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Heyliger-Marten Wants Audit On Telem Released And Reviewed

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — United Peoples UP Partys Faction Leader in Parliament the honorable Grisha Heyliger-Marten is requesting that Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs urgently release an audit report conducted by SOAB on TelEM, which she believes will give insights into the challenges faced at the local telephone company.

MP Heyliger-Marten sent a letter to Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs on Wednesday, September 29, in which she stated that the matter has been ongoing for over one year Read more

Postal Services St. Maarten N.V. Receives Two New Vehicles

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Postal Services St. Maarten (PSS) recently received two brand new Jimnys from the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain, and Portugal (UPAEP) as part of the countrys annual contribution. The UPAEP is the regional association of postal authorities, gathering at present 28 State Members of which St. Maarten is a member, with headquarters in Montevideo, in the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

Interim director of PSS N.V., Ms. Marinka Gumbs stated that the donation could not have come at a better time Read more

Is Possibly Ethically Unacceptable Behavior A New Norm?

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten — The behavioral ethics of our appointed and elected officials have come under questionable circumstances lately. While there is no regulation against gifts for government officials neither has the code of conduct been passed, which includes a gift registration for Members of Parliament (MPs).

Back on December 13th, 2018, former Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (TEATT) Stuart Johnson highlighted an embarrassing case our country faced.

Johnson in The Daily Herald newspaper article stated, Government was notified on November 28 of a 451-day past-due bill for a training attended by Member of Parliament Rolando Brison during his stint as St Read more

Smmc Observes A Positive Shift In Interest In MenS Health

CAY HILL, Sint Maarten — On Saturday September 25th, SMMC, the Positive Foundation and the Elektralytes Foundation hosted their annual Prostate Cancer Screening featuring a health check corner and a COVID-19 vaccination pop-up by CPS.

The event, which saw a total of 64 men over the age of 45 being screened for prostate cancer, was a collaborative effort between SMMC, the Positive and Elektralytes Foundation and CPS. The event was supported by FLOW who offered free top-ups for persons receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations and Prime Distributors who provided refreshments for volunteers and attendees.

Student Doctors of the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, led by AUC Professor and SMMC ER Physician Dr Read more

Heyliger-Marten Plans Justice Committee Tour Of Detention Facilities

Inmates deserve short-time solutions to meet human rights standards

PHILIPSBURG – Following up on her letter of September 1st, 2021, MP and Chairlady of the Justice Committee of Parliament Grisha Heyliger-Marten sent another letter to Justice Minister Anna Richardson last week Read more

Mp Emmanuel: Shameful That Pm HasnT Denounced Minister DoranS Statements

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Christophe Emmanuel on Tuesday said the fact that Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs has not uttered a single word publicly about the offensive comments made by the Minister of VROMI Egbert Doran towards the Ombudsman is a shame and apparently indicates that she condones the comments Read more

Part 1-2-3:

A land saga at Vineyard Heights (proposed housing development in Over the Bank) is currently brewing due to 25 persons receiving long lease parcels that were also allotted to 54 persons in 2016. The situation is technical because the issuance of government land (erfpacht) has no clear policy. This leads to the Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) ultimately deciding who gets land. That lack of policy eliminates checks and balances Read more

Open Letter To The Prosecutor Of St. Maarten

As a citizen who is being victimized by the Minister of VROMI [Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Ed.], Mr. Egbert Jurendy Doran, I address this public plea to you with the sincere hope that you will stand up for us, the common men and women on this island, and ensure that an impartial investigation is launched into the wrongdoings of Minister Doran, his colleague minister(s) and his subordinates within the Ministry of VROMI in regard to all matters surrounding the so-called Vineyard Heights Project in the Over the Bank area, based on the following:

Prior ministers issued official signed government documents indicating the intention of government to issue specified parcels of land to several citizens; These citizens made payments to the Cadastre upon indication of a former Minister of VROMI, Mr Read more

