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Request for Parliament meeting on protocol submitted by Govt

PHILIPSBURG--The Marcel Gumbs Cabinet has submitted its request to Parliament for a meeting to discuss the protocol on the establishment of the integrity chamber for the country signed by Justice Minister Dennis Richardson with Dutch Home Affairs Minister Ronald Plasterk two weeks ago in The Hague. No date has yet been set by Parliament for the meeting.

Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Richardson met with the press in A.C Read more

Kurdish party thwarts Erdogan's ambitions with election advance

ANKARA--Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of assuming greater powers suffered a major setback on Sunday when the ruling AK Party he founded failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election for the first time.

Erdogan, Turkey's most popular modern leader but also its most divisive, had hoped a crushing victory for the AKP would allow it to change the constitution and create a more powerful U.S.-style presidency. To do that, it would have needed to win two-thirds of the seats in parliament.

Instead, it has been left unable to govern alone for the first time since it came to power almost 13 years ago Read more

Response to Mr. Ferrier on ‘What a democracy we live in’

Dear Editor,

Upon reading the newspaper this past Friday, June 5, I came across an interesting article submitted by Mr. Michael J. Ferrier. The article was titled "What a democracy we live in"

What is a Democracy?

Democracy is defined as the following:

a) A form of government in which the people choose leaders by voting.

b) An organisation or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights.

Now that we all understand the meaning of the word, let's move on to the subject matter at hand:

*MP Frans G Read more

Editorial - Think big, start small

That emotions reportedly ran high during Thursday night’s meeting with local bus and taxi drivers may have had something to do with the recent special controls on public transportation operators (see Saturday paper). The Control Unit checked 14 buses and had two towed, while fines were issued for driving without a permit and even for being improperly dressed, among other things.

Legitimate operators actually should be happy with these actions. After all, there have been many complaints about illegal competition from so-called “gypsy drivers.”

Better regulating the industry and enforcing the rules also was a topic during the consultation with stakeholders by Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Claret Connor and his team Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Interpol St. Maarten as part of the St Maarten Police Force, in cooperation with the St. Maarten office of the Attorney General Mr. Taco Stein, made 2 arrests on Friday June 5th 2015 around 03.50 p.m. in the area of Cole Bay.
On request of the Department of Justice in Miami USA, two British citizens were arrested in a case of involuntary manslaughter and false official statements, committed in the period of 2011/2012.
The arrested suspects are a 50 year old man with initials C.J and a 47 year old woman with the initials A.G Read more

style="text-align: center;"> Academy Sweeps Young King Awards!

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten:--- The third SXM Weekend of POWER was exactly that, powerful! The team of GIFTED and the artistes on the Caribbean Gospel Music Tour held entertaining motivational talks in seventeen schools in two days. These were followed by two free concerts in the Belvedere community –Daughters of Zion, and the Sons of Thunder concerts. The finale, ‘A Betta Tomorrow SXM’ Concert and Young King Awards was held at Port de Plaisance on Sunday Read more

style="text-align: center;">PJIAH has to send letter of Apology to COM in order for them to continue processing the file.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs who is the acting Minister of VROMI said that he was accused of holding up the building permits the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) submitted for the Food Based Operations and fire station building Read more

EXCLUSIVE:-- MP's wants Government to extend garbage contracts and not put them on bidding – Efforts being made by MPs to remove Buncamper.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Several Members of Parliament that have family members that have garbage collection contracts with government met sometime last week to discuss how they will by-pass the bidding process this year for the collection of garbage, a source close to the MPs told SMN News.
SMN News learnt some Members of Parliament wants to remove Claudius Buncamper from his post because he is the one that has to put the collection of garbage on bid, which Buncamper intends to do because that is what the law dictates.
However, certain MPs that are related to the persons who hold garbage collection contracts do not want to go through the bidding process but simply extend the contracts that were issued in May 2011, those contracts will expire in May 2016 Read more

Parliament still have the right to either accept, reject or make changes to the Integrity Chamber Protocol. Signed Protocol Eliminates Higher Supervision – Minister Dennis Richardson.

style="text-align: center;">Should a motion of no confidence be brought against Minister of Justice then it’s a motion of no confidence against the Council of Ministers--- PM Gumbs.

