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The Guccad Sint Maarten Launch

Philipsburg The Global United Christian Congress of Africa and the Diaspora (GUCCAD) was officially launched on November 9, 2022 at the beautifully decorated Sky Vogue Restaurant in Philipsburg. President of GUCCAD Sint Maarten, Pastor Nigel Brooks, said that this organization offers the African diaspora in Sint Maarten a unique opportunity to unite with their brothers and sisters in Africa.

Quite a number of people, dressed in colorful African attire, from both sides of the island, attended the inauguration of the Sint Maarten branch of GUCCAD International which has branches in the US A and in Africa Read more

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A National Priority And Children Remains Our National Pride

Ready, Set, Protect!
Children Rights- A National Priority and Children Remains Our National Pride
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport celebrates the 32nd anniversary since the ratification of the International Day for the Rights of the Child. The United Nations Convention, which was signed by 179 countries on November 20th, 1989, marks the significant recognition that youth all over the world should have rights and that their voices too must be heard.

Through ratification of said Convention, by the Netherlands in 1989, the Government of St Read more

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Covid-19 Relief Group Is Still Raising Funds

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The launch was on Sunday but the drive still continues. This is now the slogan of the COVID-19 Relief Group (see attached photo of the organizers)who held its first fundraising radio/telethon last Sunday at the University of St Martin. At the end of the day, 98 persons had donated a total of 4,476 US dollars and 4.359 guilders. The Group had expected to raise more funds so as to be able to assist more people who are in need. Seeing the limited amount of money that was raised, the Group has decided to continue the drive and has begun to knock on the doors of companies and businesses.

Besides, because of the limited amount of funds raised thus far, the COVID-19 Relief Group has decided to only assist persons with food and medication at this time Read more

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Ready, Set, Protect! : Reflection Of Children Rights Development On St. Maarten

Philipsburg The importance of recognizing Childrens Rights on St. Maarten began as early as 1978. The now deceased Mrs. Mavis Salomon Brooks and Dr. Linda Banks first started the initiative by writing and producing a song about children rights for a song festival. Ever since, many individuals in our community volunteered their personal time in promoting the development and empowerment of children through various activities. Radio programs, uniformed groups and performing arts were among the undertakings by loyal persons.

On November 20th, 1989, the United Nations ratified the United Nation Convention for the Rights of the Child, with 140 countries including the Kingdom of the Netherlands adding their signature to this convention.

Consequently, all islands within the Kingdom adopted this treaty and started the work of drafting, establishing and implementing policy and programs in the interest of Childrens Rights.

The first official policy initiative for St Read more

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Seven Political Leaders In The Political Debate 2020 Organized By Pjd-2 Radio & Sxm Daily News

PHILIPSBURG, ST. MAARTEN — PJD-2 Radio & SXM Daily News is hosting a Political Debate 2020 to introduce and present the parties Leaders who are contesting the upcoming Island/Parliamentary election on Sunday, January 5, 2020 which will allow them to give the general public their party’s ideologies and views on the relevant issues.

The debate will broadcast live via St. Maarten Cable TV channel 115 and via www.stmaartenmediacenter.com and facebook.

Doors open at 7pm and everyone should be seated at 7.30pm because the live broadcast will start promptly at 8pm and end at 11pm.

The debate will be at the Musical Institute Building on Backstreet next to the alley leading to A.C Read more

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Smcp Is Not Associated With Any Political Party

It is being rumored that the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) is an off-shoot of the DP, a satellite of the NA and that it is financed by the UPP Read more

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Smcp Signs Declaration Eradication Of Poverty

On Saturday, February 3rd 2018, the Board of the Sint Maarten Christian Party signed a declaration stating that the Party’s MPs will begin the process towards eradicating of poverty on Sint Maarten when elected to Parliament. Witnessing the signing ceremony were members of the Sint Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform (SMAPP) Raymond Jessurun and Claire Eshot and Alberto Bute.

