Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The plenary session which was scheduled for Monday afternoon regarding developments at NV GEBE has been postponed until further notice.
The meeting was at the request of Members of Parliament of the National Alliance, namely Read more
PHILIPSBURG--Parliament’s plenary session on developments at utilities company GEBE, focusing on the ongoing dispute between the Supervisory Board and Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Managing Director Romelio Maduro about his position at the company, was adjourned to Monday afternoon, after Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Marcel Gumbs gave some perspective on Friday, but needed more documentation to answer questions posed by Members of Parliament (MPs).
The meeting was adjourned after Gumbs, as shareholder representative for the Government-owned company, gave a summarised overview of developments on the current dispute and questions were posed by National Alliance MPs William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs and Christophe Emmanuel Read more
PHILIPSBURG--Change the laws to impose harsher punishment for paedophiles and institute a sex offenders registry were among the calls the group Patrol to Eradicate Paedophilia (PEP) made to the Petitions Committee of Parliament on Thursday.
PEP's request for laws to be changed now heads to the Permanent Committee for Justice. Committee Chairman Member of Parliament (MP) Johan Leonard said he would call the Justice Minister to the committee after Parliament's July recess.
PEP representative Peggy Ann Dros-Richardson urged MPs to have Government boost its assistance to the Mental Health Foundation, to help the foundation increase awareness about paedophilia and have the required treatment for the mental disorder Read more
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Permanent Committee of Country's Expenditures (CLU) of Parliament met in a session on Tuesday with the Minister of Finance, the Honorable Martin Hassink.
The purpose of the meeting was to provide information to members of the CLU committee regarding the measures taken by the Government on the recommendation of the General Audit Chamber in its report on Compliance Audit of the 2012 Financial Statements of the General Pension Fund St. Maarten (APS).
Wh Read more
PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament George Pantophlet has called for Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten to give an update on when the renovation works on the St. Maarten branch will resume. The work on the building was stopped almost two months ago, after Central Bank ended its contract with the contractor Taliesin Construction NV.
Work on the building on W.J.A Read more
PHILIPSBURG--Parliament has sent Government back to the drawing board with the controversial draft National Ordinance on the establishment of an Integrity Chamber for the country.
Parliament sending Government back to make changes was not unexpected, as the majority of MPs had voiced their discontent with the draft when it was tabled in the Central Committee of Parliament about two months ago.
The reworking of parts of the law means the deadline of June 30 for Parliament to handle the law as stated in a recent protocol with the Dutch Government will not be met Read more
PHILIPSBURG--Controls by the Inspection Department of the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication TEATT are hindered because the measuring tanks – used to ensure gas stations are operating within the parameters set by government – have been in Curaçao since last year.
The concern was shared on Monday by Member of Parliament (MP) George Pantophlet via press statement Read more
PHILIPSBURG--The new board of the Windward Islands Civil Servants' Union/Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU) was installed during a well-attended ceremony at the union's office Friday evening.
In keeping with the theme of the event, which was "light," board members were given lit candles while the song "Carry your candle" was sung.
The executive board members are President Henrietta Doran-York; Secretary General Riegnald Arrindell; Treasurer Francisco Mariana and Vice President Julia Solognier.
Other members of the board who were installed were Winair pilot Dino Arrundell; Dr Read more
PHILIPSBURG--“Discriminatory†is how National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament William Marlin has described the naturalization process that requires passing tests in the Dutch language in order to gain Dutch citizenship.
Marlin said in Tuesday’s meeting of Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations that the situation warrants looking into by MPs possibly at the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultations IPKO next year.
“It is discrimination that only the Dutch language is applicable Read more
PHILIPSBURG--Fees for Dutch passports have been increased retroactively by Parliament. The fees are already charged to Dutch citizens applying for new passports or passport renewals since March 10, 2014. Monday’s approval of the amendments to the Stamp Ordinance was only a formality.
The amendments were unanimously passed in a Plenary Session of Parliament with very limited debate between Members of Parliament (MPs) and Prime Minister/General Affairs Minister Marcel Gumbs Read more
Dear Editor,
The dump (aka Mount Garbage) caught fire on May 2nd, 2015, and since then it has been emitting toxic smoke every day. That is well over 1 month (!) ago. Like many persons living and working in the greater Philipsburg area, I have also been suffering from frequent headaches and sore throat since the big fire. Depending on the wind direction, it can affect the entire Philipsburg area. On bad days, the smoke can even be smelled as far away as Caribbean Cinemas in Cole Bay/Simpson Bay.
It's therefore mind-boggling (but very telling) that up to now, no MP has raised the issue in Parliament and earmarked it as priority number one, as the smoke is poisoning a large part of the St Read more
President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, Vice President MP Hon. Cornelius de Weever, MP Hon Read more
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – A delegation from Sint Maarten's Parliament is currently in Aruba attending the Health Care Conference Aruba (HCCA) which is being held from June 1-3 at the Renaissance Convention Center.