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style="text-align: center;">UPP Leader bit off more than he could chew --- political pundits.

PHILIPSBURG:--- With the political shambles within the United Peoples Party several persons such as Minister of TEATT Claret Connor and UPP candidate Julian Rollocks do not know what tomorrow will bring for them Read more

Former MP arrested for threats, firearms found

PHILIPSBURG--Former Member of Parliament Romain Laville was arrested on Thursday morning, following allegations made against him in two unrelated cases.

The first case concerns gun threats made against Isidore York, better known as steel pan musician Mighty Dow, in an argument over local artistes not having been paid the same rate as foreign artistes during an event Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- SMN News learnt that the Leader of the United Peoples Party Theodore Heyliger has given interim Minister of VROMI Marcel Gumbs the green light to sign off on the building permits for Taliesin Construction in order for the company to finalize the Fixed Based Operations (FBO) project at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) Read more

Parliament Ad Hoc Integrity Committee meeting stalled

PHILIPSBURG--The second meeting of Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee for Integrity stalled on Thursday, when sufficient Members of Parliament (MPs) failed to show up for the session to have a quorum.

Ad Hoc Committee Chairman Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Lloyd Richardson opened the meeting just to announce that three MPs were signed in and present in the General Assembly Hall of Parliament House Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Rainforest Adventure got steal of a deal in Long Least at Emilio Wilson Estate.

style="text-align: center;">Government stand to lose Naf1.6M per year --- Reliable Sources.

PHILIPSBURG: --- Rainforest Adventures allegedly got what one could describe as a steal of a deal from the interim Minister of VROMI Marcel Gumbs and Leader of the United Peoples Party Theodore Heyliger.
In an advice it is stated that Rainforest Adventures will get 375,000 square meters land in long lease at the Emilio Wilson Estate that the Government of St Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Maurice Lake Jumps back in order to take up VROMI Minister seat --- Where would this leave Minister Claret Conner? – Reliable Sources.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Maurice Lake seems to have gotten exactly what he wanted from the leader of the United Peoples Party in order for him to remain a member of the United Peoples Party and to keep the shaky coalition in-tact.
SMN News learnt that MP Maurice Lake wanted to remain in his position as the Minister of VROMI when the UPP/De Weever coalition was formed but his party leader Theodore Heyliger allegedly denied him his request stating that he did not do what he "Heyliger" wanted him to do while he was a Minister Read more

style="text-align: center;">People are fed up and wants to know what the UPP was Ready to do.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The four members of parliament from the National Alliance faction told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday that they would like to know what the United Peoples Party was ready for when they campaigned in 2014 Parliamentary elections and won seven of the 15 parliamentary seats Read more

St. Maarten advised to object to Sanction Law

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations has been advised by legal expert Ralph Richardson to object to the draft kingdom law regulating sanctions imposed by the European Union.

Richardson gave his advice in a meeting of the committee in Parliament House on Monday morning. He said if St. Maarten agrees to the kingdom law, the country "will no longer have the possibility to say anything about sanctions imposed."

St. Maarten will just have to take over EU sanctions with "no freedom of choice." He used the example of a sanction being imposed on a country with which St Read more

style="text-align: center;">Saunders Welcome Sign not paid for --- procedures were not followed.

PHILIPSBURG:--- There seems to be more in the mortar than in the pestle when it comes to the construction of the FBO section at the Princess Juliana International Airport. SMN News learnt that the Fixed Based Operations (FBO) project that have to be constructed at the Princess Juliana International Airport is creating more problems even though Taliesin Construction legally won the bid. According to information provided to SMN News some five companies were invited by PJIAE to submit their bids for the project Read more

Lake debunks talk about breaking UP

PHILIPSBURG--"Untrue and baseless" is how United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake described rampant "rumours" in the community about him being "involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs."

Since Friday, there has been persistent talk that spun into blogs about Lake breaking with this party over differences Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:----  United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake says the social media rumours and the story in a daily newspaper over the weekend where it mentions that he is involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs as untrue and baseless.

MP Lake who is currently off island says that he was informed about the rumours that started on Facebook and later moved to the blogs.