I am sure that there will be people who will immediately label the signing of this document as another political gimmick leading up to the February 26 elections Read more

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Smcp Candidates Pledge To Reduce Mp Salaries

On January 30th 2018, candidates of the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) gathered at the Party’s Headquarters in the Backstreet for their usual Tuesday evening meeting. However, on this night, these loyal and enthusiastic candidates were going to do something that had never been done before by a political party or its candidates. The candidates, all of them prospective members of parliament, agreed, that when elected, they will submit a motion in Parliament, to lower the salary of parliament members by 15%.

The SMCP’s prospective parliamentarians are of the opinion that, given the financial predicament that the country finds itself in during the period of post-hurricane Irma, members of parliament ought to be sympathetic towards our citizens who are suffering and in a symbolic gesture of empathy should demonstrate their care and concern for the people of Sint Maarten Read more

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A Manifesto Or A Governing Program?

Two major documents play a pivotal role in the electoral process. They are a party’s political program, popularly known as the manifesto and the governing accord which we call the governing program. By law parties are obliged to present a manifesto, but people expect a governing program.

One of the legal requirements to be able to establish a political party is, that the party’s Articles of Incorporation must include the commitment “to publish a political programme in good time before the elections” Read more

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Sint Maarten Deserves A Stable Coalition Government

After the new interim UP/DP/Brownbill government is sworn in, Sint Maarten would have had seven coalition governments in seven years. This is an average of one government per year. If we also count the number of elections since 2010, including the upcoming February 2018, Sint Maarteners would have gone to the polls four times which boils down to an average of one election every two years.

For a small young country such as ours, having on average, a change of government every year and elections every two years is unacceptable Read more

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A Report Card For Members Of Parliament

At the end of every school year, students are evaluated and promoted or not promoted based on their performance during the year. Conversely, at the end of a parliamentary year, Members of Parliament are not evaluated yet they continue in parliament without anyone questioning their achievements, their performance or their competency to function as a parliamentarian.

I have observed that in several countries around the world, political and interest groups are developing report cards for parliamentarians Read more

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The Qualifications Of A Parliamentarian

Why even bother at this time to write about the qualifications of a parliamentarian when the next parliamentary election is all the way in 2020? Sadly, this has been the mentality in the past that has led us to vote for persons based, on friendship, family ties and family tradition, instead of looking at the qualifications, qualities and experience of the candidates.

One of the reasons why we have not paid much attention to the qualifications of parliamentarians is, because during election time, our politicians campaign as if they were running to become ministers in government Read more

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What Will Parliament Do With All The Reports?

Last week, yet another annual report was added to the long list of reports that Parliament has in its possession.

The General Audit Chamber, one of the High Councils of State, submitted for the seventh time, its annual report in both the Dutch and English languages. Hence, Members of Parliament, who are not versed in the Dutch language have no excuse about not being able to read or understand the Chamber’s annual report.

I would like to commend the Chamber for producing a very good report Read more

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A Critical Look At Parliament’S Budget

Parliament needs to be transparent with its budget! During budget debates members of parliament pose numerous questions, some critical, many political, concerning government’s budgeting and spending, but no one raises questions about parliament’s budget and parliament’s spending. The reason for this is because parliament’s budget is camouflaged among the budgets of the High Councils of State. Furthermore, according to the Compatibility Ordinance and the Rules of Order of Parliament the budget of Parliament is drafted by the Secretariat of Parliament, approved by the Presidium and then sent to the Minister of Finance to be included in the national budget Read more

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Is Parliament Boycotting The Code Of Ethics?

In addition to boycotting the establishing of the Integrity Chamber, Parliament appears to also be boycotting the formalization of a code of conduct.

Last week, the Chairlady of Parliament had to cancel the meeting of the Central Committee because there was no quorum when the second agenda point, namely a parliamentary code of conduct, was to be discussed. Isn’t it odd that there was a quorum for the first agenda point i.e. the Anti-Poverty Platform, but after a short break, only seven members of parliament remained for the continuation of this meeting!