Minister Lawrence Visits Local Brewery. Aims To Promote Local Production

SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) A moment of curiosity captured Giovanni Johnson, who went from a delivery driver at SXM beer to now being in the final steps of becoming the first local brewmaster for SXM beer. Giovanni shared his story; One day, I stopped behind the brewery and saw the brewmaster standing on a platform throwing something inside a big stainless-steel barrel. A stomach teasing aroma, with a smell like when you pour a warm cup of milk onto cereal or cornflakes. When this aroma filled the air, I asked, what he was doing, he replied, using the brewers term, Im mashing in, which in other words means to extract starch and sugars from grain that will be your potential beer wort Read more

Minister Richardson Pays A Visit To State Secretary Knops

THE NETHERLANDS — The main items on the agenda of the meeting between Minister Richardson and State Secretary Knops on Thursday September 23, 2021 were the status of the discussions with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in connection with building a new prison, the Plan of Approach for the Pointe Blanche prison, measure H.11 of the Country package for Sint Maarten which concerns the further strengthening of Sint Maartens border control agencies with assistance of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, and the status of the Function Book for KPSM Read more

Emmanuel Says Trust Fund Rejection Of Housing Proposal Feels Incomplete

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent MP Christophe Emmanuel on Monday said the statement by the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) about raising the rent of its tenants feels like there is more to the story than the foundation is saying and questioned governments role.

SMHDF General Director Helen Salomons informed the media that the World Bank (WB) Trust Fund Steering Committee has denied SMHDFs request for US $45 million in funding. She said that the rejection is for reasons unknown Read more

Emmanuel Questions If 52 Million From Home-Porting Was Realized

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent MP Christophe Emmanuel has called on government to provide a report on the countrys first home-porting experience, in particular if the estimated US $52 million was realized now that the service is over to the Celebrity Millenium.

The MP said that currently the people of St. Maarten are only hearing tax, tax, tax from the government, with no other revenue generating measures or cost saving measures being mentioned. As such, he said, this would be the opportune time to Let us know if we managed to derive that famous US $52 million from home-porting, the MP said.

St Read more

Emmanuel: Finance Minister Proves Again He Cannot Be Trusted With Financial Information

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Sunday said the Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion proved once again that the financial information he shares with the Parliament and the people of St. Maarten cannot be trusted. The mis-information and hiding of the truth continues, MP Emmanuel said.
The MP was referring to the disclosure by Minister Irion that a 7.5% sales tax for online purchases is on the table as part of the governments tax reform plans Read more

Teen Times Submits Legislation Proposal To Mp Romou To End Period Poverty

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The young writers of Teen Times have submitted a proposal for legislation that would mandate schools and other public spaces to provide free female sanitary products. The proposal follows a global movement to end what is known as Period Poverty and is Teen Times second legislation proposal presented this year to Parliament through a Member of Parliament.

Coordinator of Teen Times Nichele Abreu-Smith presented the document on behalf of her group to MP Angelique Romou who is the Chairlady of Parliaments Committee for Youth, Education, Culture and Sports Read more

Emmanuel Asks If Schiphol, Ballast Nedam Conflict Will Affect Airport Re-Construction

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — An ongoing situation in the Netherlands between Schiphol International and contractor Ballast Nedam has prompted Independent MP Christophe Emmanuel to write to Minister of TEATT Roger Lawrence to obtain information on any potential fallout for the re-construction of the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).

In the week of August 27, 2021, several media outlets in the Netherlands reported on the significant financial losses of Schiphol International Airport in the first half of 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic Read more

Mp Emmanuel Questions Doran About Re-Locating People From Landfill To Foga

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent MP Christophe Emmanuel on Wednesday dispatched a letter to the Minister of VROMI Egbert Doran with a number of questions regarding the reported relocation of persons living on the landfill to brand new homes to be built at the area known as the Foga Housing Development Project in Sucker Garden.
Emmanuel said in his letter to the Minister that persistent rumors and unconfirmed reports must be addressed post haste as there were existing plans for the area Read more

Debt Cancellation Part 2

Member of Parliament George Pantophlet continues to insist that the debt owed to the Dutch government by St. Maarten should be canceled. The first step should be immediate suspension and then definite cancellation. Discussions on this matter should commence forthwith. He believes that the Ang. 12.7 million has to be made next month. These funds go towards the Ang Read more

Mp Sarah Wescot-Williams: Remarks At The Closing Of The Parliamentary Year 2020-2021.

