Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
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St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation
The continuation of the plenary session of Parliament on developments at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation will now take place on April 7. After the meeting opened on Tuesday afternoon, National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament William Marlin called for an adjournment to give ad interim housing minister Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs (second left) more time to gather necessary documents from the foundation requested by MPs since December 2014 Read more
MPs urged to work with govt on law formulation
PHILIPSBURG--Parliament does not follow instructions on the procedure to write laws, Advisory Council Vice Chairwoman Mavis Brooks-Salmon said in a meeting of Parliament's Central Committee at which only eight of the fifteen Members of Parliament (MPs) were present on Tuesday morning.
The Advisory Council, a body outlined in the Constitution as a necessary organ of governance, has in the past told Parliament to "work with government's Legal Department" when crafting initiative laws. The Legal Department has the necessary expertise to assist with the proper way to formulate and present laws, though the department may be understaffed.
Brooks-Salmon pointed out to MPs that the Advisory Council "does not correct" draft legislation, but is capable of giving legislators guidance on where to seek pertinent information in the research and drafting process.
In response to "burning" questions from National Alliance (NA) MP Christophe Emmanuel about whether or not the five-member Council of Ministers was legal as the Constitution states the country should have seven ministers, Brooks-Salmon said while the Advisory Council will further look into the matter, it should be noted that the Constitution does not state the ministers should be seven different persons.
In the current situation, two ministers of the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet hold dual portfolios Read more
Prime Minister given Two Weeks to gather Information on SMHDF.
St. Maarten advised to object to Sanction Law
PHILIPSBURG--Parliament's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations has been advised by legal expert Ralph Richardson to object to the draft kingdom law regulating sanctions imposed by the European Union.
Richardson gave his advice in a meeting of the committee in Parliament House on Monday morning. He said if St. Maarten agrees to the kingdom law, the country "will no longer have the possibility to say anything about sanctions imposed."
St. Maarten will just have to take over EU sanctions with "no freedom of choice." He used the example of a sanction being imposed on a country with which St Read more
Plenary Session of Parliament scheduled for Tuesday about the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation
The plenary session is set for Tuesday at 2.00pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.
The agenda point is the request to the Governments Accountants Bureau SOAB to carry out a forensic investigation into the operations of the St Read more
Lake debunks talk about breaking UP
PHILIPSBURG--"Untrue and baseless" is how United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake described rampant "rumours" in the community about him being "involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs."
Since Friday, there has been persistent talk that spun into blogs about Lake breaking with this party over differences Read more
First Meeting Ad Hoc Committee Integrity:Â Code Of Conduct Suddenly AÂ Priority For Parliamentarians
St. Maarten – Thirteen years after former Lt. governor Franklyn Richards proposed it for the first time to the Island Council, the ad hoc committee Integrity of parliament met yesterday and named establishing a Code of Conduct for parliament a priority.
“I believe it is a priority for parliament to have a Code of Conduct,†committee-chairman Cornelius de Weever said.
The committee’s meeting was off to what felt like a reluctant start – the objective of this first meeting being to set the perimeters for the committee’s activities and responsibilities Read more
Pantophlet wants info on two missing financial controllers
PHILIPSBURG--Two ministries are without financial controllers. This is a cause for worry, says National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament George Pantophlet.
The Education Ministry does not have a controller and the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI controller has been appointed the concern controller, Finance Minister Martin Hassink told MPs on Thursday.
Pantophlet plans to send questions to Hassink querying who authorised the transfer of the VROMI controller and who is now authorised to approve financial transactions for the two ministries Read more
Permit will be denied if employers fail to hire suggested counterpart
PHILIPSBURG--Employment permit requests will be denied from employers who refuse to hire "suitable counterparts" recommended by the Labour Department.
This is one of the stipulations in the controversial counterpart policy, which was discussed in a meeting of Parliament's Permanent Committee of Health Care, Social Development and Labour on Friday.
