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Academy Records 100 Percent School Passes And 96 Percent College Passes

Cul de Sac, St. Maarten — Ninety-five students of St. Maarten Academy graduated under the theme: Out of Adversity Comes Triumph, held on the schools campus on Thursday, December 16, 2021.

Of the 95, 72 were Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) graduates and 23 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exams (CAPE) graduates. The graduates were praised during addresses from Principal drs. Tallulah Baly-Vanterpool, President of the school board Roland Duncan, CSEC valedictorian Khushal Punjabi and CAPE valedictorian David Beek Read more

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Deviation Of The Budgetary Norms Linked To Approval Note Of Amendments Coho Legislation

Philipsburg St. Maarten requests postponement of the Kingdom Council of Ministers (RMR) decision that was scheduled to be taken today, to approve the deviation for the budgetary norms of article 15 of the Rijkswet Financieel Toezicht (Rft). The Netherlands made the granting of the deviation conditional on St. Maartens political approval of the Note of Amendment to the Consensus Kingdom Law COHO, in an effort to force consensus. Additionally, the State Secretary included excerpts of said amendment as decision points for the RMR, thereby circumventing the Parliaments of the Kingdom from debating this aspect of the law Read more

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Emmanuel Wants Ottley To Investigate Disturbing Reports At Hospital Project

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Monday said that it has been brought to his attention that something is amiss with the ongoing construction/expansion of the St. Maarten General Hospital (SMGH) and has called on Minister of Health Omar Ottley to investigate the matter and inform Parliament and the public accordingly.

Emmanuel said for the past few weeks little to no work has been executed at the project site, with key players in the project reportedly unhappy with the fact that they have not been paid Read more

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Usp: Invisible Savings From 12.5% Cuts Do Nothing For Socioeconomic Hardships

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — President of the board of the United St Read more

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Mp Emmanuel To Govt: I Warned You About Coho And Conditions

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel wasted no time on Friday to point out that the government of St. Maarten has once again demonstrated its deceit by withholding vital information from Parliament and not being transparent when it comes to the COHO.

Additionally, the MP said its laughable that the government of St. Maarten is all of a sudden acting shocked over provisions in the COHO construct that would severely limit St. Maarten and infringe on the country autonomy.

Emmanuel made his comments during the Central Committee meeting of Parliament to discuss the 2022 budget Read more

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Mp Buncamper Concerned About Pjia CooS Dismissal

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — During Mondays central committee meeting of parliament, independent member of Parliament, Claudius Toontje Buncamper fired off a number of questions to the minister of general affairs, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs.

MP Buncamper claimed that he understands that Aruba will be phasing out the 12.5% deduction from civil servants income by 6.25% in 2022 followed by another 6.25% in 2023, and asked the prime minister if she can indicate to parliament when St Read more

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New Chief Prosecutor Appointed For Sint Maarten

THE HAGUE/PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Prosecutor Hieke Buist has been appointed as Sint Maartens new Chief Prosecutor as of January 1, 2022. The Kingdom Council of Ministers formalized her appointment in its meeting of Thursday, 13 December 2021.

Buist was appointed on the recommendation of Dutch Minister of Security and Justice Ferdinand Grapperhaus and St. Maarten Minister of Justice Anna Richardson.

Buist will succeed current Chief Prosecutor Mirjam Mol who has completed her three-year term as chief prosecutor Read more

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Minister Ottley And Simpson Bay Resort Signs Off On Food And Beverages Training Center

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — On Monday December 13th, the Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Omar Ottley was invited to deliver a speech at the launching of the Simpson Bay Resort’s food and beverages training center. Minister Ottley signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with the Simpson Bay resort on Friday December 10th, which branches off of the Ministers incidental work policy with the aim to strengthen the local work force.

The MOU documents the collaboration agreement between the Simpson Bay Resort and VSA’s National Employment Service Center (NESC), to facilitate the proper training for St Read more

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Mp Emmanuel Asks If Civil Servants Will Get Road Tax And Gebe Relief, Shopping Vouchers

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Monday said that his over 200 questions on the 2022 budget are people centric considering the amount of suffering being endured in the country. People dont want to hear frivolous nonsense, they want to hear how they will be helped, the MP said.

