SXMElections.com

UP’s case to obtain copy of voting register thrown out

PHILIPSBURG--The Court on Tuesday declared United People's (UP) Party Association and its chairperson and Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Meyers-Olivacce inadmissible in the injunction it had filed to obtain a copy of the voting register.

Upon hearing the Judge's decision, UP's lawyers Peggy-Ann Brandon and Brenda Brooks announced they would immediately file a new and similar injunction against Country St Read more

Severe drought forces Jamaica to adopt new strategies for start of school term

KINGSTON, Jamaica--Jamaica, suffering from a prolonged dry spell that has affected a number of institutions, says it will adopt new measures to ensure that students returning to school next week for the new academic term are not severely hampered by the lack of water.

"I want to give every assurance that the National Water Commission (NWC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, will be doing their utmost to supply water to the affected areas, so that the new school term will commence as smoothly as possible," said Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Robert Pickersgill.

Pickersgill said that information to date from the Meteorological Service suggests that various parishes in the north and south of the country were experiencing severe to extreme drought and the projection is for these parishes to continue to receive below normal rainfall.

"In light of that information, the Ministry is paying special attention to the reopening of schools as schools, as well as hospitals and infirmaries especially in those communities that are adversely affected by the severe drought," he said.

Pickersgill said that the NWC has been assisting some schools in the Corporate Area that are experiencing challenges with their supply, and are without storage capacity, by providing a number of tanks to these institutions.

"However, I am encouraging all schools to establish additional facilities for storage, so that in the absence of regular supplies water may be supplied to them and stored Read more

Poroshenko to seek ceasefire after "very tough" talks with Putin

MINSK--Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised after late-night negotiations with Russia's Vladimir Putin to work on an urgent ceasefire plan to defuse the separatist conflict in the east of his former Soviet republic.

The first talks between the two leaders since June were described by Putin as positive, but he said it was not for Russia to get into the details of truce terms between the Kiev government and two rebel eastern regions.

"We didn't substantively discuss that, and we, Russia, can't substantively discuss conditions of a ceasefire, of agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk Read more

Don’t forget us, say fire victims

ST. PETERS--Victims of the St. Peters fire are struggling to get their lives back in order. Although they have received support from individual people, Tzu Chi Foundation and the community centre, organised support from the government has been sadly lacking, other than in the days immediately after the fire, one of the victims complains.

Next week it will be a month since the fire in Magnolia Drive, which is mainly remembered as the fire where a group of brave young men worked together with fire officers to ensure the damage was minimised.

A number of people were made homeless and lost everything apart from the clothes on their backs Read more

US Party candidates call voters ‘to make a change’

CUL DE SAC--Voters were urged to head to the polls on Friday and make a change by voting for the United St. Maarten Party, headed by independent Member of Parliament Frans Richardson. The party leader and thirteen other candidates shared first final messages of campaign for Parliament at the party's final public meeting at the party's headquarters on Tuesday.

Richardson told supporters, "We are ready for change in this country." He called on voters "to send a message" to the "expired politicians" that the "time has come to get out of office."

He criticised the plans of the United People's (UP) party to build a new hospital as expensive and burdensome for the people as it will cost about US $300 million Read more

Judge allows witnesses to be heard in Bada Bing case

PHILIPSBURG--Judge Koos van de Ven has allowed a number of witnesses to be heard on behalf of the defence in the so-called "Orca" case. The Court announced its decision on a number of the defence's requests for additional investigations and the hearing of witnesses during a brief session on Tuesday morning.

The suspects did not appear in Court, but were represented by their respective lawyers. It is not known when the actual court case will be heard, most likely in March or April 2015.

In the trial, Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Illidge (48) will be charged with accepting bribes from Bada Bing and Lunteren N.V Read more

NA: Dollarization could sink country

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) leader Member of Parliament William Marlin says dollarization will have serious financial consequences for St. Maarten, as the expenses to take this route are extremely exorbitant. He called on United People's (UP) party leader MP Theo Heyliger to substantiate his claim that the switch from the Netherlands Antilles guilder to the US dollar would not cost the country much.

Marlin, whose party is not in favour of dollarizing the economy, said such a move comes with "tremendous loss of seigniorage" for the country.