Some Members of Parliament (MPs) echoed sentiments expressed by some sections of the community noting that they had serious concerns about the policy and its potential effects on the economy Read more
George questions gasoline delivery
PHILIPSBURG--The length of time the reserves at gas stations last, the delivery dates of gasoline for the past two years and controls at gas stations were among the questions sent to Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor by National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament George Pantophlet via Parliament.
The questions to the minister stemmed from the gasoline price increases on February 27, March 5 and March 9 by a total of 25.7 guilder cents.
"Explanation needs to be given to the public, reason why, in contrast to when the prices go down, the increase takes place at a very rapid pace," stated Pantophlet in the letter.
Pantophlet requested information about the last time gasoline was purchased by Sol and Texaco, the number of days a tanker takes to arrive from Trinidad to St Read more
Parliament approves 2011 annual accounts
PHILIPSBURG--Parliament unanimously approved the 2011 Annual Accounts of Government on Thursday. The approval comes three years after the period the accounts cover and well past the deadline stipulated by law.
The late tabling of the accounts was due to a severe backlog in the Finance Ministry; that backlog has since been cleared by current Finance Minister Martin Hassink who was at the plenary session of Parliament.
Hassink told the Members of Parliament (MPs) the backlog in the annual accounts is now a thing of the past Read more
No quorum stalls housing meeting
PHILIPSBURG--The discussion in Parliament about developments at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) was stalled on Wednesday after insufficient Members of Parliament signed in for the meeting with ad interim Housing Minister Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. The meeting will be reconvened at a later date.
Six of the seven United People's (UP) party MPs were not present for the meeting.
Only seven of the 15 MPs serving in the legislature signed in for the meeting Read more
UP Faction and Coalition Partners Boycott Continuation Meeting on SMHDF
Parliament’s integrity needs to be assessed by ad hoc committee
PHILIPSBURG--"I think some type of assessment document should be proposed in the committee on areas that need to be assessed to form an assessment, because if Parliament has to assess itself we have to decide upon what we will be assessing ourselves." That statement from National Alliance (NA) deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Silveria Jacobs summed up Tuesday's meeting of Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee on Integrity.
The ad hoc committee, chaired by independent MP Cornelius de Weever, is set to meet again in two weeks, at which time committee members are expected to table a proposal on the way forward and give comments on the establishment of a Code of Conduct for Parliament.
De Weever submitted a proposal for a code of conduct he had formulated with elements of similar codes in place in the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago Read more
Plenary Session Of Parliament Scheduled For Wednesday About The St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on March 11. This session is the continuation of the initial session that was held on December 22, 2014 which is now being reconvened.
The Acting Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Marcel Gumbs, will be present for the public plenary session of the House of Parliament.
The plenary session is set for Wednesday at 10.00am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.
Romney’S Draft Electoral Ordinance Prohibits Going Independent
St. Maarten – Political analyst Julio Romney presented on Wednesday evening his proposal for electoral reform in the form of a draft electoral reconciliation ordinance. The draft contains two key differences with the current system. One is the way seats are distributed among the parties that contest the elections; the other is a ban for Members of Parliament to declare themselves independent.
Romney supports the D’Hondt system for seat distribution. In this system, the numbers of votes won by each party are divided by a series of increasing denominators – from 1 until as high as necessary to arrive at a result.
Using this method, the results of the 2014 elections would have been exactly the same in terms of seat distribution Read more
American University Tax Deal: Minister Authorized To Lift Confidentiality-Rule
St. Maarten – Repeated attempts by National Alliance MP Christopher Emmanuel to get information about the tax-deal with the former owners of the American University in Cupecoy have so far stranded on Finance Minister Maarten Hassink’s refusal to make information about individual tax payers public, citing confidentiality Read more
Committee Puts Three Questions To Council Of State: Do Kingdom Instructions Violate Our Autonomy?