"There are individuals who sit in front of a computer everyday with nothing to do and try to create news by telling fibs that are untrue Read more

MP Maurice Lake Grievances goes deeper than anyone would imagine – VORST Estate is only a tip of the Iceberg.

style="text-align: center;">Building Permits not Signed by Acting Minister of VROMI --- Reliable Sources

PHILIPSBURG:--- The situation at the Ministry of VROMI is not only disturbing to the former Minister Maurice Lake now Member of Parliament whom it is said tendered his resignation from the United Peoples Party prior to leaving the island Read more

Up Mp Lake Says Social Media Rumours Untrue And Baseless. Lake Remains Loyal To Coalition

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake says the social media rumours and the story in a daily newspaper over the weekend where it mentions that he is involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs as untrue and baseless.

MP Lake who is currently off island says that he was informed about the rumours that started on Facebook and later moved to the blogs.

"There are individuals who sit in front of a computer everyday with nothing to do and try to create news by telling fibs that are untrue.

It is sad that many people go based on hearsay and social media chatter which are fabricated for amusement, but at the same time it creates uneasiness amongst the populace Read more

MP Maurice Lake pulls Support from Current Coalition --- All MP’s have major issues with UP Leader Theo Heyliger.

style="text-align: center;">Prime Minister plans to dissolve Parliament early next week to stop formation of another Government. Reliable Sources.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Several fractures in the United Peoples Party/ De Weever/ Marlin- Romeo and US coalition seems to be beyond repair that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs have decided that he will send a Landsbesluit to the Governor of St Read more

De Weever wears bullet-proof vest after Bosman statement

THE HAGUE--Member of St. Maarten Parliament Cornelius de Weever (independent) took safety measures, which included wearing a bullet-proof vest, late 2014 following threats against his person when he left the Democratic Party (DP) in support of the United People's Party (UP).

This became clear during a court injunction in The Hague on Friday by De Weever against Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party Read more

De Weever, Bosman face-to-face in court

   By Suzanne Koelega

THE HAGUE--In what can be called a historic case, Members of Parliament Cornelius de Weever of St. Maarten and André Bosman of the Netherlands faced each other in court on Friday on allegations of slander. De Weever took Bosman to court to have the latter retract his statements of bribery in a rectification in the newspapers.

Main reason for the court case, which took place in The Hague in De Weever's presence, was an article of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf published on September 29, 2014, headlined "Corrupt St Read more

EXCLUSIVE: MP Leona Marlin seeking to appoint Aunt’s Husband as Minister of TEATT.

style="text-align: center;">Henry Lynch is expected to become Chief of Cabinet – Government in Shambles – Reliable Sources.

PHILIPSBURG: --- Member of Parliament Leona Marlin- Romeo is expected to appoint the husband of her aunt Ernest Sams, a pensioner from GEBE as Minister of TEATT. SMN News has been reliably informed that MP Marlin- Romeo contacted two other persons who declined the offer. Those persons are the former wife of MP Maurice Lake Marla Shemont who is currently working at the Tourist Office citing that her family does not agree for her to take up the position Read more

Parliament approves 2011 annual accounts

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament unanimously approved the 2011 Annual Accounts of Government on Thursday. The approval comes three years after the period the accounts cover and well past the deadline stipulated by law.

The late tabling of the accounts was due to a severe backlog in the Finance Ministry; that backlog has since been cleared by current Finance Minister Martin Hassink who was at the plenary session of Parliament.

Hassink told the Members of Parliament (MPs) the backlog in the annual accounts is now a thing of the past Read more

Mp Tamara Leonard Calls On Women To Make It Happen

St. Maarten – United People’s party MP Tamara Leonard says the theme of International Women’s Day “Make It Happen” is a call to women on St. Maarten and all over the world to make more happen in their communities and a call to all women to strive for even more Read more

UP Faction and Coalition Partners Boycott Continuation Meeting on SMHDF

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The public meeting called by the Parliament of St. Maarten to further discuss the develepments at the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF)and SOAB saw a boycott from all members of the United Peoples Party faction including their coalition partners. Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever was seen in the House of Parliament before the 10h on Wednesday morning but disappeared when the meeting was about to start while MP Frans Richardson informed the chair of Parliament that he would be late for the meeting Read more

Romney’S Draft Electoral Ordinance Prohibits Going Independent

St. Maarten – Political analyst Julio Romney presented on Wednesday evening his proposal for electoral reform in the form of a draft electoral reconciliation ordinance. The draft contains two key differences with the current system. One is the way seats are distributed among the parties that contest the elections; the other is a ban for Members of Parliament to declare themselves independent.

Romney supports the D’Hondt system for seat distribution. In this system, the numbers of votes won by each party are divided by a series of increasing denominators – from 1 until as high as necessary to arrive at a result.

Using this method, the results of the 2014 elections would have been exactly the same in terms of seat distribution Read more