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Telegraaf “Uncovers” Hachchi On Front Page

THE HAGUE--The Dutch Telegraaf newspaper blasted resigned Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Wassila Hachchi of the Democratic Party D66 on its front page Thursday morning with the headlines “Hachchi uncovered” and “Distributing flyers for 6.800 Euros.”       

  The newspaper article starts off with: “The career of Wassila Hachchi in the Hillary Clinton team doesn’t go further than distributing flyers on a voluntary basis Read more

Sarah Calls On Gebe Board To Make Positions Available

PHILIPSBURG--The relationship between the supervisory board of utilities company GEBE and (past and present) Government is enough for reason for the board “to make positions available” to Government, said Democratic Party (DP) leader, Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams on Thursday Read more

Hachchi Says She Regrets Commotion

THE HAGUE--The sudden departure of Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Wassila Hachchi of the Democratic Party D66 last week continued to be a source of discussion in the Netherlands. Hachchi stated on Monday she was sorry about the commotion.

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Public Health Ordinance Passed By Parliament On January 15Th, 2016

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — MP Wescot-Williams reflected on the public meetings held at Parliament last week on the now passed public health ordinance which was presented by Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Mr. Emil Lee (DP) and the team of his ministry.  MP Wescot-Williams understands how the talks came to be dominated by the  debate on the St Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- On Monday, January 18th the Democratic Party of St. Maarten (DP) held its first press conference for the New Year. Party Leader, MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, touched on a number of important topics during her talk with reporters, as outlined below.

Public Health Ordinance passed by Parliament on January 15th, 2016
MP Wescot-Williams reflected on the public meetings held at Parliament last week on the now passed public health ordinance which was presented by Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Mr Read more

Up-Board Slams Coalition “The Dp Membership Is In Shambles”

St. Maarten – “History surely repeats itself and it seems more so in the formation of the coalition of eight,” United People’s Party (UP) President Sylvia Meyers said in a press statement on behalf of her party’s board yesterday. 

“Imagine the UP-led coalition was heavily criticized for not having a full council of ministers appointed and today the coalition of eight is greeted with the same reality.  Out of seven ministerial positions, they were only able to fill five.” 

“The National Alliance should have led with the same collective responsibility any coalition faces and not hide behind a press release only promoting their minister nominees having passed the screening,” the release states. 

“We are closely monitoring the inconsistencies and political rhetoric which clearly indicates of a weak new majority government.  It is quite obvious there is an apparent weakness in the new coalition and further testimony is the new recruitment effort of the Democratic Party led-ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor with the placement of an advertisement in the daily newspapers looking for persons to join the cabinet.” 

According to the UP-board it is “unheard of when the DP cannot find individuals within its own ranks to join its cabinet.  It’s a crying shame that they have to resort to this route.  It’s widely known the DP membership is in shambles and it seems no better way to recruit new members than by promising cabinet jobs.” 

“We will continue to be the eyes and ears of the people who undoubtedly continue to support us knowing all the trials and tribulations we’ve faced during the past 11-months,” the statement continues Read more

City Manager Announces Retirement Date, Service To Tallahassee Spans 25 Years

SISTER CITY TALLAHASSEE, united States of America - Tallahassee City Manager Anita Favors Thompson announced that she will retire effective November 20, 2015.

“When I became City Manager in 1997, I made the commitment to always put people first and to focus on providing the best services possible to meet the needs of our community,” Favors Thompson said.

“Through my 25 years working for the city and through challenges and accomplishments, I’ve never wavered in my belief that a city’s greatest asset is its people Read more

Dp Announcement - Emil Lee To Be Next Minister Of Vsa

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Democratic Party would like to announce the swearing in of DP candidate Emil Lee as the next Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (VSA).  

Emil will be sworn in tomorrow Thursday, November 19th, 2015 Read more

Message Of Condolence From The Democratic Party

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Our prayers and thoughts are with the government and people of the French Republic as they try to put the pieces together after the horrendous attacks throughout the French capital on Friday, November 13th.