To dollarize, the country would have to purchase stocks of currency equivalent to the value of the total stock of guilders in circulation Read more

Van Raak, Bosman shocked by ruling in vote-buying case

THE HAGUE--Members of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party and Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) said on Tuesday that they were shocked by the decision of the Court in St. Maarten's vote-buying case.

The Court of First Instance on Monday declared inadmissible the Prosecutor's Office's cases against five persons who were allegedly involved in the selling and buying of votes on behalf of the United People's (UP) party in the September 2010 election.

"I am truly shocked by the Court's decision," Van Raak told The Daily Herald in a reaction Read more

Party Leaders Avoid Laser 101 Debate: Rhoda Arrindell (Up): “Stupid Grievances Downed First Wescot-Williams Cabinet”

St. Maarten – Party leaders declined to take part in what would have been the last political debate before the elections on Friday yesterday. Radio station Laser 101 had invited UP-leader Theo Heyliger, DP-leader Sarah Wescot-Williams, NA-leader William Marlin and USp-leader Frans Richardson Read more

Ministry of Health to establish Ebola Incidence Management Team. Meetings with stakeholders continues.

>GREAT BAY:--- The Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA) is in the process of establishing a "Sint Maarten Ebola Virus Disease Incidence Management Team" (SXM EVD IMT), and is continuing to meet with stakeholders as part of national preparedness according to international health regulations and requirements for every country around the world.

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
This EVD outbreak has a fatality rate of 54% Read more

PM: Integrity Commission and Monitoring Committee to be Established.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams gave an update on the release of the Integrity Report and the reaction of Government on the content of the report. The PM also explained what the next steps with respects to the integrity investigations will be and the consequences it will have for all parties involved, including the establishment of a so-called integrity commission within Government; "It is important to state that this report is the report that has been compiled by the commission that has been established by the Government of St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Lawyers and the three living suspects that were involved in the Masbangu investigation namely Carolina, James and Roy Heyliger escaped slightly on Monday when Judge C.T. M Luijks deemed the entire case inadmissible because he felt that the main suspect Theodore Heyliger was not charged and taken before him. Judge Luijks said based on what he has seen the Masbangu case created what can be considered as "class justice" and the Landsrecherche along with the Prosecutor's Office are holding their hands over Theo Heyliger's head Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- After listening to the last political debate on Sunday night which was organized by AVS News one wonders who really is running the country at this present moment. The two political parties namely the UP and DP tried their utmost best to convince the people that they are the ones most capable of running the country for another four years, yet they did not admit they are the ones in charge right now at least until October 10th, 2014.
SMN News has been bringing you a review of the past four years to remind voters of some of the things that transpired when the three coalitions ran the affairs of the people this great nation.
Early 2011 shortly after the UP/ DP government took office, the biggest scandal that broke and had the country in uproar was when Member of Parliament Jules James who is working for Simpson Bay Resorts Management Company (SBRMC) laid off close to 200 workers that have been working for Pelican Resorts for years Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The board of the United People's Party (UP) has taken note of the Democratic Party's (DP) position on the lawsuit initiated by Zebec NV against Port St. Maarten and Chief Executive Officer Mark Mingo.

"It is very unfortunate that the DP is ready to tear down a local government –owned company which is managed by a local young professional Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake says the indecisiveness within the Council of Ministers is costing government money and sending the wrong message to the youth.

"A case in point is Denicio Richardson, former Head of Postal Services St. Maarten, a national company providing services to the community Read more

Heel Prick Screening Feasibility Study Report Presented to Minister De Weever.

>GREAT BAY:--- Minister Cornelius de Weever thanked Collective Prevention Services for the report of the feasibility for the introduction and sustained implementation of the heel prick screening for new born on St. Maarten.
Discussions on heel prick screening for St. Maarten have been going on for years but were intensified in 2012 after a presentation and discussion of a recent case of a child with a metabolic disorder that was born on St Read more

UP: DP being judge, jury before a harbour verdict

PHILIPSBURG--The board of the United People's Party (UP) has taken note of the position of Democratic Party (DP) on the lawsuit initiated by Zebec NV against St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies and Chief Executive Officer Mark Mingo.