He went on to share stories of police officers that he know personally are struggling to buy basic food items and persons who have asked for small amounts of money to buy a US $20 cylinder of cooking gas Read more

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Pfp Against Efforts To Silence Mps, Rush Through The 2022 National Budget

~ Faction proposes to extend debates into Parliament recess ~

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten With only one week left before Parliament goes on recess, Party for Progress (PFP) Members of Parliament (MPs) Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson are spearheading a proposal for MPs to continue working well into the holiday season.

The late submission of the countrys 2022 budget is the reason for the proposal Read more

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Voluntary Korps Of St. Maarten Empowered With 18 New Soldiers

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten — On Sunday, December 12, the Voluntary Korps of St. Maarten (VKS) held its graduation ceremony at the Sundial School where 18 of its new members were sworn in as VKS Soldiers after an intense 9-month training. The ceremony began with the entire VKS membership marching through Philipsburg and ending at the Sundial School to witness the 11th groups installation. The Honorable Prime Minister Silveria E. Jacobs, Minister of Justice Anna E. Richardson, Acting Commander of the VKS, Captain Alain Richardson, VKS Chef Bureau Opleidingen Sergeant Major Alfred Leito, former VKS Commanders Mr Read more

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Emmanuel: Coalition Seeking Greener Pastures On The Backs Of The People

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel is of the opinion that governments lack of empathy towards the people of St. Maarten and its disconnect from the common man has been re-enforced through its words and actions over the past few weeks. He said the insensitive words that the Council of Ministers continues to use towards people whose income they have cut is a sad indictment against themselves and the lack of care they have for people. People who have been made to suffer while coalition members show off in videos playing golf and eating lobster, the MP said.

The MP said Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion and Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs in particular, behaves as if they didnt grow up on St Read more

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Usp: Clarification To Be Sought On Proportional Representation

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The board of the United St. Maarten Party Party (USP) will seek further clarification into what it deems as a serious constitutional issue after both of its MPs, Claudius Buncamper and Akeem Arrindell, declared themselves as independent members of Parliament, leaving the party with no representation in Parliament.

The board recently met with Dr Read more

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King T-Mo, Benjamin Bell To Highlight Philipsburg Becomes Magical Event

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten — Philipsburg will come alive this upcoming weekend when the Philipsburg Becomes Magical holiday event is expected to instill special seasonal energy in the capital of St. Maarten. With legendary singer King T-MO highlighting Saturday, December 18 and St. Maarten s crooner Benjamin Bell highlighting the activities on Sunday, December 19, the event is being billed as a come one, come all family event Read more

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Windward Islands Teachers Union Honors Claire Elshot-Aventurin

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten — The board of Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) honored its former President Claire Elshot-Aventurin in a small ceremony last week at it’s office in Madame Estate.

Elshot-Aventurin served as the WITU’s President for 27 years until a recent board election passed on that confidence to the new President Stuart Johnson.

During his speech WITU’s new President, Stuart Johnson expressed his profound gratitude to Elshot-Aventurin for the hard work, services and commitment she provided to the union for almost three decades.

It is with great honor we recognize you for your unwavering dedication to WITU for the past 27 and to unionism on St.Maarten,” the new WITU President Stuart Johnson remarked.

Johnson praised Elshot-Aventurin for her never ending effort in making it her duty to ensure that all the unions operations were done professionally and all the needs of teachers were met.

Johnson in the presence of the board presented Elshot-Aventurin a plaque which he read, “this plaque is awarded as a token of appreciation to thank you for your past 27 years dedication and service as President of the Windward Islands Teachers Union on St.Maarten.”

Johnson added, “I’ve got big shoes to fill but I have no doubt you will continue to be at my side as our advisor.”

Elshot-Aventurin besides the plaque received other tokens of appreciation from the board of WITU Read more

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2Nd Day Inter Expo Congress

THE NETHERLANDS — On Thursday, December 9, 2021, the Ten Years after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles Congress and Trade Mission, continued at the Nieuwspoort in The Hague.

On Thursday the Congress opened with a presentation by Ms. Gerlien Croes, Member of the Parliament of Aruba, who discussed the strengthening of our Kingdom relations based on European values and standards. She mentioned that we are small islands with big challenges and explained that change requires support and that the EU offers an alternative, known as the next EU generation.

