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Prime Minister given Two Weeks to gather Information on SMHDF.

>PHILIPSBURG: --- The National Alliance Faction in Parliament has given Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs two weeks to gather all information regarding the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation if not actions will be taken against the Prime Minister for failure to provide information to Parliament.
In the continuation meeting held on Tuesday Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs informed Parliament that he did not receive the information they requested from the St Read more

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

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on March 24. This session is the continuation of the initial session that was held on December 22, 2014. On March 11, the meeting was called, but due to a lack of a quorum,, it could not continue and is now being reconvened.

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: Code Of Conduct Suddenly A 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

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The public meeting called by the Parliament of St. Maarten to further discuss the develepments at the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF)and SOAB saw a boycott from all members of the United Peoples Party faction including their coalition partners. Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever was seen in the House of Parliament before the 10h on Wednesday morning but disappeared when the meeting was about to start while MP Frans Richardson informed the chair of Parliament that he would be late for the meeting Read more

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.

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

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

Central Committee Meeting requested by DP and NA Factions about Port St. Maarten.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Central Committee of Parliament will meet in public session on February 10 at the request of the Democratic Party (DP) and National Alliance (NA) factions.
The Minister of Finance Hon. Martin Hassink and Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications Hon Read more

Central Committee Meeting Requested By Dp And Na Factions About Port St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The Central Committee of Parliament will meet in public session on February 10 at the request of the Democratic Party (DP) and National Alliance (NA) factions.

The Minister of Finance Hon. Martin Hassink and Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications Hon Read more