The board said in a press statement: "It is very unfortunate that the DP is ready to tear down a local government-owned company which is managed by a local young professional Read more

Vote buying proven, but election fraud case dismissed

~ Judge accuses Prosecutor of 'class justice' ~

PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance on Monday declared inadmissible the Prosecutor's Office's cases against five persons allegedly involved in selling and buying votes on behalf of United People's (UP) party in the September 2010 election.

The Judge held it against the Prosecutor's Office that it had decided to prosecute only five suspects, but had failed to investigate the roles of UP and its leadership in the scheme.

According to the Court, the Prosecutor's Office had been in default Read more

AG terms e-mailgate scandal ‘diabolical, evil & wicked plot’

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad--Attorney General (AG) Anand Ramlogan says the "e-mailgate" scandal was a "diabolical, evil and wicked plot" aimed at destroying the People's Partnership government after indicating that the US-based search engine, Google, had said no such e-mails existed.

But the main opposition People's National Movement (PNM), whose leader Dr. Keith Rowley brought the e-mails to light during a parliamentary session in May 2013, said the country should await the outcome of the investigation being conducted by the Integrity Commission and the police.

"We do not accept the AG's version as an interested third party as to what has happened in this matter Read more

Mentorship programme for the youth on St. Maarten

Dear Editor,

I see the need for mentoring of our young people, call it a "Big Brother/Sister programme" if you like. The investing of an adult's time, resources, energy, etc. in the life of a young person or persons. I call it "living life" with an impressionable pre-teen, teenager, where they can see and learn the important values of life up-close and personal. Spending an afternoon a week with them, taking them with you as you, for example, go to the supermarket.

The valuable lessons of budgeting, using a shopping list, comparing products and prices, living within your means, etc Read more

Lake says ‘govt legal reps said I did nothing wrong’

PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake said he has taken note of the recent story by former Minister of VROMI William Marlin regarding how he should be held liable for "wrongdoing" in the Vorst land deal.

"The people of the country can see what is going on with William Marlin and the prime minister constantly hammering on this issue of the Vorst property that will benefit the people of this country by creating jobs and housing for our young professionals," said Lake in a press release.

"If it is not coming from them, then it's nothing good for the country, basically that is what William and the prime minister are saying in between the lines Read more

Integrity Report Presents Scathing Assessment – St. Maarten Parliament Under Fire

St. Maarten – Many within and outside of Parliament doubt whether the important task of this institution is currently executed adequately. That is the mildest remark in the integrity report of the Wit Committee about the functioning of St. Maarten’s Parliament. The report contains a scathing analysis of the way the fifteen parliamentarians do their job. Unnecessary trips abroad and absence from meetings are only a tip of the iceberg.

The Wit Committee notes that evaluating the Parliament is not a specific part of its task, but it adds that integrity in the public administration cannot be discussed in its entirety without involving the Parliament.

“The public debate about the functioning of Parliament is so critical that a serious evaluation in the Parliament would benefit the authority of this institution,” the report states Read more

Dp Wants Risk Assessment By Central Bank – Harbor’S Legal Team Calls Zebec N.V.’S $100M Claim “Frivolous”

 St. Maarten - The Harbor Group of Companies says that the $100 million claim from Zebec NV against it is “wholly without merit” but the Democratic Party said in a press release that it is “seriously concerned” about the matter. Zebec claims damages from the harbor over the Harbor Village project that it was going to develop. The project stalled, according to Zebec, because Harbor CEO Mark Mingo kept throwing up obstacles.

The Harbor stated in a press release this weekend that it would “vigorously” defend itself against the claim in court Read more

Tsis Fully Operational Before January 2015

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The project Tourism Statistical Information System (TSIS) should be fully operational before January 2015.

According to Ministry TEATT Chef de Cabinet Ludwig Ouenniche, after TEATT took over the project from the Ministry of Justice, Minister Hon. Ted Richardson made sure that the SXM Airport PJIAE joins in making the completion of the TSIS project a success by offering to assist where necessary.

The scanning machines are now installed at different locations within the SXM Airport arrival hall and the former is presently finalizing the setting up of the back-office area where the data will be processed.

The TSIS project once operational will facilitate the processing of data information from the Immigration arrival cards filled in by visitors.

The data will then be analysed and share between the different departments such as the Department of Statistics, Immigration and Border Protection Service, the Sint Maarten Tourist Authority and the Tourist Bureau.

This long overdue project was signed off in 2009 Read more