During her presentation it was questioned why we do not make use of the possibilities that are already offered based on our OCT status and look at a new status which does not have to be a UPG status, but a yet to be determined OCT plus.MP Gerlien Croes made it clear that the way forward was not with reforms by means of liquidity support Read more

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Minister Ottley Emphasizes Importance Of Creating Sustainable Health Care Programs

~End of year virtual tripartite meeting of Government SMMC SZV~

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten On Monday December 6, Minister of VSA Omar Ottley chaired the virtual Government SMMC SZV Tripartite meeting, closing off the 2021 scheduled sessions. The purpose of the Tripartite meetings is to exchange information between the parties and discuss, in an early stage, those topics that impact the sustainability of the healthcare cost for Sint Maarten Read more

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Gordon-Carty: Being Black Is Not An Impediment For Employment

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Companies should make qualifications, skills and experience the basis for their job recruitment, placement, training and advancement of their staff at all levels and not discriminate via race. So says leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party Pamela Gordon-Carty in reaction to a vacancy ad that circulated on social media on Monday seeking a waitress who must be white.

The US leader, who is also a former Minister of VSA who established the Pamela Policy, called on the current Minister of VSA to look into this matter.

The Pamela Policy was introduced mainly to try to eradicate this type of behavior on the labor market which is hidden yet existing on country St Read more

Postal Services St. Maarten Nv (Pss Nv) To Become Hub For Postnl

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Following successful negotiations over the last few months with PostNL, Postal Services St. Maarten N.V. (PSS NV) will now function as a hub for mail transportation from the Netherlands (and vice versa) to the Caribbean Netherlands (BES Islands), specifically to the municipalities of Saba and St Read more

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Mp Buncamper Questions The Operations Of Sog

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — During Fridays meeting regarding the management of government owned buildings under the management of SOG (Stichting Overheids Gebouwen) independent Member of Parliament MP Claudius Toontje Buncamper posed several questions to the minister of general affairs, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs, regarding the conditions and lack of repairs of several government owned building.

MP Buncampers first focus was on the festival village, where between 8 to 12 booths that were damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 are still not repaired Read more

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Pamela Gordon Carty Usp Leader: Mp ArrindellS Departure Lacked Integrity

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party Pamela Gordon-Carty on Sunday said while she was not surprised by the declaration by MP Akeem Arrindell as an independent member of Parliament, she would have preferred that the MP used a more integer manner of walking away from the party regardless of the reason that has been expressed.

The US board had already earlier in the weekend stated that Arrindells excuse to Parliament and the public was void of the truth Read more

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Cdfha Hosts First Annual Interscholastic Speech Competition

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten – On Wednesday, December 1st, The Department of Community Development, Family, and Humanitarian Affairs (CDHFA) hosted its first annual interscholastic speech competition themed Global Solidarity, Shared Responsibility. commemorating World AIDS Day 2021.

In his opening remarks, Minister of VSA Omar Ottley commended the participants for taking up the challenge, and he emphasized the importance of the youth being involved in spreading awareness of the disease, HIV/AIDS.

Six gifted young ladies representing three secondary schools gave memorable speeches, but there could be only one winner Read more

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Usp Not Surprised By Mp Arrindell, Deficit In Electoral Structure Persists

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The board of the United St. Maarten (US) party on Saturday said the announcement by MP Akeem Arrindell that he was breaking from the US was a plan months in the making by the MP, and once again highlights the deficits in the countrys electoral structure.

The party board said it is unfortunate that MPs do not have the same conviction to the truth as they have in their attempt to present a sympathetic picture to the public Read more

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Minister Of Justice Reacts To Court Ruling In Connection With Kpsm Class Of 2011

PHILPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The Minister of Justice has taken note of the court decisions rendered yesterday in favor of Police officers, seeking to obtain correction of a National Decree issued earlier this year, under a penalty to be granted by the court.

Even though this decision is not rendered against the Minister of Justice, the underlying matter is of great importance to the Ministry, as the long overdue rectification of the position of this particular class of 2011, following an agreement signed with the former Minister of Justice, is addressed.

In this particular case the Ministry of Justice, upon receipt of the request for the correction to the National decrees to be made, which were found to have merit, sought to utilize the opportunity to include in the correction the position of these Police officers beyond the date mentioned in the agreement on which the requested correction was based Read more

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