SXMElections.com

SER A POLITICAL FOOTBALL.

style="text-align: left;">General

PHILIPSBURG:--- The SER is an advisory council and not a higher council of state that gives requested and unrequested advises to government. Recently the SER has let government use it for political reasons during the last elections and it published the report recently.
The write off of the taxes prior to 2006 is well documented and thought out and is based on sound advises.

Facts

The Parliament of St. Maarten passed two motions requesting that the amounts prior to 2006 be written off.The CFT, SOAB and Audit Chamber have made comments about those old amounts in their reports.In the financial statements of the government of St Read more

Marine community supports Minister Lake’s initiative to clean-up coastal debris from Hurricane Gonzalo. Effort to get underway December 6th.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake is very pleased to learn that the marine community has accepted his initiative appeal for a coastal clean-up of hurricane related debris due to the passing of Hurricane Gonzalo from inland waterways and lagoons. The clean-up is slated for December 6th weekend.

Representatives from the St Read more

Department Of Youth Affairs To Celebrate 2014 International Day Of The Rights Of Children -Awareness Campaign To Focus On Child Abuse

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Department of Youth Affairs is launching its official annual awareness campaign in commemoration of the International Day of the Rights of the Child, which will be observed on November 20th.

The campaign which is a collaborative effort of the Department of Youth Affairs, the Department of Sports, UNESCO, schools and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) aims to bring awareness to children, parents, and the community about the rights of children.

Child abuse, the theme for this year's campaign, will be spearheaded under the slogan: " My Rights to My Protection, My Freedom from Abuse" Read more

Marine Community Supports Minister Lake's Initiative To Clean-Up Coastal Debris From Hurricane Gonzalo. Effort To Get Underway December 6Th

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake is very pleased to learn that the marine community has accepted his initiative appeal for a coastal clean-up of hurricane related debris due to the passing of Hurricane Gonzalo from inland waterways and lagoons.

The clean-up is slated for December 6th weekend.

Representatives from the St Read more

Upnext Bake Sale A Sold-Out Affair For Less Fortunate Kids

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - UPNext, the youth movement within the United People party (UP), held a successful fundraising bake sale on Saturday to fund the group's "CheerUp" Christmas program in support of the children homes of St. Maarten and the children housed there.

Dubbed a "BakeUP" and stationed at the Afoo Supermarket in Philipsburg, the youngsters managed to sell all goodies that were up for sale and raised close to $1,000.

The event started at 9:00am and by 1:00pm everything was sold out.

On the bale sale were popular items such as black cake, carrot cake, several tarts, brownies, cookies and much more.

The UPNext teens didn't just stay at the venue, they put goodies on trays and walked through Backstreet and Frontstreet selling baked items to local and visitors alike.

Members of the community who didn't purchase anything simply made financial contributions to the cause for which the teens from UPNext showed their appreciation with loud applause and shouts of thank you.

Minister of Youth Affairs Patricia Lourens also passed by to support the cause while leader of the UP Theo Heyliger provided breakfast for the hard working teens.

President of UPNext Kinisha Kalla thanks everyone for their overwhelming support and reminded that a second bake sale will be held next Saturday, November 22 at the same venue from 9:00am until everything is sold.

This week group will elaborate more on the Christmas CheerUp program and its plans to bring some joy into the lives of the less fortunate children at some of the Children's homes.

UPNext is guided by the members of the PR & Marketing Committee of the UP, Grisha Marten-Heyliger, Alston Lourens and Mike Granger.

The group also thanked the Afoo Group of Companies, Peter J Read more

Emil Lee Issues Statement On Political Developments

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - As 12th highest vote getter out of 90 candidates and 3rd highest vote getter in the DP, I have been requested many times to comment on the current political situation, I felt that making comments before things were clear could be disruptive to the formation process.

Now that Sarah Wescott-Williams, leader of the DP, has made the position of the DP clear, I believe it is reasonable to make a statement.

