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Philipsburg Jubilee Library Celebrates 2022 Black History Month.

PHILIPSBURG:--- February is a month-long observance of Black History Month (BHM). Its a chance in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean to celebrate Black achievements. The celebration also provides a fresh reminder to take stock and understand Black Histories, going beyond stories of racism and slavery to spotlight Black achievement.

Most important for the Philipsburg Jubilee library here on Sint Maarten is that it allows persons, organizations, and schools to seize the moment to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black locals in various areas of endeavor throughout our history.

In line with the COVID-19 preventative measures, the Philipsburg Jubilee Library (PJL) presents this year a program with mainly virtual elements Read more

Exclusive: Gebe Supervisory Board Splits, Several Members Of The Sbod Acting Unethical.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The members of the Supervisory Board of GEBE could not stick together on Thursday when they met with CEO Kennrick Chittick and his lawyer Brenda Brooks. SMN News understands that most of the members of the SBOD abstained from voting since they are politically influenced.
Besides the split, SMN News understands that the chairman of the board Bienvenido Richardson found out that the recordings from all the SBOD meetings were leaked by the former Chairman Roy Marlin to the management board of GEBE Read more

Exlcusive: Roy Marlin Resigns As Chairman Of Gebe Supervisory Board.

Bienvenido Richardson appointed new chairman.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Former Member of Parliament and member of the Democratic Party Roy Marlin has tendered his resignation as the chairman of the Supervisory Board of GEBE. Marlin submitted his letter to the office of the Prime Minister on Tuesday morning.
SMN News learned that other members of the Supervisory Board of GEBE were having problems with Marlin since they believe Marlin was micromanaging Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism & Economic Affairs Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher will soon begin exploratory discussions to host an international film festival/film related event on St. Maarten. On the initiative of former Democratic Party Member of Parliament Roy Marlin, the Minister and her team were recently introduced to Lina Plath of the firm Frank PR (www.frankpublicity.com) who has expressed interest in developing a relationship with St Read more

Exclusive:-- Chairman Of Gebe Board Wants Management Board To Take Decision On Rehiring Of Steve Duzanzon.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Chairman of GEBE Supervisory Board Roy Marlin dispatched an email to the Management Board around 5:30 am on June 2nd requesting that the managing board take a decision on rehiring Steve Duzanzon whom he stated in his email have been trying to get re-employed by the company for 8 to 9 months now. Marlin in his email to the management board states that he is aware that the Minister of VROMI Christopher Emmanuel is against the re-hiring of Duzanzon but he wants to remind the managing board that is not the Minister’s prerogative but that of the management board.
According to the email which was copied to all members of the supervisory board, it states that Duzanzon did not steal from the company but was forced to make a settlement agreement by the former Managing Director Mr Read more

Exclusive: Gebe Paid Tpi Trainer $21,000.00 For Training For Management Team.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Workers of GEBE are up in arms because they found out that the company paid the TPI (Natasha Gittens) some $21.000.00 for a two-day training that was held at the Westin Resort sometime in January 2017. The training was for the management team and some supervisors.
According to information received is that the Gittens has good “friendship” with the CEO of GEBE Kennrick Chittick. The workers further stated that GEBE is a sponsor of TPI but Gittens is now employed at GEBE and while she is paid an enormous amount of monies they cannot get an increase in salaries Read more

Exclusive:--- Is The Minister Of Vromi Sleeping On The Job? What Is Going With Chairman Of Gebe Supervisory Board, When Will Buncamper Be Appointed?

Was agreement signed with AES in Dominican Republic for L&G Gas?

