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Editorial - Win-win after all

Not everyone will be happy, but news that work on Rockland Estate Rain Forest Adventure Park is to start this summer (see Saturday paper) should not surprise anybody. After all, it already was clear that the company had been awarded a long lease for the necessary land at Emilio Wilson Estate (EWE), even though Government at the request of Parliament bought that property from its private owners to preserve it as natural-cultural-historic patrimony.

The thought then obviously had been not to allow any major commercial development there, but the lease agreement at US $1.20 per square metre nonetheless was signed, also to help pay for the purchase Read more

Editorial - Win-win after all

Not everyone will be happy, but news that work on Rockland Estate Rain Forest Adventure Park is to start this summer (see Saturday paper) should not surprise anybody. After all, it already was clear that the company had been awarded a long lease for the necessary land at Emilio Wilson Estate (EWE), even though Government at the request of Parliament bought that property from its private owners to preserve it as natural-cultural-historic patrimony.

The thought then obviously had been not to allow any major commercial development there, but the lease agreement at US $1.20 per square metre nonetheless was signed, also to help pay for the purchase Read more

Plenary Session of Parliament scheduled for Tuesday about the SCHDF.

>PHILIPSBURG:---  The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on April 7. This session is the continuation of the initial session that was held on December 22, 2014. On March 24, the meeting was called, but was adjourned and is now being reconvened.

The plenary session is set for Tuesday at 2.00pm 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

NA calls for a ‘unified approach’ from Govt.

PHILIPSBURG--The United People’s (UP)-led coalition has failed to show exactly what it is ready for, as its election campaign “We Ready” stated, said National Alliance (NA) Members of Parliament on Wednesday. They called on the governing coalition to present a “unified approach,” to table its long-overdue governing programme and appoint the two missing ministers.

NA leader MP William Marlin said at a press conference in Parliament House on Wednesday that UP members had proven only they were ready to take care of themselves and “to cut more deals and use the infrastructure” for their own personal enterprises.

In his estimation, UP is not ready “to bring much needed changes” to the country’s infrastructure and to tackle social ills Read more

MPs urged to work with govt on law formulation

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament does not follow instructions on the procedure to write laws, Advisory Council Vice Chairwoman Mavis Brooks-Salmon said in a meeting of Parliament's Central Committee at which only eight of the fifteen Members of Parliament (MPs) were present on Tuesday morning.

The Advisory Council, a body outlined in the Constitution as a necessary organ of governance, has in the past told Parliament to "work with government's Legal Department" when crafting initiative laws. The Legal Department has the necessary expertise to assist with the proper way to formulate and present laws, though the department may be understaffed.

Brooks-Salmon pointed out to MPs that the Advisory Council "does not correct" draft legislation, but is capable of giving legislators guidance on where to seek pertinent information in the research and drafting process.

In response to "burning" questions from National Alliance (NA) MP Christophe Emmanuel about whether or not the five-member Council of Ministers was legal as the Constitution states the country should have seven ministers, Brooks-Salmon said while the Advisory Council will further look into the matter, it should be noted that the Constitution does not state the ministers should be seven different persons.

In the current situation, two ministers of the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet hold dual portfolios Read more

St. Maarten advised to object to Sanction Law

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations has been advised by legal expert Ralph Richardson to object to the draft kingdom law regulating sanctions imposed by the European Union.

Richardson gave his advice in a meeting of the committee in Parliament House on Monday morning. He said if St. Maarten agrees to the kingdom law, the country "will no longer have the possibility to say anything about sanctions imposed."

St. Maarten will just have to take over EU sanctions with "no freedom of choice." He used the example of a sanction being imposed on a country with which St Read more

Plenary Session of Parliament scheduled for Tuesday about the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on March 24. This session is the continuation of the initial session that was held on December 22, 2014. On March 11, the meeting was called, but due to a lack of a quorum,, it could not continue and is now being reconvened.

