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What Would Claude Have Said About Sint Maarten Today?

United People’s Party (UP) Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Theodore Heyliger on the occasion of the birthday of his grandfather Dr. A. C. “Claude” Wathey’s wreath laying ceremony asked the question what his grandfather would say about Sint Maarten today if he was around.

The ceremony took place at the statue of Dr Read more

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PHILIPSBURG: --- The United Saint Maarten Peoples Party (USP) presented another four candidates on Thursday that will be contesting the September 26th 2016 elections. Those that were presented are Benjamin Kelly, Martin Wilson, Shenelle Brownville, and Raphael Brooks.
At the launching on Thursday President of the USP introduced the four candidates, two of which ran on the United Peoples Party slate in 2010, they are Kelly Benjamin and Shenelle Brownville.
Benjamin said he has a lot to offer and to help move St Read more

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“Back And Forth Bickering Between Na And Upp Over Gebe, But No Solution In Sight!”

PHILIPSBURG – It is the people of St. Maarten who are continuing to suffer while the heated debate over who is most responsible for the current GEBE woes continues between the National Alliance (NA) and the United Peoples Party (UPP), noted leader of the One St. Maarten People Party (OSPP) Lenny Priest, who opined that workable solutions are what the country needs and not “high school antics from elected officials.”

Priest was reacting to recent media statements on the situation at GEBE from the board of NA who alleged “it seems every time that government or government-owned companies needs to make a significant purchase some family or friend is involved in some way or the other,” and to statements by the UPP alleging that it was the NA who stopped the purchase of the engine needed by GEBE.

“This constant back and forth between the largest political parties over what has happened at GEBE under their tenure with accusations of nepotism and the like levied against each other is in no way a solution to the problem Read more

Up Mp Franklin Meyers Blasts Gov’T On Gebe

St. Maarten News—United People’s Party (UP) member of Parliament Franklin Meyers blasted the government for what he terms a mismanagement of power company GEBE in light of the latest string of power outages on the island. “This is unbelievable! The mismanagement of GEBE goes beyond party politics Read more

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Consumer’S Right To Know Thrown Out By New Nv Gebe Board. Transparency Becomes A Vail Of Secrecy

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten -  United People’s Party (UP) Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Theodore Heyliger says that reports on the purchasing of new generators for NV GEBE have been on the table awaiting a decision. 

The policy of the current Government and which is being pursued by the new Board is to give Government Naf.30 million from NV GEBE reserves to spend for the elections and have the company contract a loan to purchase a new generator.

“All studies were done so it was mainly to execute, and now the new board is trying to play the blame game with no foresight for the company. 

It was a National Alliance led coalition motion last year that stalled any decision-making on the purchasing of a new generator when the UP-led coalition was in Government, which left the country sitting and waiting in the dark, which continued up until last week Monday.

“The only thing that the new chairman of the NV GEBE board said since he was appointed was that NV GEBE should pay dividend to the Government.  I warned since last year about the failure to prepare with the acquisition of a new generator for the power plant Read more

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14 Political Parties Registered To Contest September 26Th Elections

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Some 14 political parties, including the Democratic Party, the United People’s Party, the United St. Maarten Party and the National Alliance have registered at the Electoral Council as political organizations to contest the scheduled September 26th parliamentary elections.

Initially, there were some 15 parties to contest the elections; however, one party opted to drop out Read more

Franklin Meyers (Up): “Coalition Left Mp Lake Totally Out In The Cold”

St. Maarten News – Member of Parliament Maurice Lake and his appointed Vromi-Minister Angel Meyers were left totally out in the cold yesterday afternoon when the majority of Lake’s coalition members failed to show up for a parliament meeting to pass a law brought by the MP’s minister, United People’s party deputy leader MP Franklin Meyers said in a press statement.

“This is a very clear case of actions speak louder than words and the action in this case is a resounding vote of no confidence in MP Lake’s minister and a total lack of support for the MP himself Read more

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Gracita Arrindell Leads Ppa In Elections

~ Has orange become  the new green? ~

Source: Today Newspaper

GREAT BAY – “Lack of leadership, not sticking to commitments and turning their back on the people of St. Maarten,” said Gracita Arrindell yesterday about her reasons for leaving the United People’s Party and returning to the revived People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) as its leader for the September 26 parliamentary elections Read more

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One Year After Appeal No New Date For Vote Buying Trial

St. Maarten News – While the parliament engaged this week in a rather senseless second round of debate about – mostly – the term vote buying, the election fraud case that rocked St. Maarten in 2014 and led to accusations of class justice has seemingly come to a complete standstill.

