SXMElections.com

Mixed growth in the monetary union

>WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG:--- The government of Curaçao has embarked on a path of reducing the costs of the government apparatus and the social insurances while stimulating economic growth, that contributed to a real GDP growth of 0.4% during the second quarter of 2015.” the president of the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten, Dr. Emsley Tromp, said in the Bank’s Quarterly Bulletin Read more

>MARIGOT/GREAT BAY:---- Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs will be the guest on Talking Point radio program on Friday, October 30, said Jacques “Billy D” Hamlet host and producer of the program.
According to Hamlet “The prime minister confirmed late Wednesday evening he will be my guest on the program Friday at 9am.”
Gumbs will be appearing on SOS Radio for the first since been nominated prime minister of St Read more

>THE CARIBBEAN (Oct. 29, 2015) - Robin Hayes, President & CEO of JetBlue Airways and keynote speaker at the Caribbean Tourism Organization's (CTO) State of the Industry Conference (SOTIC), held last week in Curacao, stunned his audience with a message to which few had paid much attention before. Hayes stated: "At JetBlue, we are very much thinking about the relative tax burden on our customers as we allocate capacity."
For countries that rely heavily on the air transportation of visitors for up to 70% of their GDP, few tourism planners in the Caribbean have ever considered examining their relative position within the region concerning taxes on airline tickets Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Aristotle said: "the only way to avoid criticism is to say nothing, do nothing and be nothing." When some members of the DP criticize the counterpart law and policy without reviewing the implementation guidelines then they are too quick to criticize and assume that it "is a sure recipe for massive lay-offs. " This once again proves that they were not in support of my vision to provide the much needed opportunity of our youth to take on top positions in our community Read more

Mp Lake Says People Relieved With Gumbs Cabinet’S Resignation

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake says he welcomes the resignation of the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet and the making of the way for the new cabinet to be installed.
“It is good they have finally tendered their resignations on Wednesday and will stop embarrassing themselves by not following the rules and making mockery of our Constitution Read more

Deletion References Of Two Political Parties

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - By virtue of Article 22 of the National Ordinance on Registration and Finances of Political Parties, the Electoral Council is required to delete the registered reference to be placed above the list of candidates of a political party if the party failed to submit a list of candidates for the last parliamentary election.

Both the Citizens for Positive Change and the Concordia Political Alliance Association, which have been registered with the Electoral Council, did not participate in the 2014 parliamentary elections.

Consequently, by Decision No Read more

Port St. Maarten Congratulates Nation’S Top Cop On Appointment

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – Port St. Maarten Supervisory Board and Management would like to congratulate Carl John who has been appointed the nation’s top cop to become Chief of Police of the Sint Maarten National Police Force.

Port St. Maarten has a very good working relationship with the Police Force and with Carl John in particular.  John was part of a delegation a few months ago that participate in a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) security conference where a strategic security alliance had been formed.

RCCL allowed a team of security and law enforcement professionals from country St Read more

Prime Minister Gumbs Invites Public To Fire Dept. Open House On Sunday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, who is also Minister of General Affairs and responsible for the Fire Department, invites the general public to the departments Open House on Sunday, November 1 at the Fire Station in Cay Hill.

The Open House is part of the departments Fire Prevention Month of activities that k Read more

Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs On Sos Radio Friday

Marigot/Great Bay - Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs will be the guest on Talking Point radio program on Friday, October 30, said Jacques “Billy D” Hamlet host and producer of the program.

According to Hamlet “The prime minister confirmed late Wednesday evening he will be my guest on the program Friday at 9am.”

Gumbs will be appearing on SOS Radio for the first since been nominated prime minister of St Read more

“Saying That Elections Will Stop Ship Jumping Is Lying To Voters”

St. Maarten – Parliamentarians bitched and moaned about rules and regulations yesterday all the way until the final vote on the two motions the new majority presented yesterday morning. It was a losing battle for the opposition UP and its faithful independents and in the end, it did not change anything at all.

Independent MP Cornelius de Weever started with an attack on the new president of parliament, Sarah Wescot-Williams Read more

Dp Criticizes Mp De Weever: “Counterpart Policy Is A Sure Recipe For Massive Lay-Offs”

St. Maarten – “As much as he tries, MP and former Minister OF Public health, Social Development and Labor Cornelius de Weever will never be able to convince anyone that the reason for his defection from the Red-White-Blue coalition in 2014 had something to do with opposition he encountered back then to “his” counterpart law,” Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams states in a press release Read more

Motion adopted in Parliament to annul the LB to dissolve the Parliament of St. Maarten. PM Refused to attend meeting of Parliament and to submit documents.

style="text-align: center;">Motion to instruct Council of Ministers not to make decision that will affect the country passed.

