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French, Dutch delegations on island for Quadri-partite talks

MARIGOT--High level delegations from France and The Netherlands have joined delegations from St. Martin and St. Maarten for the 2nd Quadri-partite Franco-Netherlands meeting held in the Préfecture on Monday.

This is the first time the meeting has been held in St. Martin. The first meeting took place in The Hague in January 21, 2014, and is held once a year.

A welcome reception and opening ceremony for the respective delegates and technicians were held Sunday evening in the Préfecture hosted by Préfet Philippe Chopin.

The heads of the four delegations are President of the Collectivité Aline Hanson, Prime Minister of St Read more

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Fire Department parade to celebrate Firemen’s Week

PHILIPSBURG--The St. Maarten Fire Department held its annual parade on Friday as part of Firemen's Week. For the first time all Fire Departments of the island – the St. Maarten Fire Department, the Princess Juliana International Airport SXM Fire Department and the French St. Martin Sapeurs Pompiers – were represented in the annual parade.

They were joined by the Volunteer Corps St. Maarten VKS and the parade was closed off by St. Maarten Red Cross vehicle.

Firemen's Week started with a service at the Philipsburg Methodist Church on Sunday, followed by a number of sports activities during the rest of the week.

On Monday there was an indoor soccer tournament at L.B Read more

MPs discuss ordinance for Integrity Chamber on Mon

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MP) will discuss the draft National Ordinance for the establishment of an Integrity Chamber in a public meeting of the Central Committee on Monday.

Minister of General Affairs Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs will be present at the session, which is set to start at 2:00pm.

Also on the agenda are the approval of the travel schedule for the Committee and Board of Directors’ meetings of the Latin American Parliament Parlatino for 2015 and approval of the composition of the delegation and provisions for General Assembly of Parlatino from May 15 to 16 Read more

Semeleer: Pegged currency system not broken, no need to fix with dollarization

PHILIPSBURG--“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This was the view of Aruba Central Bank President Jeanette Semeleer on discussions about the option of dollarization for St. Maarten. She was speaking at an Advisory Council symposium on the advantages and disadvantages of dollarization, held at University of St. Martin (USM) on Thursday evening.

Semeleer told the audience, which included public and private sector representatives: “Islands [Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten] have done well under the pegged-currency regime” and dollarization is “not one-size-fit-all” option for countries.

A country, such as St Read more

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PM Gumbs signs sewage connections agreement

PHILIPSBURG--Interim Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI, Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs signed an agreement with Eric van Putten of Designer's Choice on Thursday, for sewage connections to the homes and properties directly along the main road in Middle Region.

The agreement is valued at NAf Read more

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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

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St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation

The continuation of the plenary session of Parliament on developments at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation will now take place on April 7. After the meeting opened on Tuesday afternoon, National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament William Marlin called for an adjournment to give ad interim housing minister Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs (second left) more time to gather necessary documents from the foundation requested by MPs since December 2014 Read more

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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

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Lions’ Health Fair reaches hundreds

PHILIPSBURG--Hundreds turned out for the annual Lion Rudy Hoeve Health and Wellness Fair at Festival Village on Saturday. The free event enabled and encouraged to public to familiarise themselves with different healthcare institutions and illnesses, and have free testing for ailments, including high blood pressure, diabetes, sickle cell disease and HIV/AIDS.

Attendees could see for themselves the newly-launched Collective Prevention Services (CPS) Mobile Health Services bus, which contains two spacious rooms for check-ups Read more

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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

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Halley asks PM for extension, still awaits any govt response

~ Kadaster: illegally filled at own risk ~

SIMPSON BAY--Simpson Bay business owner Marlon Halley reportedly has not heard back from any Government representatives concerning his appeal to stay on or be compensated for land that he filled and to investigate matters pertaining to the adjoining family land's transfer of rights. A second letter on the matter was submitted to Prime Minister/Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Minister Marcel Gumbs on March 16.

This had been preceded by other correspondence to Minister Gumbs and a petition to Parliament submitted on his behalf that calls for an investigation into what the community has dubbed "fishy business" surrounding the transfer of rights to the land (see March 4 article "Simpson Bay: Parliament must investigate land deal").

Questions posed to Parliament by The Daily Herald concerning its reaction to the petition, which was accompanied by two pages of signatures and listed some 14 attachments of supporting documents, have gone unanswered.

Halley had been instructed by VROMI to remove his belongings from the property or face "legal measures" by Wednesday, March 18 Read more

Editorial - Lost opportunity

Once again Parliament was unable to meet due to the lack of a quorum (see related story). It regarded a plenary session to discuss ongoing issues at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF), for which Prime Minister and interim Housing Minister Marcel Gumbs had been present along with several officials.

It was thus a waste of valuable time for them, the seven legislators who were in attendance and all those wanting to follow the proceedings either in person or via electronic media Read more

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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

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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

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L'Esperance wins Most Worthy Performance Overall trophy for the 2015 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta

Prime Minister of St. Maarten Marcel Gumbs presents the Most Worthy Performance Overall trophies for the 2015 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta to Bobby Velasquez’s L’Esperance at the awards ceremony to close the regatta Sunday evening on Kim Sha Beach. L’Esperance achieved a perfect score of four first places during the regatta. Bobby Ve Read more

Digicel talks fruitless, TelEm talking to another company

PHILIPSBURG--The TelEm Group is currently engaged in partnership talks with a new prospective partner as talks with Digicel bore no fruit.

Asked about the talks during a press conference on Wednesday, St. Maarten Communications Union (SMCU) President Ludson Evers said he could not go into details of the discussions, but noted that the company is talking to another prospective partner as the talks with Digicel have been completed and had been fruitless.

He declined to give the name of the prospective partner and also declined to go into any details when asked Read more

SMCU accuses TelEm of using illegal Surinamese for Fibre to Home project

~ TelEm says help sought for pilot ~

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Communications Union (SMCU) has accused the TelEm Group of hiring eight undocumented Surinamese workers for a major Fibre to Home project, while there are competent locals including former TelEm technicians who can do the job.

TelEm however, said that the Surinamese workers were being used for the pilot fibre to home project and has assured that TelEm fully supports the use of local contractors and that the actual project will be open for bidding.

SMCU President Ludson Evers told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday that the company failed to put the project on bid to give locals a fair chance despite promises from TelEm official Helma Etnel that this would be done.

The union wants Government, Parliament, Immigration Department, the Labour Inspectorate and Labour Department to intervene in the matter Read more