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>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

Editorial: Creating Jobs

Members of Parliament love talking about creating jobs for the people. The latest cry is coming from MP Maurice Lake, the former Minister of Vromi, who urges the government to create work for local contractors.

It sounds sympathetic – no question about it – but when governments create work they are most likely whipping up jobs out of thin air that do not really exist Read more

Up Mp Lake Calls On Up Lead Government To Make Job Creation A Priority

St. Maarten –  “It is high time that Government and Parliament start empowering our local people to be tops where it concerns jobs and other relevant areas in the country,” UP MP and former Vromi Minister Maurice Lake said yesterday while contending that since his tenure as Vromi Minister not much is happening within the districts.

The UP MP has issued a call to the UP lead government to make use of local contractors in the various districts when it comes to district community improvement 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

First Meeting Ad Hoc Committee Integrity: Code Of Conduct Suddenly A Priority For Parliamentarians

St. Maarten – Thirteen years after former Lt. governor Franklyn Richards proposed it for the first time to the Island Council, the ad hoc committee Integrity of parliament met yesterday and named establishing a Code of Conduct for parliament a priority.

“I believe it is a priority for parliament to have a Code of Conduct,” committee-chairman Cornelius de Weever said.

The committee’s meeting was off to what felt like a reluctant start – the objective of this first meeting being to set the perimeters for the committee’s activities and responsibilities Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--– United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake would like Government to make use of local contractors in the various districts when it comes to district community improvement.

"As a duly elected representative of the people, I have a lot of persons approaching me that are not working, and not much is happening within the districts since I left office as the former Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (Minister VROMI) almost three months ago Read more

Mp Lake Calls On Government To Use Local Contractors In The Different Districts

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake would like Government to make use of local contractors in the various districts when it comes to district community improvement.

"As a duly elected representative of the people, I have a lot of persons approaching me that are not working, and not much is happening within the districts since I left office as the former Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (Minister VROMI) almost three months ago Read more

Chin Cactus no longer in a deplorable state

SUCKER GARDEN--Residents of Chin Cactus Road and Chin Cactus Drive can now enjoy long-awaited and much-needed improvements made to the roads, which had been in a continuous deplorable state that became increasingly frustrating.

One resident recently contacted The Daily Herald in order to show gratitude on behalf of the community to former Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake who he said pushed for the repairs to be done, as well as VROMI Maintenance Department Head Claudius Buncamper and Public Works Project Leader Alfredo Pantophlet who were both said to have kept good lines of communication with them and were always ready to assist when needed.

Buncamper explained to this newspaper that VROMI is now getting ready to take over the project as completed by the contractor, after some minor works are finalised Read more

SMHDF finance manager questions investigation

~ Says wrong persons investigating ~

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) Finance Manager Emilio Kalmera – in the midst of negative publicity, a court case and questions being posed concerning his credibility – has issued a press statement too long for The Daily Herald to print in its entirety that highlights what he calls questionable actions and says, “The reasoning for all this fiasco is more personal than anything else.”

Amongst other concerns, Kalmera said someone had been assigned to the board on the same day he and his colleagues were suspended; the audit was being carried out and supervised by the wrong persons; and former Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake had not stopped the investigations by Government Accounting Foundation SOAB.

Kalmera said he wanted to clear the air, especially after the March 11 article in this newspaper with the headline “SMHDF dumps Lynch for financial mismanagement” was published based on a press release by SMHDF attorney Jairo Bloem in which he announced that Director Henry Lynch’s service agreement had been dissolved as of February 4 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

Philipsburg- Windward Islands Bank employees received their USM specialized certificate “Towards an Associate of Arts Degree in Business Management for St. Maarten Professionals”.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The University of St. Martin (USM) collaborated with the Windward Islands Bank Ltd. (WIB) to offer its Middle Management employees a set of academic courses with the objective to update their skills in Business Administration, and offer them the opportunity to gain a USM's Associate of Arts degree.
The program for the WIB employees, which consisted of the components, Business and Marketing, Business Communication, Management and Human Resource Management, Accounting and Finance, was held at the training facility of the bank Read more

Wib Middle Management Employees Move Closer To Obtaining Associate Of Arts Degree At Usm

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Windward Islands Bank employees received their USM specialized certificate "Towards an Associate of Arts Degree in Business Management for St. Maarten Professionals".