PHILIPSBURG: --- At a press conference held by Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson on Sunday on the protocol Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson signed two Saturday’s ago in the Netherlands on behalf of the Prime Minster Marcel Gumbs, both Ministers said that the Parliament of St Read more

10 Civil Servants Complete National Database Training Workshop

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – Ten civil servants from the Government of Sint Maarten has completed five days of training in a Basic User and Database Administration workshop.

The workshop started June 1st and concluded on June 5th.

Organized by the National Development Plan (NDP) team from the Department of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BAK), the implementing agency for NDP project, the 10 civil servants now have the knowledge to work with the country databases SintMaartenInfo and CensusInfo Sint Maarten.

A follow-up training will be the next step – training the trainers – that will enable the 10 civil servants to assists others in learning how to utilize the database system.

Representatives from the Department of Statistics will also in the near future travel to the United States (New York) for a more advanced training at a Learning Lab.

Representatives of the various ministries now know how to create and manage databases within their ministry and how to upload their processed data into SintMaartenInfo for all stakeholders inside and outside of government to use - search for data, produce objects like tables, graphs and maps for presentations and reporting purposes to regional and international entities.

The Secretary Generals of the seven ministries were given a presentation on Wednesday morning and they were pleasantly surprised by what SintMaarteninfo looked like and the amount of data that was already in the database.

The information included Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) data as well as population and housing census data Read more

Prime Minister Gumbs Attends 16Th Annual Walk For God’S Mercy And Protection

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – Prime Minister Hon. Marcel Gumbs on Saturday evening attended the 16th Annual ‘Walk for God’s Mercy and Protection’ that was organized by the St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in collaboration with the Divine Mercy Charismatic Prayer Group.

Citizens of the country took part in the walk which was organized in connection with the 2015 Atlantic Hurricane Season and any other disaster or calamity that may occur during the remainder of the year.

Prime Minister Gumbs told the gathering during the praise and worship session to stay focused on God; to pray for tranquillity and stability; to always be civil with one another; and to seek God’s protection for the hurricane season and any other disaster that may occur.

Participants met at the Cyrus Wathey Square in front of the Courthouse in Philipsburg.  After praise and worship, those in attendance walked through Front and Back Street and back to the Square.

In Photo: Prime Minister Hon Read more

Dp Leader Prefers Integrity Chamber Created By St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Would the Parliament of St. Maarten prefer to have an Integrity Chamber created by the Dutch Government as opposed to creating one themselves?

Leader of the Democratic Party of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot-Williams stated that they are in support of an Integrity Chamber created by the Parliament of St Read more

Council Of Mnisters Stands Behind Integrity Protocol Says Pm

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Council of Ministers is standing behind the Minister of Justice and the protocol he signed with the Dutch government for an Integrity Chamber.

The Prime Minister the Honorable Marcel Gumbs stated that if the Parliament of St. Maarten gives the Minister of Justice a vote of no confidence based on the Int Read more

Collectivité convenes its annual hurricane preparedness meeting

MARIGOT--The annual hurricane preparedness meeting took place in Hotel de La Collectivité Friday morning with all the relevant persons and departments to assess the readiness of the territory in the event of a hurricane strike.

The meeting was presided over by President Aline Hanson, the Préfecture's Chef de Cabinet Emmanuel Effantin and for the Collectivité, Charlotte Terrac, in charge of the crisis unit for natural risks.

The objective was to assess the current resources available to deal with a hurricane strike and the needs of each department Read more

No decision by USP to remove minister

PHILIPSBURG--United St. Maarten Party (USP) has not made a decision to remove Justice Minister Dennis Richardson from his post.

Instead, party leader Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson is set to meet the Justice Minister next week to discuss the agreement signed by the Minister with the Dutch Kingdom Government on the establishment of the Integrity Chamber for St Read more

style="text-align: center;">Where is the Supervisory Board?