St. Maarten – On the day of the extended deadline, the permanent parliamentary committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-parliamentary Relations formulated three questions about the procedures around instructions by the Kingdom Council of Ministers to the governor. The questions will be added to those already formulated by the Dutch Second Chamber and sent for advice to the Council of State.
The instructions the governors of Aruba (about its 2014 budget) and of St. Maarten (about integrity-investigations and about the establishment of the Integrity Chamber) are still a hot topic in the autonomous Caribbean countries of the kingdom.
The questions the Second Chamber members have formulated are, in the opinion of the committee-members in St Read more
Emmanuel: Connor must provide Checkmate contracts within week
~ Wants Mingo, board to step down ~
PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Christopher Emmanuel has issued a firm call for the resignation of Shareholder Representative of the Harbour Claret Connor, if he fails to provide all documents related to the contracts the harbour has with Checkmate Security Services within one week.
He has also issued a call for the resignation of the board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Harbour Mark Mingo over the controversial increase in Checkmate's contract.
Checkmate Security Services has been making headlines in recent days when news broke that the company is in line for a massive US $2.2 million increase in its contract at the Harbour Group of Companies this year Read more
NIPA subsidy ‘ceased’ in Aug 2014, is now being corrected
PHILIPSBURG--The subsidy for National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) had “ceased†in August last year, and is currently being corrected by authorities, Secretary-General of the Education Ministry Jorien Wuite told Members of Parliament (MPs) Friday.
Wuite said it had been discovered that there had been a “discrepancy†in what NIPA had received as subsidy, “which placed them in a sensitive†situation Read more
DP: Country’s marketing seemingly at standstill
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten's tourism marketing in the Netherlands, the United States and Canada seems to be at a standstill with no representation in Europe and the expiration of the contracts for the North American market, according to Democratic Party (DP) Parliament fraction advisor Emil Lee.
Lee joined party leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams at Parliament House on Monday for a party press conference at which they discussed various issues the party is pursuing and is pushing for Parliament and the Gumbs Cabinet's attention.
Wescot-Williams said Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor is still to explain how and why he will be reorganising, re-evaluating and revisiting the already established St Read more
Govt losing head tax on inter-island vessels
PHILIPSBURG--Government is losing an estimated US $600,000 annually from non-collection of the US $6 head tax from inter-island vessels. This figure was shared in Parliament on Tuesday, by United St. Maarten (US) Party Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson. He gathered that figure from the industry.
Vessels operating especially ferry services to the neighbouring islands are getting away "scot-free" from making the payment of US $6 a person, because government does not have any collection mechanism in place to monitor and collect the fee.
This collection, in particular for Simpson Bay Lagoon where most of the traffic originates, should be carried out by Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority Corporation (SLAC), an entity of St Read more
Parliament establishes an ad hoc Integrity Committee
PHILIPSBURG--With integrity continuing to be the buzz word in St. Maarten, Parliament established its ad hoc committee on integrity Tuesday, but not without much discussion on the membership.
The establishment of the committee was recommended by Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a written proposal in January Read more
MPs to hear from Connor about harbour issues Tues
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies and its operations will take centre stage at a Central Committee meeting of Parliament with Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor and Finance Minister Martin Hassink on Tuesday, February 10. The meeting, requested by the National Alliance (NA) and Democratic Party (DP) on February 10, starts at Parliament at 2:00pm in Parliament House.
The agenda for the meeting covers issues related to the harbour group, the past and future impacts of the company on the country, cruise passenger head tax, Dock Marteen (Deher) marina project; causeway Turn over Tax payment, cranes, dividend and payment for the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association Conference (FCCA).
Members of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams (DP), Silveria Jacobs and George Pantophlet (NA) requested answers to be provided orally in the meeting by the ministers on the "outcome between the harbour and Bobby's Marina" and if government had given the harbour the exclusive right of development for the area that the company claims in its case against the Deher's development.
Also, the MPs want to know when Parliament will receive the harbour's 2013 financial report, whether government promised to contribute to the FCCA conference and what did government actually contribute Read more