PHILIPSBURG: --- It appears as though the Minister of VROMI Christopher Emmanuel is sleeping on the job. There are numerous matters that need the Minister’s attention at the Government owned company GEBE.
The Minister is supposed to appoint a member to the Supervisory Board, already he selected Claudius Buncamper for the position but it is understood that the Minister is being blocked by at least one member of the Council of Ministers to make the appointment Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- Information reaching SMN News states that the chairman of the supervisory board of GEBE Roy Marlin has been hospitalized on Tuesday morning.
According to the information provided to SMN News states that Marlin was admitted Tuesday morning to the hospital with what appeared to be a minor stroke. However, the information on the condition of Marlin could not be confirmed Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- More skeletons are being found at GEBE that involves the internal auditor Sharine Daniel whose contract might be terminated after a hearing is held with her and the Supervisory Board of Directors.
According to information provided to SMN News GEBE received a huge invoice from BDO an auditing firm whose contract was terminated as of January 1st, 2015 by the former board of Supervisory Directors.
SMN News learnt that the former board terminated BDO because they felt the internal auditing department had sufficient staff and they were paying the main internal auditor NAF18,000.00 plus providing the person with a vehicle and other benefits and in their view the company did not need to pay an external auditor.
However, the temporary management of GEBE received an invoice from BDO and are digging to see who rehired the company.
A source within the company said that the former Temporary Manager Andrew Zaggers is the one who re-hired BDO to assist Sharine Daniel without informing the SBOD.
Besides that SMN News learnt that members of the Democratic Party are putting severe pressure on the Chairman of the SBOD Roy Marlin to pull back the decision the board took to terminate Daniel for breach of trust after she took the company to court for an NAF.2.000.00 salary cut she endured when her contract was renewed on January 13th, 2016.
According to sources with the company, the politicians that are supporting Daniel and her wrong doings refused to accept or even admit that Daniel abused the company and the government-owned company lost trust in her when she signed her working contract and shortly after took the company to court to contest the salary cut.
SMN News further learnt that while the SBOD took a unanimous decision last week to terminate Daniel, some of the board members are now back peddling and trying to lay the blame on one or two board members.
Another hot topic at GEBE that is being questioned is who is the Wartsila agent on St Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Supervisory Board of Directors of GEBE (SBOD) took a decision on Saturday to dismiss the company’s internal auditor Sharine Daniel who they hired when the board sat in June.
According to information provided to SMN News Daniel and her legal advisors agreed to a salary cut of NAF2000.00 when her contract was renewed on June 13th, 2016. At the time Daniel was not supposed to be working because she received a letter from the former Temporary manager Andrew Zaggers informing her that she is not to return to work on June 1st since her contract had expired Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- A fight that ensued between two men in the vicinity of Delta Petroleum Gas Station owned by former Member of Parliament Roy Marlin has left one of the men dead. The dead man is identified as Alexandro Hodge, whose mother passed away and he was living with his aunt who owns a bar in Dutch Quarter. Residents of Dutch Quarter said they know the young man and he is known to be a very quiet young man and that they are all shocked by his sudden death.
According to eyewitnesses the two men were engaged in a fight on Dutch Quarter main road when one of them got stabbed Read more

Priest Calls Marlin’S Statement Unprofessional And Disrespectful.

PHILIPSBURG:--- atements from Gebe’s top boss to the effect that clients should wait until problems are resolved as opposed to contacting the company for details, have been classed as disrespectful and unprofessional by leader of the One St. Maarten People Party Lenny Priest.
An article in the Thursday July 14th issue of The Daily Herald quoted Roy Marlin—chairman of the supervisory board of Gebe—as saying “there is no need for Gebe to come out and say, we’re having problems because the people see it and feel it” in response to a question regarding why the company does not inform the public of what the situation is as it occurs Read more

Exclusive: Gebe Has Over Half A Million In Court Fees To Pay.

Power Plant in total shambles, causing all day outages.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The government owned utility company GEBE has over half a million dollars in court fees to pay lawyers while the power plant is in a total mess causing constant power outages throughout the Dutch side of the island. The court fees also includes retainers fee for the attorney that represented the former board of directors that were contesting their dismissal from the company.
SMN News learnt that the Supervisory Board of Directors are being accused of dragging their feet and playing games when it comes to the appointment of persons to the operational board.
Besides that the Supervisory Board is also accused by workers and certain politicians for not acting swiftly enough to solve the problems that are causing the constant power outages throughout the Dutch side of the island Read more

