Nature Conservation On Bonaire Earning Global Accolades Once Again

BES Island, Bonaire - On the evening of October 11th Nathaniel Miller, Assistant Director of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) received a phone call from Sean Willmore, the President of the International Ranger Federation, notifying him that DCNA's nominee for the Dr. Jane Goodall — 'Hope and Inspiration Ranger Award', had won.

Luigi Eybrecht, a newly appointed Marine Park Ranger for STINAPA Bonaire (National Parks Foundation) and volunteer Commander of their Junior Rangers, was selected by the world renowned primatologist and anthropologist Dr Read more

Minister Lourens Philip says only school management teams should report to their respective schools on Monday.

>GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- The Minister of Education, Culture, Youth & Sports Hon. Patricia Lourens-Philip who is currently off island on a private trip, says she has been following developments closely with respect to the approaching storm.

Minister Lourens-Philip said on Sunday that it is only necessary for school management teams to report to their respective schools on Monday to prepare their sch Read more

Population Ageing Trends High on the Agenda for Social Development.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Symposium on Ageing held last week Wednesday acted as the first step in spreading the awareness about the challenges of an ageing population and letting the public know that this issue is high on the agenda of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labour (VSA). Based on the feedback from the audience at the symposium, Social Development is headed in the right direction when it comes to identifying the key priority areas St. Maarten is dealing with due to an increase in the ageing population Read more