The plenary session is set for Tuesday at 2.00pm 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

Lake debunks talk about breaking UP

PHILIPSBURG--"Untrue and baseless" is how United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake described rampant "rumours" in the community about him being "involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs."

Since Friday, there has been persistent talk that spun into blogs about Lake breaking with this party over differences Read more

Worse than the previous

Dear Editor,

Despite the efforts of this new parliament of trying to convince the public that it has raised the bar to a very high standard, this proclamation continues to be such an uneasy truth. On the contrary, it is by far, worse than the previous. What has become common practice for some parliamentarians is to have speech competitions and to see who can outfox and demean the other. But the public is not interested in such devious minds and childish behaviours.

Elevated representation of the people coincides with the ability to think independently and then proceed expeditiously and consciously to the demands of society and the success of this island 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

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

Country still short two ministers, 2014-2018 governing programme

PHILIPSBURG--It's been almost three months since the current Marcel Gumbs Cabinet has taken office and it is still two ministers short of the usual complement of seven. March 19 will mark three months since the cabinet was sworn-in by Governor Eugene Holiday.

To date, there has neither been word from the UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo coalition regarding the nomination of the two additional ministers nor about the completion of the Governing Programme for the coalition for 2014-2018.

The current Council of Ministers only numbering five is not in any way illegal as the Constitution states the country can have "up to a maximum of seven ministers."

De-facto government leader United People's (UP) leader Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger had said in his New Year's address that he "would like to see a complete seven-member cabinet in place within 60 days or less as of the beginning of the New Year."

He also stated in that same address, "I am very confident in the team of ministers who have been appointed so far to carry out the people's business."

Ministers are needed for the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labour VSA and the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI.

Prime Minister/General Affairs Minister Marcel Gumbs serves as ad-interim VROMI minister while Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs is

ad- interim VSA minister.

It is speculated that potential candidates are shying away from the ministerial nominations, because of the somewhat invasive checks into the lives of minister candidates, their family and friends.

One person close to the issue said, some people do not want even their name to be mentioned as a potential candidate 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

Romney’S Draft Electoral Ordinance Prohibits Going Independent

St. Maarten – Political analyst Julio Romney presented on Wednesday evening his proposal for electoral reform in the form of a draft electoral reconciliation ordinance. The draft contains two key differences with the current system. One is the way seats are distributed among the parties that contest the elections; the other is a ban for Members of Parliament to declare themselves independent.

Romney supports the D’Hondt system for seat distribution. In this system, the numbers of votes won by each party are divided by a series of increasing denominators – from 1 until as high as necessary to arrive at a result.

Using this method, the results of the 2014 elections would have been exactly the same in terms of seat distribution Read more

Committee Puts Three Questions To Council Of State: Do Kingdom Instructions Violate Our Autonomy?

St. Maarten – On the day of the extended deadline, the permanent parliamentary committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-parliamentary Relations formulated three questions about the procedures around instructions by the Kingdom Council of Ministers to the governor. The questions will be added to those already formulated by the Dutch Second Chamber and sent for advice to the Council of State.

The instructions the governors of Aruba (about its 2014 budget) and of St. Maarten (about integrity-investigations and about the establishment of the Integrity Chamber) are still a hot topic in the autonomous Caribbean countries of the kingdom.

The questions the Second Chamber members have formulated are, in the opinion of the committee-members in St Read more

Sarah calls for discussion on companies’ annual accounts

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has called for the examination of the annual accounts of all government-owned companies in a meeting of Parliament's Permanent Committee for Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication.

This urgent meeting request has been communicated to committee chairman MP Frans Richardson (United St Read more

MPs call for clarity on taxi, bus permits

PHILIPSBURG--Government is called on to make the register of bus, taxi and tour-bus permits public and to give an explanation of the current moratorium on issuance of permits for those types of businesses by two Members of Parliament (MPs).

Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo said in a press statement issued late Monday night she "wants clarity" on the moratorium Read more

Editorial - My way or no way

Parliament's Permanent Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations hastily approved three questions for the Council of State about the Kingdom Government giving instructions to Governors in the Dutch Caribbean (see related article). The deadline for such was actually Monday, after it already had been extended at the request of Aruba and St. Maarten.

As there was much objection to recent instructions on both these islands, one might have expected a bit more urgency from their respective legislatures in dealing with this matter Read more

Mingo refuses to disclose details of Checkmate security contract

~ Owner's identity not provided ~

PHILIPSBURG--Questions relating to the Harbour Group of Companies' contract with Checkmate Security Services and the status of security at the port, as well as the Group's "clandestine attitude" were amongst the hot-button issues discussed in Thursday's presentation to Parliament's Permanent Committee for Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (TEATT) at Parliament House.

Committee Chairman United St. Maarten (US) party leader MP Frans Richardson organised the meeting, which was broadcast live, with the expressed goal of hearing directly from Harbour Group Chief Executive Officer Mark Mingo and his team about a number of pressing issues.

Mingo remained mum on most questions relating to security, citing competition and safety-related concerns, as well as contractual obligations.

He did not present any "information and documentation regarding the security contract with Checkmate Security Company" as formally requested by Democratic Party (DP) MP Sarah Wescot-Williams through MP Richardson Read more

Caravanserai owners unique amongst victims of takeover

BEACON HILL--A California couple who cashed in part of their retirement fund to invest in buying a unit at the former Caravanserai Beach Resort have been thrown into the same basket as approximately 2,200 timeshare owners who had their rights at the same property annulled when it was taken over by Alegria Real Estate BV. The couple received an eviction order earlier this month, after a trial of which they reportedly had not been informed took place.

Chasing ownership

John and Shandrea Degen signed the relevant paperwork with Caravanserai in 2007 Read more

Marlin-Romeo requests meeting on beach policy

PHILIPSBURG--The beach policy and maintaining public access to the beaches are the bases for independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo's request for a meeting of Parliament's Permanent Committee for Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication.

The MP seeks "immediate change" to the policy to include and clearly stipulate that natural and manmade beaches are public domain, are not owned by any establishment or vendor, and beaches must have proper road access for emergency vehicles.

All vendors or establishments providing beach services should stack their beach chairs and umbrellas and "provide them only on a needed basis" to guests and non-guests of establishments, she said in a press statement Sunday.

Chairs and umbrellas should be picked up after use and restacked.

Non-guests should be charged a fee.

The MP wants it stipulated in business licences that not all beach chairs must be placed on the beach at the same time.

Her call for the meeting stems from the public outcry about beachfront property owners restricting access to some beaches via their private property.

Committee Chairman United St Read more

Govt losing head tax on inter-island vessels

PHILIPSBURG--Government is losing an estimated US $600,000 annually from non-collection of the US $6 head tax from inter-island vessels. This figure was shared in Parliament on Tuesday, by United St. Maarten (US) Party Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson. He gathered that figure from the industry.

Vessels operating especially ferry services to the neighbouring islands are getting away "scot-free" from making the payment of US $6 a person, because government does not have any collection mechanism in place to monitor and collect the fee.

This collection, in particular for Simpson Bay Lagoon where most of the traffic originates, should be carried out by Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority Corporation (SLAC), an entity of St Read more

Parliament establishes an ad hoc Integrity Committee

PHILIPSBURG--With integrity continuing to be the buzz word in St. Maarten, Parliament established its ad hoc committee on integrity Tuesday, but not without much discussion on the membership.

The establishment of the committee was recommended by Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a written proposal in January Read more

Justice Minister Has No Knowledge Of Possible Replacement

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - According to reports on The Voice of St. Maarten News has learnt that Former head of the Coastguard Edson "Eddy" Kirindongo is tipped to be the next Justice Minister.

He will be replacing the current Justice Minister, the Honorable Dennis Richardson.

Although, it is still not clear as to when Kirindongo will take up the position, according to reports, he is currently being vetted, as the choice of Member of Parliament and leader of the United St. Maarten Read more