Their personal and collective loss is immeasurable and we  hope and pray that they will find strength, peace and comfort in the coming days and weeks.

We look closer to home and extend words of comfort to our French St. Martin brothers and sisters.

This is not only an attack on the French capital, but one on humanity itself Read more

Seven New Political Parties Report For 2016 Elections

St. Maarten – An astonishing number of seven new political parties reported to the offices of the Electoral Council yesterday to submit their request to be registered for the February 9 elections. Among them is the St. Maarten Christian Party, led by Pastor Wycliffe Smith. On the other hand, the party of European Dutch residents did not show up, reportedly because they did not have enough time to prepare their documentation.

With the seven new parties – if they get all their formalities in order – the field for the elections will consist of eleven and possibly twelve parties Read more

Dp Pushes Again Membership Of Open Government Partnership

DP policy advisor Emil Lee at the summit in Mexico City. Photo contributed

St. Maarten – The Democratic Party is once more pushing the country’s membership of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an issue it made a core element of its election campaign last year Read more

Retired Politician Dave Levenstone: Saba, Statia And St. Maarten Have To Strengthen Their Ties

Dave Levenstone. Photo Caribisch Netwerk

THE BOTTOM, SABA – The Saban political veteran Dave Levenstone says that his fellow-Sabans do not speak up enough, because the evaluation report about constitutional reform states that Saba does better than the other islands, Hazel Durand reports on Caribisch Netwerk.

“But I do not think that we have to see this as a setback,” he says. “The Island Council must establish an independent committee to study the evaluation and to arrive that way at solutions that are in the best interest of the island.” Levenstone is the former leader of the Saba Democratic Party and the presenter of the poplar political radio program Good Day Saba Read more

Winners And Losers: Who Will Survive The Polls In February?

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – February 9, 2016 is crunch day for politicians and those who aspire to become one. The parliamentary elections – for some mysterious reason perceived by some as ‘snap elections’, whatever that may be – will give voters the opportunity to speak their mind about the constitutional drama that concluded on Wednesday when the ministers of the Marcel Gumbs cabinet tendered their resignation and Governor Drs Read more

President Of Parliament Visits The "Lady Grace Morning Show" Friday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Leader of the Democratic Party and Chairperson of the Parliament of St. Maarten, the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams stated on Friday that the matter of election has been used by the outgoing Prime Minister, Marcel Gumbs as a trump card Read more

Dp Criticizes Mp De Weever: “Counterpart Policy Is A Sure Recipe For Massive Lay-Offs”

St. Maarten – “As much as he tries, MP and former Minister OF Public health, Social Development and Labor Cornelius de Weever will never be able to convince anyone that the reason for his defection from the Red-White-Blue coalition in 2014 had something to do with opposition he encountered back then to “his” counterpart law,” Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams states in a press release Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- As much as he tries, MP and former VSA Minister, Mr. Cornelius V. H de Weever, will never be able to convince any-one that the reason for his defection from the Red-White-Blue coalition in 2014 had something to do with opposition he encountered back then to "his" counterpart law.
While this is far from the truth to begin with, the MP has failed up to this day to show any tangible results from enforcing this policy, as he claimed he and his new allies would. The MP seemed hell-bent on forcing through this policy unilaterally, which approach is doomed to fail and rather than get the private sector on board, would have created a rift which the country can ill-afford.
Forcing any business to hire, because "government says so", is a sure recipe for lay-offs and unemployment.
Luckily for all of us, those in the know are quietly, yet effectively approaching the matter of employment in the only manner it will really work and that is through partnership.
The Democratic Party reiterates its position on this matter, namely that only through concerted efforts between labor and business will we see more of our people employed in careers of their choice and for those who seek such, mobility in the labor market, in other words new job opportunities.
In this context, the initiative by the Labor Department via their Start Here program, coupled with their support for the SHTA job fair and business initiatives such as those of the Maho Group of Companies, is the way to go if we are serious about placing more of our people in positions throughout St Read more

