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Minister Lake updated on NV GEBE on Electricity Restoration.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake was updated Thursday afternoon by NV GEBE with respect to a small number of homes that are still without electricity in different districts since the passing of Hurricane Gonzalo.

The small number of remaining homes in the districts of St Read more

Minister Lake Calls On Residents, Community Councils And Civic Organizations To Help With National Clean-Up This Weekend

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake is calling on residents, community councils and civic organizations to come together this weekend to help clean-up the districts.

All residents are being urged to use the weekend to clean-up their yard and put out their hurricane related debris outside their yard or alongside the road Read more

GEBE issues reconnection schedule for problem areas

PHILIPSBURG--GEBE has announced that the few homes that remained without electricity following the passing of Hurricane Gonzalo either were reconnected last night or are scheduled to be reconnected by October 27.

The company met with Minister of Infrastructure Maurice Lake yesterday afternoon to update him on these homes.

GEBE said restoration of power to problematic connections in St Read more

Minister Lake Updated On Thursday By Nv Gebe On Electricity Restoration

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake was updated Thursday afternoon by NV GEBE with respect to a small number of homes that are still without electricity in different districts since the passing of Hurricane Gonzalo.

The small number of remaining homes in the districts of St Read more

MPs unanimously reject instruction

~ Motion to be sent to UN Decolonisation Committee ~

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) unanimously adopted on Wednesday a motion rejecting the instruction handed down by the Kingdom Council of Ministers to Governor Eugene Holiday for the execution of a boundless and limitless investigation into the backgrounds of candidate ministers, their families, friends, business associates and others.

Parliament is not in agreement with the instruction from the Kingdom Council, because the screening of candidate ministers is "not flawed Read more

Simpson Bay Residents Protested Silently in Parliament on Wednesday.

>SIMPSON BAY:--- Residents of Simpson Bay marched into the house of Parliament on Wednesday to silently protest against what they term as abuse of power and injustice.
One of the residents told SMN News that a parcel of succession land that is occupied by one Marlon Harley for some 28 years operating a mini boat yard. The resident of Simpson Bay said that Halley has legal authorization from one of the nine heirs that inherited the property from Melford Lejuez. The resident said of the nine heirs only one of them is living on St Read more

Analysis: Screening Of Candidate-Ministers Seems At Odds With Constitution

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – Screening? What screening? Nobody has asked this simple question yet, because everybody has been either busy and confused, or excited and angry about the humongous cloud of dust the Kingdom Council of Ministers created with its instruction to Governor Holiday for additional screening of candidate-ministers. One may well wonder which instruments the experts Minister Plasterk wants to send to St. Maarten have at their disposal to find something so wrong with one of the candidates that this will give reason to ban them from becoming a minister.

St Read more

St. Maarten Parliament Is Convinced That Screening Process Is Working: Motion Will Ask Governor To Reject Kingdom Instruction

St. Maarten – The United People’s party announced that it would table a motion that asks Governor Holiday not to go along with the instruction from the Kingdom Council of Ministers to execute additional screening of candidate-ministers for the new government. However, parliament adjourned until Wednesday morning after the first round. UP-leader Theo Heyliger told this newspaper that he had not delivered his final report about the new cabinet yet, even though yesterday was the deadline for his task as formateur.

A one-man protest action by Etienne Toochie Meyers – a representative of the movement People United for True Democracy – preceded the first meeting of the new parliament yesterday afternoon Read more

St. Maarten creates its own problem --- MP Emmanuel said he was offered $2m to jump ship and join the UPP.

style="text-align: center;">St. Maarten needs to fix its own house before trying to cross the ocean

PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel unleashed an unexpected bomb on the floor of Parliament on Monday afternoon during the urgent meeting of Parliament that was called to discuss the instruction given to Governor Eugene Holiday Read more

MP Lake said he is ready to fight for the rights of the peoples parliament and demand respect for the country constitution.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Hon. Maurice Lake of the United People's (UP) Party said he is not surprised by the instruction given to the Governor of Sint Maarten by the Kingdom Council of Ministers.
"Some of the Dutch Members of the Second Chamber of Parliament in The Hague, and some of our own, are on a witch hunt against this broad based Government which is following all rules and procedures as a collective unit to better serve our people Read more

Mp Lake Said He Is Ready To Fight For The Rights Of The Peoples Parliament And Demand Respect For The Country Constitution

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – Member of Parliament Hon. Maurice Lake of the United People's (UP) Party said he is not surprised by the instruction given to the Governor of Sint Maarten by the Kingdom Council of Ministers.

"Some of the Dutch Members of the Second Chamber of Parliament in The Hague, and some of our own, are on a witch hunt against this broad based Government which is following all rules and procedures as a collective unit to better serve our people Read more

 Lake On Gebe Outages: “We Can’T Continue To Live In The Dark Ages”

St. Maarten – “We can’t continue to live in the dark ages,” Vromi Minister Maurice Lake noted as he cited the current location of NV Gebe’s water transformer house in Cay Bay as a reason for the lengthy utility outage in the wake of hurricane Gonzalo.

While Lake commended the staff of Gebe, emergency personnel, contractors and others who have been working to restore the island back to pre-Gonzalo glory, for their dedication and resilience, the minister noted that he will be seeking a meeting with NV Gebe board and management to address certain issues.

First on Lakes list of issues that needs to be addressed is the Gebe Cay Bay water transformer house which he believes needs to be relocated and upgraded to meet the needs of the people.  “We can’t continue to live in the dark ages of having a transformer house right next to the sea when a hurricane or storm hits everything goes dark….transformer houses should be more protected around the country.

