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>PHILIPSBURG:--- Prior to the change of the Presidium of Parliament on October 15th, the House of Parliament had already decided several weeks before that President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson would represent the country at a celebration event marking the 200th anniversary of the Dutch Chamber of Parliament (First and Second Chambers) in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Richardson joined the other Presidents of Parliament from Aruba, Curacao and the Netherlands First and Second Chambers, in The Hague, the Netherlands for activities organized in connection with the First and Second Chambers of the Dutch Parliament that took place in the Ridderzaal at the Binnenhof.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is 200 years old Read more

>ST. PETERS:---- I have stated time and time again that at some point "somebody has to make a stand somewhere," to raise the bar and stop making decisions in the best interest of politics and self. Instead we need to start MAKING firm decisions in the best interest of our people and St. Maarten.
This was a very challenging three weeks for me personally with my family as my rock, where I ask God for strength and wisdom and his guidance to move St. Maarten forward. What I have learnt within these weeks is if you kneel before God you can stand before any man and speak the truth Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Members of Parliament that makes up the new coalition has submitted another request to parliament to call an urgent meeting to deal with what they describe as the illegal act by Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever. Shortly after the meeting of Parliament was closed by MP Cornelius de Weever on Tuesday morning, the three political leaders namely William Marlin, Sarah Wescot Williams and Frans Richardson spoke to members of the media that were present in parliament Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- On Monday, 12th October, President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, made his position to Parliament by informing the Secretariat of the House of Parliament.

“Given the present and still ongoing political developments, I hereby inform you that I have made the seat of President of the Parliament of Sint Maarten available to whomsoever the Parliament sees fit to assume said post.

“I would also like to thank the members of the Presidium for their untiring cooperation, the secretariat for their unrelenting support, the employees and other related staff for the manner in which they all performed their duties during this period of transition.

“The seat of President of Parliament was not an aspiration of mine, nonetheless my willingness to serve where my country's need of me was the greatest has been and continues to be my passion.

“That being said, I would like to take this moment in our country's history to say to all primarily responsible, that our people, our collective reputation, our country's stability and future are riding perilously on the outcome of these talks Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:----- Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo, has notified the current President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson and Secretary Generals, that effective immediately, the position held as Vice Chair is made available.

MP Marlin-Romeo duly notes that there is a new majority in Parliament and therefore, the appointment of the new chairmanship must transpire.

In order to facilitate the process, notice was given to the respective persons in order for the new appointment to continue.

Press Release MP Leona Marlin Romeo

Editors note:- Now that the Independent Member of Parliament who jumped ship from the USP to support the UPP/ De Weever coalition has made her position as vice chair available citing that there is a new majority in Parliament, the Member of Parliament did not say if she will continue doing the honorable thing by having the Minister she appointed tender his resignation Read more

Where is PAR 1? Vehicle allegedly used to do Chairman of Parliament private work.

style="text-align: center;">Civil Servants may start go-slow on Tuesday.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Questions are now being asked as to where is the government owned vehicle with license plate PAR 1 that is assigned to the chairman of Parliament MP Lloyd Richardson. SMN News understands that ever since MP Richardson was appointed chairman of Parliament he was given the vehicle a black Viracruz that was special ordered by former chairlady of Parliament Gracita Arrindell.
SMN News further learned that the chairman of Parliament was allowed to hire his own driver which he did but that person never drove the Chairman of Parliament or even report to work.
That driver Frank Bruney who is on Parliament’s payroll never showed up to Parliament and does not drive around with MP Lloyd Richardson Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- In order to have a good functioning parliament, there must be a good functioning organizational secretariat of the Parliament of Sint Maarten, which is a department within Parliament that provides legal, administrative, and logistic support to the Members of Parliament (MPs) as a whole.
Back in June 2015, the Central Committee of Parliament discussed the “Function Book” of the Parliament Secretariat, and agreed to the content. A Plenary session of the House was held on August 6 and in that session the “Function Book” for the secretariat was approved.
Effective September 1st, 2015, the “Function Book” is being used to guide the daily running of the secretariat of the House of Parliament, and the previous document from October 10, 2010 is no longer in use.
Prior to Sint Maarten becoming a country in 2010, a number of organizational resolutions for different sectors within Government were established based on the Organizational Ordinance Island Territory Sint Maarten.
As of October 10, 2010, the legal basis was turned into a National Ordinance and sectors became ministries Read more