In August 2014, the Court in First Instance ruled that the prosecutor’s office had called upon itself “the semblance of class justice” by prosecuting four police officers and a representative of the United People’s party for selling and buying votes ahead of the 2010 parliamentary elections, while UP-leader Theo Heyliger was not dragged into court Read more

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Up Welcomes Ppa To Political Process For September 2016 Parliamentary Elections

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – The United People's Party (UP) Board President Sylvia Meyers, would like to congratulate the People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) Drs. Gracita Arrindell for joining the political process in order to participate in the September 2016 parliamentary elections.

Meyers added that Arrindell was a member of the UP and ran with the party twice as the #2 candidate on the party slate, and on both occasions the former Member of Parliament lacked in votes to justify the position that she was given such as the first President of the Parliament of Sint Maarten.

“This is not a lack of leadership as brought forward by Arrindell during her press conference that the UP is lacking, far from it, it was about putting the best people in the top positions to run our country.  The UP is about opportunity for the people along with the improvement in the quality of life of all the people, and not just a few. 

“The unfortunate insinuations and mudslinging by the PPA lacks any substance.  The UP Party leader Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger, has displayed leadership throughout his political career, and with the most recent being, putting together a two-thirds majority in parliament of 10-seats in order to provide a stable government for the people of the country to prosper.

“However unfortunately, there were those who decided to take another path and the 10-seat two-thirds majority became history.  The UP Party remains committed to the people of the country, and the people are well aware of who turned their backs on them and Sint Maarten, and will decide their fate at the September polls Read more

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Rationale For Elections Falls Apart As Kingdom Council Opposes To The Changes In Electoral Reform Proposed By St. Maarten.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Kingdom Council of Ministers expresses serious doubt over “ship jumping” solution proposed by St. Maarten. The law of “unintended consequences” raises its ugly head as the Kingdom Council gave a negative advice on the changes to be made in the country’s constitution which would have addressed the so-called ship jumping.

The Kingdom Council of Ministers has informed the Prime Minister of St. Maarten that their proposed changes to the constitution to stop ship jumping will not work since it will hinge on democracy within parliament.

They pointed out that if an MP jumps ship the remaining members might not be able to form a majority, while no new ministers could be appointed since the member who jumped ship is not allowed to nominate a minister Read more

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Gracita Arrindell Leads Ppa In Elections: Has Orange Become The New Green?

St. Maarten News – “Lack of leadership, not sticking to commitments and turning their back on the people of St. Maarten,” said Gracita Arrindell yesterday about her reasons for leaving the United People’s Party and returning to the revived People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) as its leader for the September 26 parliamentary elections Read more

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Theo Heyliger Criticizes Government For Repeated Power Outages

Some Gebe generators are in a bad condition. Photo Today / Hilbert Haar

St. Maarten News – The seemingly extensive mechanical and other problems faced by the Gebe power plant are taking a toll on the economy and putting additional stress on residents, United People’s party leader MP Theo Heyliger said in a press statement.

“Residents and businesses have had to deal with frequent power outages for going on two weeks and there has been no clear indication from government about what is going on Read more

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Mp Frans Richardson Sounds The Alarm: Social Media Messages: Kill The Prime Minister

St. Maarten News – Messages on social media suggest killing the prime minister, members of parliament and their corrupted friends, MP Frans Richardson said during a meeting of parliament about vote buying. While Richardson considered there threats far more important than the issue of vote buying, no other MP even reacted to his statement.

“I am going to protect myself and my family,” Richardson said Read more

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Up Party Board Refutes Mp Lake Statement On Payment Of Dues

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten – The Board of the United People’s Party (UP) has taken note of a statement made by Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake on Sunday at a press conference concerning the payment of party dues.

UP candidates who ran in the 2014 parliamentary elections were asked to make a monthly contribution to the party in the form of dues in order to cover the costs of campaign material for the candidates.

Each candidate signed the automatic bank transfer authorization, but if MP Lake had looked carefully at his bank statements, he would have noticed that nothing was deducted from his bank account.