“We can’t have the community and businesses go two days without water due to oversights that could have been prevented.  I also would like for Gebe to improve and restructure their organizational chart structure of who is responsible for which department in-case of emergencies in order to better serve the community,” Minister Lake said.

Minister Lake apologized to consumers with respect to the loss of essential services such as electricity and water based on the passing of the category one hurricane Read more

Holiday says MPs play critical role to foster good governance

~ MPs sworn in ~

HARBOUR VIEW--The fifteen Members of Parliament (MPs) elected during the August 29 Parliamentary Elections took their oaths to serve in the presence of Governor Eugene Holiday on Friday.

Sworn in were United People's (UP) party MPs Theo Heyliger, Franklin Meyers, Silvio Matser, Tamara Leonard, Maurice Lake, Lloyd Richardson and Johan "Janchi Leonard; Democratic Party (DP) MPs Sarah Wescot-Williams and Cornelius de Weever; United St Read more

15 New Mps Take The Oath Friday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The swearing in ceremony of the 15 parliamentarians to govern the country for the period 2014/2018 took place on Friday morning.

The ceremony was held at the Governor's office at Harbor View. Taking the oath were members of the National Alliance William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs, George Pantophlet and Christopher Emanuel, the United People Party, Theo Heyliger, Dr Read more

Sarah, Leona join UP/De Weever to form broad-based government

PHILIPSBURG--Outgoing Prime Minister and Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams and United St. Maarten Party Member of Parliament (MP)-elect Leona Marlin-Romeo have joined the United People's (UP) party/De Weever coalition to form a broad-based government for 2014-2018.

The two new coalition members signed on to the existing UP/De Weever governing accord as "addendum two and three" on Thursday, paving the way for a majority of 10 seats in Parliament.

The news of, in particular, Marlin-Romeo joining the coalition comes after much speculation about this possibility taking place even after she publicly had denied any such intentions Read more

Court Puts Vorst-Ruling On Ice

Family has to wait for decision on appeal

St. Maarten – The government does not have to pay the Vorst-family immediately for the estate in Cay Hill for which Vromi-Minister Maurice Lake signed a purchase agreement for $5.5 million. On August 21, the Court in First Instance ruled in summary proceedings that the Vorst-family had a valid purchase agreement and that the country had to pay $3 million within four days and the remaining $2.5 million according to the contract Read more

Heyliger weighs in on integrity report

PHILIPSBURG--United People's (UP) party leader Member of Parliament (MP) Theo Heyliger on Sunday issued a statement on the integrity report compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on instruction from Governor Eugene Holiday.

He said some were attempting to paint a picture of "an unwilling St Read more

Minister Lake says we need to raise the bar of politics. Says he supports implementation of integrity report recommendations.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake says we need to raise the bar of politics to a higher level.

"The voting population sent a strong message in this year's parliamentary elections to the candidates and also to the leaders of the different political parties Read more

Minister Lake Says We Need To Raise The Bar Of Politics. Says He Supports Implementation Of Integrity Report Recommendations

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake says we need to raise the bar of politics to a higher level.

"The voting population sent a strong message in this year's parliamentary elections to the candidates and also to the leaders of the different political parties.

The people are looking for better representation, and the way the people's business is being handled should be in an open and transparent manner which I fully support.

"We need to raise the bar for the next four years and take care of our people Read more

Thompson Concerned About Economic And Environmental Sustainability

St. Maarten –Rueben Thompson of the United St. Maarten party expressed his concerns for St. Maarten’s future environmental and economic sustainability under the governance of current Minister of Vromi Maurice Lake and the newly-formed UP coalition, which will constitute the new government, saying, “We’re slaughtering the goose that lays the golden egg.”

“I’m very concerned about the plans for the protection of our natural and cultural heritage Read more

Parliament Takes Vorst Estate Purchase Out Of 2014 Budget

St. Maarten – The Parliament approved a motion to take a $5.5 million provision for the purchase of the Vorst Estate out of an amendment to the 2014 budget with 7 votes to 6. This blocks the purchase of the land, for which Vromi-Minister Maurice Lake signed an agreement in February of this year, but it does not absolve the country of liability towards the Vorst-family, because the Court in First Instance has already ruled that the purchase-agreement Lake signed is a valid one.

The meeting to handle the budget amendment has a long history Read more

Vorst land purchase to be omitted from 2014 budget amendment

~ Roy's amendment to budget amendment passed ~

PHILIPSBURG--An amendment to remove the purchase of the Vorst Estate property from a budget amendment tabled by Finance Minister Martin Hassink was passed during a public plenary session of parliament on Monday.

It was the third time the meeting had been convened to handle this and other issues. The first two meetings were cancelled due to lack of quorum. The motion, which was tabled by Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Marlin, was passed by seven of MPs voting in favour of the amendment and six voting against it.

Supporting the motion were author Roy Marlin, National Alliance (NA) MPs William Marlin, Hyacinth Richardson, George Pantophlet and Louie Laveist and Independent MPs Frans Richardson and Romain Laville Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake on Monday visited a road paving project in the residential district of St. Peters.

The secondary roads that are scheduled to be paved are Guavaberry, Marigot Hill and Sugar Apple Road.

"The work is progressing and local sub-contractors are involved in the work Read more

Minister Lake Visits Road Paving Projects Throughout Districts

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake on Monday visited a road paving project in the residential district of St. Peters.

The secondary roads that are scheduled to be paved are Guavaberry, Marigot Hill and Sugar Apple Road.

"The work is progressing and local sub-contractors are involved in the work Read more