Minister Connor and others thanked by Dominica Coach of the Senior Female Soccer Team for Assisting Stranded Group

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Minister Hon. Claret Connor has been thanked by Dominica Coach of the Senior Female Soccer Team Kenneth Esprit, for the hospitality rendered by the community of Sint Maarten to the group who got stuck in transit from the Dominican Republic to the Commonwealth of Dominica on the day that Tropical Storm Erika passed near the country.
One of the team members lost five family members.
Coach Esprit in his email message to Minister Connor states: “Allow me therefore, to express my deepest gratitude to the various persons and institutions who played their parts in ensuring that we were cared for and able to ensure we reunited with our families in this time of crises.
“First and foremost, allow me to five thanks to Almighty Yahweh for his continued blessings, strength and protection during this time Read more

Faction leaders outline their achievement and failures during parliamentary year 2014 -2015.

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Faction leader of the United Peoples Party Franklin Meyers in his remarks during the closing of parliamentary year 2014-2015 said that the moment the UPP and MP De Weever formed the coalition that formed the current government they got all sorts of pressure from the Dutch Government (Kingdom Partners) which includes an instruction Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson disclosed on Sunday that one of the measures to enhance the security and safety of the country will be a transfer of Naf.300,000 from the parliament travel budget to the Ministry of Justice.
Close to 70 points were discussed with respect to how to fight crime, and Read more

style="text-align: center;">St. Maarten Community Turned out in large numbers to pay tribute the fallen cop who died in the line of his duties.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Hundreds of persons gathered in front of the Philipsburg Police Station to witness the military funeral service that was held on Thursday for fallen bike patrol Gamaili Kwasi Benjamin. Large buses were used to transport members of KPSM and officers from the other justice department to the Royal Funeral Home for those persons to pay their last respects to their fallen colleague Read more

style="text-align: center;">Bullets remains in Officer Benjamin brain, he is currently in a comatose state at SMMC.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Members of Parliament ran for their lives on Wednesday when a bicycle patrol identified as officer Gamali Benjamin was shot in the vicinity of the Parliament Building in Philipsburg on Wednesday morning. Bystanders said some MP's tried to find cover as they beleive that the gunmen were coming after Members of Parliament. MP Sarah Wescot Williams, MP Theodore Heyliger, MP Franklin Meyers and MP Lloyd Richardson ran for cover in one of the private rooms of parliament SMN News was told Read more

How Credible is MP Leona Marlin? Problems brewing in Government.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Leona Marlin Romeo in a radio interview on Tuesday said that the current coalition government is in-tact and that she is not part of any complot to break the UPP/De Weever/LMR/USP coalition government Read more

>PHILIPSBURG: --- The chairman of Parliament MP Lloyd Richardson had to go back on his decision and remove an agenda point he added on Monday even though several Members of Parliament objected to the additional agenda point claiming that procedures were not followed.
MP De Weever asked the chair of Parliament to add the motion that was suspended in December 2013 which was to widen the scope of medical coverage for independent workers, namely bus drivers, taxi drivers and vendors.
When the motion was in parliament it had to be suspended when it became clear that there was no law in place to support the motion.
MP William Marlin was the first MP to object to the chairman’s decision citing that procedures were not being followed, Marlin even ask the chairman of parliament if the Parliament of St Read more

Government remains unresponsive to questions from the members of Parliament and from the public at large.