Despite the Chairlady’s request for at least one member to come back inside the meeting hall and despite the official thirty minutes wait to see if any of the MPs outside of the meeting hall would adhere to her request, the meeting had to be called off, due to a lack of quorum Read more

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Is Parliament Serious About Independence?

Last week Wednesday, the Central Committee of Parliament, once again, invited the Independence for St. Martin Foundation (ISMF) to give a presentation regarding holding a referendum to determine whether the people of Sint Maarten desire to become independent or not. This is the fourth time that the ISMF was in parliament presenting its case. The first presentation was held in March 2016. Hereafter, the Central Committee reconvened, in September 2016, to give the ISMF the opportunity to answer questions that the MPs had posed in the first round in March Read more

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Un Asiento Vacío En El Parlamento

Traducido por Máximo Castro

Desde hace varias semanas, un escaño en el parlamento ha quedado obviamente vacío. Cuando la Presidenta del Parlamento, al comienzo de las reuniones públicas o de las reuniones del Comité Central, pregunta si hay notificaciones, ni un parlamentario, ni siquiera el líder de la facción del USP informa sobre la ausencia del diputado Silvio Matser.

En mi opinión, sólo una enfermedad puede justificar la ausencia continua de un miembro del parlamento Read more

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The Empty Seat In Parliament

For several weeks now, one seat in parliament has remained obviously empty. When, the President of Parliament, at the beginning of public meetings or of Central Committee meetings, asks if there are any notifications, not one parliamentarian, not even the USP faction leader reports on the absence of MP Silvio Matser.

In my opinion, only sickness can justify the continuous absence of a member of parliament Read more

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Upp Faction Forfeits Opportunity To Represent The People

The Central Committee of Parliament made history last week when it scheduled ample time to discuss the 2016-2020 Governing Program “Solidarity for Prosperity.” As far as I can recall, this is the first time that Parliament planned so many meetings to handle a governing program. The only other topic for which so many meetings are scheduled by Parliament is the country’s budget. I am a strong believer that these two go hand in hand and we should expect to see the priorities and projects listed in the governing program also reflected in all future budgets presented.

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA), comprised of the USP, DP and NA factions, also ought to be commended for their display of unity during the opening presentation Read more

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Parliament, Our Weak Link

Some people wonder why my writings deal mostly with the Parliament of Sint Maarten. This is because our Parliament is a new constitutional institution.

During the last campaign, leading up to the September 26, 2016 elections, the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) observed that the majority of the people knew and understood very little about our Parliament and about the role and function of the parliamentarians they were about to elect.

The people generally equated the role of a parliamentarian with that of a minister Read more

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The Integrity Chamber War

Recently, our Prime Minister, the honorable William Marlin, leader of the United Democratic Alliance, which consists of the NA, USP and DP coalition, declared war on the Kingdom Government when he stated that said Government can “send in the troops to implement the Integrity Chamber.”

This reaction reminds me of my childhood days Read more

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Governing Program Or Glorified Manifesto?

The long awaited governing program has finally been released under the name “Solidarity for Prosperity.”

I commend the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), comprised of the NA, USP and DP factions, for producing such a colorful and comprehensive document Read more

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Committees Are The Backbone Of Parliament

The system of parliamentary committees in the Netherlands is considered the backbone of the Dutch parliament. The review further indicates that two thirds of the work of parliament takes place in the committees.

Looking at how the committee system functions, in the parliament of Sint Maarten, we can only sadly conclude that our parliament is not functioning optimally due to the fact that the committees are not functioning.

The Annual Report of the Parliamentary Year 2015-2016 of Sint Maarten gives some insight as to how these committees are functioning Read more

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Parliament’S Right To Question Government

One of Parliament’s roles is to supervise the functioning of government. And one of its tools to carry out this supervisory function is the right to ask questions as laid down in article 62 of the Constitution.

This entails parliamentarians submitting their queries in writing to the government via the President of Parliament. Article 63 of the Constitution mentions that a Member of Parliament may also invite the ministers to provide information. Article 62 of the Rules of Order of Parliament states that this invitation will be considered by the President of Parliament, if it is supported by at least one other member of parliament Read more

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