As the dust settles, I would propose that opposition forms a united coalition since providing quality opposition in Parliament is a critical part of any properly functioning democracy Read more

Editorial - General interest first

The concern expressed by "formateur" Theo Heyliger to NRC Handelsblad (see Friday edition) for an impasse over the appointment of future cabinet members may have diminished somewhat. Part of the reason would be statements by Kingdom Relations Minister Ronald Plasterk in today's paper in connection with the decision not to issue a new instruction on an integrity action plan for the local law enforcement sector.

When asked about the existing instruction for screening proposed ministers, he said the process was in the hands of Governor Eugene Holiday, who is responsible for such Read more

Locals and the airline industry

Dear Editor,

Most recently I read with interest the curriculum/subjects contained in the 2015 study financing list of subjects offered by this department. Approximately 18 months previously WINAIR was visited by this department at the behest of Michael Ferrier to ascertain what could be offered to the SXM youth to prepare themselves for meaningful careers in Aviation.

After several discussions with the study finance group, we established the need in SXM for Air Craft Maintenance Personnel and Commercial Pilots, both disciplines are now available to our youth Read more

Heyliger says impasse looms

THE HAGUE--St. Maarten’s United People’s Party (UP) Leader Theo Heyliger said in an interview with the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad on Wednesday that an impasse was imminent in the conflict with the Netherlands about the extra screening of the candidate prime minister and ministers Read more

Sarah tenders her resignation

Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams caucuses with Parliament Presidium members MPs Cornelius de Weever and Leona Marlin-Romeo on whether she should continue chairing Thursday’s session of Parliament after she submitted her resignation as Parliament head (Rajesh Chintaman photo) Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake in the wake of the recent torrential rainfall event last weekend and Hurricane Gonzalo mid-October, will meet with representatives from various ministries and other government agencies related to disaster preparedness on Monday morning about disaster management planning and response.

Minister Lake has visited affected areas such as Arch Road and Foga, and has also spoken with many residents with respect to the most recent weather event.

"We need to re-evaluate exactly how things went and how better we can enhance our response, but also being pro-active Read more

Governor Holiday receives list with candidate ministers. (UPDATED)

>HARBOUR VIEW:--- His Excellency the Governor of Sint Maarten, drs. E.B. Holiday, met with formateur Theo Heyliger to discuss the progress of the formation process. During the meeting the formateur presented the Governor with the names of the candidates for the function of Prime Minister, ministers and the candidate Minister Plenipotentiary Read more

Caretaker Pm Resigns As President Of Parliament

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - It is now official! President of Parliament, caretaker Prime Minister and leader of the Democratic Party, the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams, who announced during a press conference on Wednesday that she was making her position as president of Parliament available, on Thursday, presented her letter of resignation to the Parliament of St Read more

Ser-Advice Meets With Severe Criticism

St. Maarten – The advice from the Social Economic Council about former Finance Minister Roland Tuitt’s decision in 2013 to take all tax debts from 2006 and before off the books, has met with some serious criticism. The SER-advice labels the decision as unlawful and states that Tuitt wiped out 4.47 billion guilders (around $2.5 billion) in tax arrears.

“The suggestion that the country is missing out on 4.4 billion guilders in tax revenue is unfounded,” a source told this newspaper under guarantee of anonymity Read more

Court Documents Indicate: Theo Heyliger Attempted To Blackmail Tender Services

St. Maarten/ By Hilbert Haar – United People’s party leader Theo Heyliger attempted in 2001 to blackmail the owner of St. Maarten Tender Services, Bobby Velasquez, with a bogus consultancy contract in the name of Coal Pot Inc., an offshore company established in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands Read more

Leonard Advise Students On Best Career Choices

St. Maarten – The “vital careers” that Country St. Maarten will need “should the country decide to move away from the Dutch Kingdom and become an independent country in the Caribbean”, were discussed with sixth graders of the Sister Marie Laurence Primary School in Middle Region by MP Tamara Leonard.

The sixth graders will head to high school in the new school year Read more

Minister ‘disturbed’ by water pump situation, to discuss disaster response

~ Thompson calls statement 'propaganda' ~

PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake says he is "very disturbed with the situation regarding the storm water pumps" and has announced that he is set to meet soon with representatives of various governmental ministries and agencies in relation to disaster management.