PHILIPSBURG:--- After some severe resistance from the now minority in Parliament the new majority managed to pass two motions that they presented on Wednesday.
MP William Marlin tabled a motion to annul the Landsbesluit sent by Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs to the Governor of St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- As much as he tries, MP and former VSA Minister, Mr. Cornelius V. H de Weever, will never be able to convince any-one that the reason for his defection from the Red-White-Blue coalition in 2014 had something to do with opposition he encountered back then to "his" counterpart law.
While this is far from the truth to begin with, the MP has failed up to this day to show any tangible results from enforcing this policy, as he claimed he and his new allies would. The MP seemed hell-bent on forcing through this policy unilaterally, which approach is doomed to fail and rather than get the private sector on board, would have created a rift which the country can ill-afford.
Forcing any business to hire, because "government says so", is a sure recipe for lay-offs and unemployment.
Luckily for all of us, those in the know are quietly, yet effectively approaching the matter of employment in the only manner it will really work and that is through partnership.
The Democratic Party reiterates its position on this matter, namely that only through concerted efforts between labor and business will we see more of our people employed in careers of their choice and for those who seek such, mobility in the labor market, in other words new job opportunities.
In this context, the initiative by the Labor Department via their Start Here program, coupled with their support for the SHTA job fair and business initiatives such as those of the Maho Group of Companies, is the way to go if we are serious about placing more of our people in positions throughout St Read more

Attorney Asks Court To Suspend Decision Against Airport Director

St. Maarten – Attorney Cor Merx filed an administrative lawsuit yesterday against the decision by Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs to refuse airport managing director Regina Labega a certificate of no objection. Such a certificate is required for Labega to keep her position of confidence as the managing director of the airport. PM Gumbs refu Read more

President Of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams: “Mps Waste Hundreds Of Guilders”

St. Maarten – “Every half hour wasted by Members of Parliament costs taxpayers nine hundred guilders. (15 x 60 is 900 guilders). This amount is close to what some persons in our community earn monthly after deductions. It equals the school fee for others. For yet others, it equals the monthly cost for day-care,” Democratic Party MP and President of parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams stated after a meeting of parliament did not take place on Monday morning due to a lack of quorum Read more

University Reminds Government Of Promise To Increase Subsidy

St. Maarten – On May 20 the Board of the University of St. Maarten Foundation, assisted by its management team, discussed the developments of the University with the parliamentary committee of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport Affairs. During that meeting, which was chaired by MP Silveria Jacobs, Minister of Education Rita Bourne-Gumbs made two public promises Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- During its review of the donation registrations of political parties, the Electoral Council noted that several parties received an excess of what is legally allowed in donations. Both the donors who exceeded the donation limit and the parties were informed about this matter in the month of June of this year. Three parties were requested to return excess donations as is stipulated by law and to submit evidence thereof to the Electoral Council. These parties are the Democratic Party, the National Alliance and the United People Party Read more

Government promised to increase USM subsidies.

>PHILIPSBURG:---- On the 20th May 2015 the Board of the University of St. Maarten Foundation (BUSMF), assisted by its management team, discussed the developments of the University of St. Martin (USM) with the parliamentary committee of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport Affairs. During that meeting, which was chaired by the Honorable Member of Parliament, Ms. Silveria Jacobs, the Honorable Minister of Education, Mrs Read more

Parliament Discusses The Dissolution Of Parliament

St. Maarten – Parliament meets on Wednesday morning at 10.a.m. to discuss the dissolution of parliament. On the same day, the minister of the Marcel Gumbs cabinet are at the Governor’s cabinet to sign their resignation letters. Governor Holiday has confirmed that he will subsequently sign the national decree to dissolve the parliament.

National Alliance MPs George Pantophlet, Silveria Jacobs and Christophe Emmanuel requested the meeting in a letter dated October 20.

The meeting will be broadcast live on St Read more

Usm And Partners Discuss Development

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - On the 20th May 2015 the Board of the University of St. Maarten Foundation (BUSMF), assisted by its management team, discussed the developments of the University of St. Martin (USM) with the parliamentary committee of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport Affairs.

During that meeting, which was chaired by the Honorable Member of Parliament, Ms. Silveria Jacobs, the Honorable Minister of Education, Mrs Read more

Important Meeting Of Statia Island Council Postponed

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - A meeting of the Island Council of St. Eustatius which was scheduled for Tuesday morning to debate the financial report among other pressing matters was postponed.

The meeting was at the request of the Democratic Party.

Speaking to our news department, leader of government on St. Eustatius and Councilman of the PLP, Clyde van Putten also told us that a proposal brought by the opposition to amend the agenda was voted down by the coalition government of the UPC/PLP Read more

Independent Mp Leona Marlin-Romeo Invited To Join New Coalition

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - With the expected snap elections now just around the corner, the independent members of Parliament have been giving the electorate more insight into the inner workings that led them to becoming independent members of Parliament.

Seemingly Independent Member of Parliament, the Honorable Leona Marlin-Romeo was asked by the leader of the United St Read more

Urgent Plenary session of the House about Dissolution of Parliament set for October 28

>PHILIPSBURG:----  The House of Parliament will meet in an urgent plenary session on October 28 to discuss the dissolution of Parliament.

The public Plenary Session is set for Wednesday, at 10.00am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.
The agenda point is the decision of the Council of Ministers to dissolve Parliament.

This meeting of the House was requested by the National Alliance Faction Members of Parliament (MPs) G.C Read more

Marcel Gumbs Cabinet Tenders Resignation On Wednesday

St. Maarten- The Council of Ministers will meet this coming Wednesday with Governor Drs. Eugene Holiday at the Governor’s Cabinet to tender its resignation.

At this meeting all ministers will make their positions available and the national decree to dissolve parliament will be signed by the governor and countersigned by Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, the prime minister’s cabinet states in a press release last night Read more