Airport:--- Ten more days to go and the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) may have to face serious penalties if they defaulted on the bonds they have secured for various projects. The bonds SMN News understand stands at $160M which had to be used up since 2014, but the lack of the building permits for the Food Based Operations (FBO) and fire station may well place the government owned company in a real predicament. One of things that can happen the bonds can be recalled because the funds were not used during the time frame in which it had to be used and PJIAE will also have to pay the interests and face a penalty while losing its financial credibility.
According to information SMN News received PJIAE signed a number of agreements and concessions with several stakeholders in order to recoup the cost of the FBO project Read more

style="text-align: center;">Party remains steadfast on their decision to remove Minister of Justice from Office

PHILIPSBURG:--- The members of the USP board headed by MP Frans Richardson have decided that the party leader MP Frans Richardson will meet with the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson early next week as SMN News reported earlier Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Politicians wanted Justice Minister to Rent Certain Buildings in St. Johns (UPDATED)

style="text-align: center;">Minister of Justice took seven months to respond to proposal that was submitted to his Ministry.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Indebt investigation as to really why certain politicians wants to get rid of the current Minister of Justice showed that certain politicians wanted the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson to rent some buildings that are being constructed in St. Johns area.
SMN News learnt that the politicians that were behind the Minister of Justice to rent these buildings that presently being constructed were to house the MOT, National Archives, a Police Sub-station and the Landsrecherche.

Further research showed that the developer was supposed to construct a building on a parcel of land that belonged to Claudette Labega on L.B Scot Road which is located opposite the De Weever’s property Read more

Emil Lee Attending Cto Meeting In New York

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Emil Lee is currently in New York.

The tourism executive is there for meetings of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) aimed at strengthen their private/public sector relationship.

The meetings are also taking place at a time when Car Read more

Editorial - Hands-off approach

It may not seem that important, but two Supervisory Board members at Curaçao’s ABC Bus Company were ordered to pay back an allowance they had given themselves to take over the daily management (see related article). They had done so after the director suddenly died in January, leaving the government-owned entity without a Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The duo reasoned that as a result of Corporate Governance it would take quite some time before a successor could be appointed and the work had to continue in the meantime Read more

Heated public transport feedback leaves TEATT ‘a lot to work with’

PHILIPSBURG--Thursday night's stakeholder consultation on public transportation aimed at taxi and bus drivers was jam-packed and showed pent-up frustration on the side of attendees in the question and answer section, which took up the majority of time.

However, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Claret Connor concluded by saying the team had been given "a lot to work with, which was needed for more than one reason" and called it an "opportunity .. Read more

Book Fair opens with presentation of authors

MARIGOT--The 13th Annual St. Martin Book Fair with the theme this year “The Word” opened at the new media library in Concordia last night with a captivating address by keynote speaker Tishani Doshi, the award-winning Indian author, poet, novelist, dancer and journalist.

Her study on the way we use words, their meanings, their impact, brought them to life in a rich, poetic way that was enlightening and insightful. She is also the first author from India who has been published by House of Nehesi Publishers.

“We become strong by our words even though in life we may be sick or weak Read more

Semsamar managing directors past and present under judicial control

MARIGOT--Director General of Semsamar Marie-Paule Bélénus-Romana and her predecessor Jean-Paul Fischer were taken into 48-hour custody in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, on Monday, where they were placed under judicial control and "mise en examen."

On Wednesday, they appeared before a Judge of Instruction. The Judge's decision was based on "suspicion of conflicts of interest, misappropriation of funds and favouritism."

The development is the latest in a three-year investigation into the operations of Semsamar, and follows various revelations that emerged from the so-called Milos report and audit of the company Read more

Pentagon chief gathers diplomats, brass for Russia strategy talk

STUTTGART--U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday the situation with Russia had taken a "sad turn" and he was gathering U.S. military leaders and diplomats to assess the effectiveness of NATO strategy toward Moscow in response to the Ukraine crisis.
  The gathering of two dozen U.S. military leaders and ambassadors based in Europe will take place on Friday in Stuttgart at the headquarters of U.S Read more