The University of St. Martin (USM) collaborated with the Windward Islands Bank Ltd. (WIB) to offer its Middle Management employees a set of academic courses with the objective to update their skills in Business Administration, and offer them the opportunity to gain a USM's Associate of Arts degree.

The program for the WIB employees, which consisted of the components, Business and Marketing, Business Communication, Management and Human Resource Management, Accounting and Finance, was held at the training facility of the bank.

The USM instructors of the Hospitality and Business Divisions, Dr Read more

No quorum stalls housing meeting

PHILIPSBURG--The discussion in Parliament about developments at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) was stalled on Wednesday after insufficient Members of Parliament signed in for the meeting with ad interim Housing Minister Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. The meeting will be reconvened at a later date.

Six of the seven United People's (UP) party MPs were not present for the meeting.

Only seven of the 15 MPs serving in the legislature signed in for the meeting Read more

Lynch dismissal letter cites brothel expenditures with SMHDF money

PHILIPSBURG--Former managing director Henry Lynch's violation of the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation's (SMHDF's) entertainment allowance by more than NAf. 35,000 for the year 2014 included numerous brothel visits.

The full redundancy letter to Henry Lynch, served to him by SMHDF attorney Jairo Bloem on February 4, has come to light via an anonymous source, resulting in the emergence of more details about his actions used to justify the foundation's dissolving of his service agreement.

Details left out of a press release by Bloem based on said letter include examples of wrongful behaviour and excuses that were found not to be credible Read more

Parliament’s integrity needs to be assessed by ad hoc committee

PHILIPSBURG--"I think some type of assessment document should be proposed in the committee on areas that need to be assessed to form an assessment, because if Parliament has to assess itself we have to decide upon what we will be assessing ourselves." That statement from National Alliance (NA) deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Silveria Jacobs summed up Tuesday's meeting of Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee on Integrity.

The ad hoc committee, chaired by independent MP Cornelius de Weever, is set to meet again in two weeks, at which time committee members are expected to table a proposal on the way forward and give comments on the establishment of a Code of Conduct for Parliament.

De Weever submitted a proposal for a code of conduct he had formulated with elements of similar codes in place in the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago Read more

Plenary Session Of Parliament Scheduled For Wednesday About The St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on March 11. This session is the continuation of the initial session that was held on December 22, 2014 which is now being reconvened.

The Acting Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Marcel Gumbs, will be present for the public plenary session of the House of Parliament.

The plenary session is set for Wednesday at 10.00am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is the request to the Governments Accountants Bureau SOAB to carry out a forensic investigation into the operations of the St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  United People's (UP) Party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake is preparing to send a letter through the Chairman of Parliament to the Minister of Finance about getting rid of the expat ruling which is costing Government more than half a million guilders.

"As a country, Government has to get serious with the expat agreement Read more

Mp Lake To Look Into Expat Ruling. Local Professionals Need Improved Incentives

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – United People's (UP) Party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake is preparing to send a letter through the Chairman of Parliament to the Minister of Finance about getting rid of the expat ruling which is costing Government more than half a million guilders.

"As a country, Government has to get serious with the expat agreement Read more

Editorial: Clarion Call (University Of St. Maarten Needs Attention)

Member of Parliament Maurice Lake will ask today some attention for the University of St. Martin – a call that is long overdue.

That the university has been struggling for years to make ends meet is no secret to anybody. It is also no secret that successive government have make all kinds of demands on USM over the years but when it came to funding sorely needed courses, there was nobody home at Clem Labega Square.

We have no illusion that all this will suddenly change because one MP is drawing attention to the fact that the government finally has to take the university serious.

Nevertheless, there it is – a clarion call that should finally wake up some people Read more

Mp Lake Wants More Money For University

St. Maarten – United People’s party MP Maurice Lake has submitted a list of points for the plan of action of the permanent parliamentary committee for education, culture, youth and sports. The committee will meeting today to discuss a draft a plan of action for 2015.

Lake suggests that the government recognizes the University of St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  United People's (UP) Party Members of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake and Hon. Johan Leonard, attended a birthday thanksgiving service organized by Home Away from Home Taking Care of the Golden Age Foundation of Patsy Flanders.

The service was for seniors 80 years and older with the eldest celebrating her 96th birthday on Saturday.

The service was held in the John Larmonie Center and was conducted by Brother Nathaniel Richardson.

"It is always a blessing to be invited by the seniors of our country Read more