MP Maurice Lake also has not officially resigned from the UP Party as we have nothing officially on file.

The UP Board emphatically states that the Party has not received any dues paid in cash or by cheque or via bank transfer into the UP Party bank account since Lake has been an MP.

The UP Board finds it very strange that MP Lake would make such a public statement when he knows that it is baseless Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Maurice Lake has put all rumors to rest at a press conference on Sunday when he joined the leader and members of the United People’s Party (USP) and announced that he will be contesting the September 26th elections on the USP slate Read more

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Exclusive: Upp Leader Seeking Building Permit To Construct Marina And Boardwalk In Simpson Bay.

Department of VROMI issues negative advice, since developer does not have the land in long lease.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the United Peoples Party Theodore Heyliger through the company SBL applied for a building permit to construct a marina and boardwalk in Simpson Bay Read more

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Up And Na, Shadowboxing About Education On The Move!

Every budget over the last ten years and beyond shows that education consumes the greatest part of it. But instead of things getting better, our education product is lagging far behind. We have been reading about so many problems within our public educational system that it makes us hold our head and bawl.

All indications are that our private schools are being better managed. We are therefore, somewhat surprised that after so many years of talking about it, no decision has been made to date to privatize public education.

Our largest secondary school, if media reports are correct, is planning to establish an English curriculum because we are not having sufficient students stream into the Dutch system at that school Read more

Mp Leonard: Regulation Welcomed, But Only Existing School Bus Drivers Should Be Considered

PHILIPSBURG – United People’s Party (UPP) Member of Parliament (MP) Tamara Leonard said she is a strong proponent of regulating and properly structuring the school bus system, but she is against any move by Government to undercut existing school bus drivers.

Leonard said the bidding process for the supply of school bus services should only be open and available to existing school bus operators Read more

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Up Party Board Supports Position By Up Mps And Independents To Resolve Sint Maarten Government Crisis And Provide Stability

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten -– The Board of the United People’s Party (UP) supports the position taken by UP Members of Parliament (MPs) and Independent MPs Cornelius de Weever and MP Leona Marlin-Romeo, also known as the Super Seven, with respect to the current political situation that the country finds itself in.

The options are very reasonable and in the interests of the country in moving forward.  The question is, will the Marlin Government show political maturity in working with the opposition for the sake of the country?

The Leader of the UP Party MP Theo Heyliger has presented options of stability for the country.  At the moment the country is paralyzed and it seems that the Marlin Cabinet will wait it out until the MP who supports the Marlin Cabinet coalition is released from police detention.

Should the functioning of Government be halted at the expense of the ongoing detention of the MP who supports the Marlin Cabinet?  Government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations, and the country at large, eagerly await the finalization of the draft 2016 budget Read more

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Mp Lloyd Richardson Doing Everything Possible To Secure His Brother's Garbage Contract Even At The Expense Of His First Cousin.

UPP Leader wants to maintain Port de Plaisance agreement.

PHILIPSBURG:---- While MP Hyacinth Richardson was the first MP to ask MP Lloyd Richardson to support the draft 2016 budget and to stop rejoicing over the arrest of MP Silvio Matser because they are first cousins.
SMN News understands that MP Lloyd Richardson agreed to support the draft 2016 budget if he is given a guarantee that he will get his brother’s garbage collection contract renewed, while the leader of the United Peoples Party Theodore Heyliger wants to maintain the agreement the former government has with Port de Plaisance for land that is zoned for a parking area.
Wanting to control at least three of the government owned companies will also give certain politicians the rights to dictate and spend the monies these companies have aside for projects.
There is a saying if someone does the crime, certainly they should also do the time, another is everyone is innocent until proven guilty Read more

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“I want to make clear that there is a government in place, all I wanted is support to approve the 2016 draft budget”

PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister William Marlin dispelled the allegations and rumors and even statements made during a radio program on Friday that he went tried to form a government on Thursday with the United Peoples Party 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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Opinion: The Spirit Of Giving

Sometimes, initiatives that may have started with the best of intentions are raising eyebrows. Such is the case with the “giving back to the community” initiative of parliamentarian Leona Marlin-Romeo – and we’d like to place this in the context of 2016 – an election year.

We are all familiar with the vote buying scandal dating back to 2010 when a couple of police officers sold their vote for $300 a pop to the United People’s party Read more

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