Exclusive: Gebe Workers Opposes The Return Of Hr Manager Sasso Clifford Due To Gross Incompetence.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Employees of GEBE along with their union are forcefully fighting the reinstatement of the Human Resource Manager Sasso Clifford who won his court case a few weeks ago against GEBE.
The workers and union stated in a letter to the Supervisory Board of Directors, the Council of Ministers and Members of Parliament that Clifford is highly incompetent and that the company was not fully represented by the Temporary manager Andrew Zaggers since the two are friends.
SMN News learnt that Zaggers and Clifford would go to lunch in Simpson Bay and while the temporary manager, former CFO and COO had vital information of in-competence against Clifford it was not used in the court to defend the interest of the Government owned company.
The letter that was dispatched by the union to the Supervisory Board of Directors outlined the concerns of the employees Read more

Reliable Supply Of Electricity, Water Should Be Gebe's Main Concern – Says Gebe’S Supervisory Board.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The supervisory board of directors of GEBE N.V. held its first meeting on Saturday, June 11, since its appointment on June 1, 2016. Also present at the meeting were the Interim Manager of GEBE Mr. Andrew Zagers and the company’s attorney.

Supervisory Board Chairman Roy Marlin said that a number of household matters were discussed, including frequency of meetings etc Read more

Newly Installed Supervisory Board Of Gebe To Hold Their First Board Meeting On Saturday.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The seven persons that were appointed by the shareholder as Supervisory Board of Directors will be holding their first board meeting on Saturday morning at 9am.
SMN News learnt that the SBOD of GEBE began working behind the scenes as soon as they were appointed last week.
SMN News learnt that several employees of GEBE are running scared of the new board since they are asked to provide certain documents in order for the board to get a clear picture of what has been taking place at the government owned company.
The seven new members are as follows:-

1 Read more

GEBE  Supervisory Board of Directors lost court case.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Shareholder representatives of GEBE will be holding their shareholders meeting on Thursday morning May 26th 2016 as ordered by the Court of First Instance and they will dismiss the three remaining members of the supervisory board of directors namely, Rene Richardson, Ed Gumbs, and Zylena Barry. The shareholder will then appoint the seven new members of the board namely:-

1. Oral Gibbes
2. Tazio Bervoets
3 Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Shareholder representative of GEBE is expected to hear the three board members of GEBE Supervisory Board sometime next week. SMN News learnt that as soon as Prime Minister William Marlin and the Minister of VROMI Angel Meyers return to the island they will hear the three board members as advised by the Corporate Governance Council Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- Social & Health Insurances (SZV) has become the latest recipient of JetBlue’s ‘sweet cases’ on Friday, March 4th, 2016.
JetBlue donated fourteen ‘sweet cases’ (duffle bags), decorated by JetBlue staff members filled with stuffed animals, coloring books, crayons, and a toothbrush with a timer. The bags were presented to the SZV in the presence of the Minister of Public Health, Emil Lee Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever spoke out on Wednesday for the first time since he left the Democratic Party to form a government with the UPP political party in 2014 Read more

Amendment to budget approved, Vorst Property out of 2014 Budget.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The long awaited budget amendments to the 2014 budget were approved unanimously on Monday by the Members of Parliament that attended the meeting. However, Member of Parliament Roy Marlin submitted a motion to amend the budget amendments to remove the purchasing of the Vorst property. The motion submitted by MP Roy Marlin was accepted with seven votes in favor of the removal of the purchasing of the Vorst property while six members all from the UPP voted against the motion Read more

Second time Budget meeting could not be held --- UPP MPs not present.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Roy Marlin spoke out on Friday on the budget meeting that had to be postponed for the second time due to a lack of quorum. MP Marlin said that the chairlady of Parliament has not being following the rules of order. He said that the meeting is supposed to be called within 48 hours (2x24 hours).
Marlin said that St Read more

style="text-align: center;">NA, USp and DP Sign Governing Accord --- Rumors must be put to rest

PHILIPSBURG:--- Formation talks between three political parties that obtained seats in the Parliamentary Elections that were held on Friday are continuing. Early Saturday morning shortly after the election results were announced the leaders of the United St. Maarten People's Party, the National Alliance and the Democratic Party signed an agreement to work together to form the next Government of St Read more

Democratic Party Concerned about Zebec Claim.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Democratic Party is seriously concerned about the claim of US 100 million dollars, filed recently against the harbor group of companies. The risks associated with this claim can pose a serious threat to the survivability of this group of companies. When a company like the harbor has litigation claims pending against it, its bond holders, which includes the Central Bank of Curaçao and St Read more