President Of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams: “Mps Waste Hundreds Of Guilders”

St. Maarten – “Every half hour wasted by Members of Parliament costs taxpayers nine hundred guilders. (15 x 60 is 900 guilders). This amount is close to what some persons in our community earn monthly after deductions. It equals the school fee for others. For yet others, it equals the monthly cost for day-care,” Democratic Party MP and President of parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams stated after a meeting of parliament did not take place on Monday morning due to a lack of quorum Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- During its review of the donation registrations of political parties, the Electoral Council noted that several parties received an excess of what is legally allowed in donations. Both the donors who exceeded the donation limit and the parties were informed about this matter in the month of June of this year. Three parties were requested to return excess donations as is stipulated by law and to submit evidence thereof to the Electoral Council. These parties are the Democratic Party, the National Alliance and the United People Party Read more

Important Meeting Of Statia Island Council Postponed

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - A meeting of the Island Council of St. Eustatius which was scheduled for Tuesday morning to debate the financial report among other pressing matters was postponed.

The meeting was at the request of the Democratic Party.

Speaking to our news department, leader of government on St. Eustatius and Councilman of the PLP, Clyde van Putten also told us that a proposal brought by the opposition to amend the agenda was voted down by the coalition government of the UPC/PLP Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever spoke out on Wednesday for the first time since he left the Democratic Party to form a government with the UPP political party in 2014 Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Today our young island nation is in a constitutional crisis because of the different interpretations of articles #33 and #59 of our constitution. The Council of Ministers has requested the opinions of various Dutch constitutional experts from the Hague. Our governor has taken the high road and requested three judges to provide an advice on this political impasse in five working days. We don’t know if the eight majority in the parliament of St. Maarten has acquired advice from any legal minds locally or from the Hague.
What bothers me is that time after time our elected officials especially those supporting the Council of Ministers have ridiculed the same Dutch for meddling in our internal affairs Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The eight Members of Parliament that now has the majority in Parliament told members of the media that the Governor of St. Maarten already made a clear decision on the current political situation. Leader of the National Alliance MP William Marlin said that the Governor Eugene Holiday clearly informed the Council of Ministers situation in 2013 is the same as the current situation because there is a majority in Parliament that are ready to form a government.
Marlin said the Governor told the Council of Ministers that the constitution of St Read more

>Simpson Bay:--- An early Sunday morning shooting has left one person dead. The shooting took place shortly after 9am Sunday morning by Robbie’s Lottery located at La Palapa building in Simpson Bay. Persons on the scene said the victim that was shot dead seems to be an employee working for Robbie’s Lottery and he apparently got shot while trying to open the business place. However, that could not be confirmed by anyone. SMN News further learnt that the victim is of Latino decent.
SMN News contacted Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson for confirmation on the shooting, Henson who was on the scene of the shooting said “I am not giving you any information Read more

De Weever cancels NA meeting, cites safety, security challenges

PHILIPSBURG--Second Deputy Chairman Cornelius de Weever has cancelled the Parliament meeting called by the new National Alliance (NA)-led coalition for today, Thursday, at 6:00pm citing in a letter to Members of Parliament (MPs) “the current safety and security challenges.”

The new coalition had decided to bypass submitting a request for a Parliament meeting to De Weever and had instead sent out on convocation letter on Wednesday to all MPs directly to attend an “urgent meeting” today.

The meeting had as its main agenda point the appointment of a chairperson, and a second deputy chairperson.

The letter, signed by the eight MPs of the new coalition, stated “in view of the recent developments” during meetings of Parliament, they have “all agreed” that today’s meeting would be chaired by MP George Pantophlet (NA).

De Weever in his letter to the MPs this afternoon said he took note of meeting time Read more