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Given this fact, I have now turned to the Chair of the Parliament for his intervention. Make no mistake, the Chairperson of Parliament was appointed to serve in that position as part of the political agreements between those parties and factions that support the government. That is an acceptable practice.

However, once in that position, the chairperson represents the entire parliament and should in my opinion act as a bridge between Parliament and the Government. The Chairperson of parliament should also guide and provide leadership to Parliament.

I have therefore turned to MP Dr Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  A delegation from Sint Maarten's Parliament is currently in Aruba attending the Health Care Conference Aruba (HCCA) which is being held from June 1-3 at the Renaissance Convention Center.

President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, Vice President MP Hon. Cornelius de Weever, MP Hon Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- On Friday, May 22nd 2015, the Ombudsman, Dr. Nilda Arduin left for Curacao to attend the 8th Caribbean Ombudsman Membership Conference.
The theme of the conference is "Human rights –the measuring rod for Good Governance."
Renown speakers will be will be making presentations on the topic. Dr. Arduin will be speaking on "Human Rights an Intrinsic element of Good Administration"; other speakers will be addressing other areas of human rights in relation to the role of the Ombudsman.
Another topic that will be presented is "Corporate Governance and State-Owned Enterprises".
A highlight of the conference is a two day Anti-Corruption Training sponsored by the International Ombudsman Institute (I.O.I.).
"Following the very successful anti-corruption training program conducted by the International anti-corruption Academy (IACA) at its seat in Austria in 2013, the I.O.I Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  "The country is now moving into the second half of 2015 within the next five weeks, and I am hoping that within that period of time we will have the two ministerial positions filled by competent persons in order to continue moving forward.

"We got to start putting the right people in the right positions. Don't tell me we can't find persons out of the 23 candidates of the United People's party to fill one or both of these two positions. Why can't MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson be the minister of health or other persons within the coalition, fill one or both of these ministerial positions?

"We need to raise the bar and start working in the best interest of this country Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Representatives from the Parliament of Sint Maarten led by President Dr. Lloyd Richardson, recently returned from Panama after attending five-days of parliamentary sessions at the Parliament of Latin America (Parlatino).

The parliamentary delegation comprised of the President Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, Members of Parliament (MPs) Hon Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet has dispatched two letters to the Chairman of Parliament where he posed several questions regarding civil servants and other persons that currently working for the government of St. Maarten and those that have left. MP Pantophlet wants to know how many Ministries were filled in the last two years and by whom Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, Vice President and Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Leona Marlin-Romeo, and Vice President MP Hon. Cornelius de Weever, who form the Presidium of Parliament, met with Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Read more

>Airport:--- French President Francois Hollande landed on St. Maarten (Princess Juliana International Airport) at 4:30pm on Friday afternoon instead of the scheduled 4.00pm hour. The French President came off an Air France aircraft and was greeted by the Governor of St. Maarten Eugene Holiday, President of Parliament Lloyd Richardson, Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Director of PJAIE Regina Labega Read more

style="text-align: center;">MOU with the Dominican Republic in the pipeline, Visa Requirements for Colombians lifted.

PHILIPSBURG: --- The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom Bert Koenders and his delegation made his first working visit to the countries within the Kingdom namely Curacao, St. Maarten and Aruba.
During the meetings held in Curacao in which Prime Minister of St. Maarten Marcel Gumbs was part of some key decisions were taken, one being the visa requirements for Columbians travelling to Curacao and St Read more

Preparations underway for National Remembrance Day 2015

>GREAT BAY (DCOMM):---- Preparations are underway to observe National Remembrance Day 2015 on Monday morning 4th May.

Government will again remember the victims who fought during the Second World War and the public are invited to attend the ceremony.

The commemoration and wreath-laying ceremony will take place on Monday, May 4 at 9.00am at the Captain Hodge's Wharf in Philipsburg.

His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday, President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, Prime Minister Hon Read more