In response, environmentalist Rueben Thompson called these comments "the same propaganda we hear with every natural disaster."

Lake's statements were relayed via a VROMI press release last night and came in the wake of recent torrential rainfall, Hurricane Gonzalo mid-October and subsequent criticism in regard to flooded areas and lack of maintenance of emergency systems such as floodgates and water pumps.

The planned meeting will take place on the morning of Monday, November 17, and will focus on disaster preparedness, management planning and response.

'Be on the ball'

"I am very disturbed with the situation regarding the storm water pumps," the press release quoted Minister Lake as saying Read more

BIP law approved by Parliament Thursday

PHILIPSBURG--The first formal step in the establishment of the Bureau Intellectual Property (BIP) was cemented Thursday when Parliament approved the law regulating the bureau. All eleven Members of Parliament (MPs) present for the plenary session of Parliament individually voted to adopt the legislation.

The establishment of the bureau has been pending in the form of the draft legislation since the final days of the Netherlands Antilles Parliament. The draft was taken over by the St. Maarten Parliament upon the attainment of country-within-the-Dutch-Kingdom on October 10, 2010.

The meeting to approve this piece of legislation was before Parliament twice before, but the sessions had to be cancelled due to no quorum Read more

For St. Maarten’s sake

Dear Editor,

I have been writing articles to the opinion column of the local newspapers for over 16 years, including my latest on September 5, 2014, entitled “An undesirable city landmark,” in reference to pond mountain on Pond Island in the middle of the great salt pond.

However, very early on, I imposed a ban on myself from writing on political topics, which steered me clear off the Integrity and Instruction issues. But at 7am on Tuesday November 11, St. Martin’s Day, I was awaken by some flashing thoughts which I have decided to share with you, the people and elected leaders of St-Maarten, even at the cost of breaking my own self-imposed ban on political topics.

The last St-Maarten elections took place two and half months ago on August 29, 2014 Read more

Top 10 ship-jumpers

Dear Editor,

Top 10 ship-jumpers, since inception of Country Sint Maarten in 2010

1. Romain Laville;

2. Cornelius de Weever;

3. Sarah Wescot-Williams;

4 Read more

Chairlady of Parliament Wescot Williams Resigns from Parliament effective immediately --- MP Lloyd Richardson heading to become an Independent Member of Parliament.

style="text-align: center;"> Is there still a Government in Place? Where does MP Leona Marlin stand?

PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot Williams read her letter of resignation from the position as chairlady of Parliament which she said is effective immediately Read more

>MIDDLE REGION:--- United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard recently discussed career choices with sixth graders of Sister Marie Laurence Primary School in Middle Region. The sixth graders will head to high school in the new school year.
Leonard, a businesswoman, spoke to the pupils about the vital careers the country needs now and in the future for it to continue to progress and grow stronger as a country Read more

Minister Lake Meets On Monday With Government Ministries And Agencies About Disaster Management Planning And Response

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake in the wake of the recent torrential rainfall event last weekend and Hurricane Gonzalo mid-October, will meet with representatives from various ministries and other government agencies related to disaster preparedness on Monday morning about disaster management planning and response.

Minister Lake has visited affected areas such as Arch Road and Foga, and has also spoken with many residents with respect to the most recent weather event.

"We need to re-evaluate exactly how things went and how better we can enhance our response, but also being pro-active Read more

Minister Ted Richardson Addresses Intellectual Property In Parliament Thursday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The House of Parliament met in a plenary public session on Thursday afternoon.

The meeting was related to Bureau Intellectual Property.

This meeting was initially scheduled to be held on Monday, November 10, but due to a lack of a quorum it was adjourned.

The purpose of the parliamentary session was to discuss draft National Ordinance regarding the Bureau of Intellectual Property with respect to current rules, responsibilities and obligations.

During the meeting, Members of Parliament had several questions in relation to the B.I.P.

On hand to provide the answers to MPs was Caretaker Minister with the responsibility for Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Communications, Ted Richardson.

Meanwhile, the motion for the draft National Ordinance for the Bureau of Intellectual Property was unanimously accepted by 11 to 0 votes on the floor of Parliament on Thursday Read more