The proverbial elephant in the room is the lack of cohesion in this administration where major matters are concerned.

On the 8th of September 2020, we had a historic opening of the parliamentary year we are closing today. Tomorrow the opening ritual will take place again, like is customary throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands. There is one big difference though, the opening of the parliamentary year in the Netherlands with the Crown Speech is followed by the presentation of the budget of the Kingdom government, one of the many abnormalities our constitutional system engenders Read more

Mp Emmanuel: Making Light Of Accountability Shows President Of ParliamentS Immaturity

Everything I predicted came true

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Monday said the fact that President of Parliament Rolando Brison continues to poke fun at the notion of accountability not only reflects his immaturity, but the low level of respect he has for the people of St Read more

A Message To Minister Of Finance Mr. Ardwell Irion

The tax witch hunt should first and foremost start with the large foreign business investors prior to going after our struggling local businesses. In fact government should give incentives, tax break/relief and even exemption to local businesses for a period of time. It is Minister of Finance Mr. Ardwell Irion’s turn to show case his ambitious plan in turning around our bleak financial situation into a balanced then onto a bright one.

Armed with a law book presented by tax advisors Tax Inspector Mr Read more

Aalbers And Lont Present Capita Selecta; Caribisch Fiscaal Recht To Minister Irion

~Tax advisors present Finance Minister with Caribbean tax law book~

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten On Friday afternoon Minister of Finance Hon.
Ardwell Irion received a copy of the book Capita Selecta; Caribisch Fiscaal Recht,
presented by Tax Inspector Marco Aalbers and Tax Advisor Quincy Lont. Both
Aalbers and Lont are working in the tax field on Sint Maarten for many years and are
co-authors of the book.

The book contains a unique thematic introduction to tax law as it applies on Sint
Maarten, Curacao, Aruba, the BES islands and Suriname Read more

Emmanuel Says Govt Gullible In Dealing With Dutch, Says Coho Still Unnecessary

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Monday re-iterated his position that the COHO or COHO 2.0 is a construct of control that is unnecessary in the bigger picture of St. Maarten implementing government reforms.
He said the government of St. Maarten is gullible when dealing with the Dutch or being willfully deceitful in keeping the public in the dark in regards to changes to the COHO legislation. We are approaching the end of the year and the entity known as COHO is still mired in controversy because in some shape or form it encroaches on the autonomy of the countries, Emmanuel said.

He stressed that State Secretary of Kingdom Relations & Interior Affairs Raymond Knops is forcing the countries to accept the entity by pretending to remove problematic areas of the COHO legislation, only to disguise COHOs true intent in other ways Read more

Buncamper Wants Explanation Why Only One Bank Selected For Food Program

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Faction Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party MP Claudius Buncamper on Monday questioned why only the swipe machines of one bank on St. Maarten was chosen for the food voucher program.

The MP stated that it was brought to his attention that food retailers who wanted to participate in the program could not do so because they did not have a swipe machine from the bank chosen to work with the program.

Buncamper said while he has no issue with the bank in question which has been a good corporate citizen on St Read more

Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard Introduced To Council Of Ministers

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Last Thursday the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard (DCCG) director, Frank Boots and a delegation paid a visit to the Council of Ministers. During this visit the DCCG director introduced his organization to the Council of Ministers.

The delegation, upon invitation of the Prime Minister who proposed the introduction of the Coast Guard to the Council of Ministers in order to increase the awareness of the organization and the mandated objectives. The DCCG director, Frank Boots gave the introduction of the DCCG through a presentation in which he gave an explanation of the policies, tasks and assets of the organization in the Caribbean and in particular its goals for the island of St Read more