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Minister shares viewpoint, MPs to get GEBE answers Monday

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament’s plenary session on developments at utilities company GEBE, focusing on the ongoing dispute between the Supervisory Board and Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Managing Director Romelio Maduro about his position at the company, was adjourned to Monday afternoon, after Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Marcel Gumbs gave some perspective on Friday, but needed more documentation to answer questions posed by Members of Parliament (MPs).

The meeting was adjourned after Gumbs, as shareholder representative for the Government-owned company, gave a summarised overview of developments on the current dispute and questions were posed by National Alliance MPs William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs and Christophe Emmanuel Read more

Skeletons at GEBE Prompted Prime Minister to ask for closed door session -- MPs voted for it to be public session.

>PHILIPSBURG: --- Members of the public and the media almost got shut out of the urgent meeting that was called by the National Alliance Faction to discuss the developments at GEBE when the shareholder representative Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs asked that the meeting be held in closed doors due to a court decision that will be forthcoming on July 9th 2015 Read more

Plenary Session Of Parliament To Reconvene On Monday Regarding Developments At Nv Gebe

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on June 29th.

The shareholder representative Acting Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Hon. Marcel Gumbs will be present for the session.

The reconvened plenary session is set for Monday at 2.00pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg Read more

Patrol to Eradicate Paedophilia urges MPs to make law changes

PHILIPSBURG--Change the laws to impose harsher punishment for paedophiles and institute a sex offenders registry were among the calls the group Patrol to Eradicate Paedophilia (PEP) made to the Petitions Committee of Parliament on Thursday.

PEP's request for laws to be changed now heads to the Permanent Committee for Justice. Committee Chairman Member of Parliament (MP) Johan Leonard said he would call the Justice Minister to the committee after Parliament's July recess.

PEP representative Peggy Ann Dros-Richardson urged MPs to have Government boost its assistance to the Mental Health Foundation, to help the foundation increase awareness about paedophilia and have the required treatment for the mental disorder Read more

Plenary Session of Parliament scheduled for Friday regarding developments at NV GEBE

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on June 26th.  The shareholder representative Acting Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Hon. Marcel Gumbs will be present for the session.

  The plenary session is set for Friday at 1.00pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is developments related to NV GEBE and the position of the Managing Board and the position of the Chief Operations Officer.

This plenary session was requested by the National Alliance (NA)in Parliament, namely Members of Parliament (MPs) Hon Read more

Parliament committees to look into French/Dutch joint issues

Representatives of the French side Territorial Council with Members of Parliament in Parliament House on Tuesday.

PHILIPSBURG--A meeting between the French side Territorial Council and Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliament House on Tuesday resulted in various topics discussed being sent to Parliament’s permanent committees for further deliberation and solution seeking.

Among the topics discussed was pensioners living on the French side, but who have contributed to the Dutch side’s General Pension Fund by working on the southern side of the island accessing their benefits Read more

Plenary Session of Parliament scheduled for Friday regarding developments at NV GEBE

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on June 26th. The shareholder representative Acting Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Hon. Marcel Gumbs will be present for the session.

The plenary session is set for Friday at 1.00pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is developments related to NV GEBE and the position of the Managing Board and the position of the Chief Operations Officer.

This plenary session was requested by the National Alliance (NA)in Parliament, namely Members of Parliament (MPs) Hon Read more

Plenary Session Of Parliament Scheduled For Friday Regarding Developments At Nv Gebe

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on June 26th.

The shareholder representative Acting Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Hon. Marcel Gumbs will be present for the session.

The plenary session is set for Friday at 1.00pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is developments related to NV GEBE and the position of the Managing Board and the position of the Chief Operations Officer.

This plenary session was requested by the National Alliance (NA)in Parliament, namely Members of Parliament (MPs) Hon Read more

Finance Minister Updates Parliament On Govt Expenditures Compliance

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Permanent Committee of Country's Expenditures (CLU) of Parliament met in a session on Tuesday with the Minister of Finance, the Honorable Martin Hassink.

The purpose of the meeting was to provide information to members of the CLU committee regarding the measures taken by the Government on the recommendation of the General Audit Chamber in its report on Compliance Audit of the 2012 Financial Statements of the General Pension Fund St. Maarten (APS).

Wh Read more

Parliament Ignore Dutch Govt Deadline For Agreement On Integrity Chamber Protocol

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - During the plenary session of the House of Parliament on Monday debating the National Draft Ordinance for the Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten, Member of Parliament of United People's Party, the Honorable Franklin Meyers requested that some changes be made to the document.

Whilst addressing that subject on the floor of Parliament, the MP outlined some of the areas where amendments should be made in the ordinance.

Meanwhile, whilst speaking on the floor of Parliament handling the National Draft Ordinance to establish the Integrity Chamber, Member of Parliament and leader of the USP, the Honorable Frans Richardson made clear that they had no intention of bringing a motion of no confidence against the Minister of Justice, the Honorable Denis Richardson for signing the protocol with his Dutch counterpart.

He is of the opinion that the issue was sensationalized by the media Read more

George queries restart of Central Bank project

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament George Pantophlet has called for Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten to give an update on when the renovation works on the St. Maarten branch will resume. The work on the building was stopped almost two months ago, after Central Bank ended its contract with the contractor Taliesin Construction NV.

Work on the building on W.J.A Read more

Sarah calls for high priority for performing arts centre

PHILIPSBURG--"Put politics aside" and get moving on the development and construction of a preforming arts centre for St. Maarten was the call from Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams to her fellow MPs on Monday morning.

The arts centre should be "put as a high priority" by government and the money needs to be found for the project, Wescot-Williams said in the notification section of the plenary session of Parliament dealing with the Integrity Chamber.

Her call stemmed from the packed arts and cultural schedule in the just concluded weekend Read more

Govt. back to drawing board with Integrity Chamber Law

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament has sent Government back to the drawing board with the controversial draft National Ordinance on the establishment of an Integrity Chamber for the country.

Parliament sending Government back to make changes was not unexpected, as the majority of MPs had voiced their discontent with the draft when it was tabled in the Central Committee of Parliament about two months ago.

The reworking of parts of the law means the deadline of June 30 for Parliament to handle the law as stated in a recent protocol with the Dutch Government will not be met Read more

style="text-align: center;">Was St. Maarten’s Entities Consulted --- MP Leona Romeo Marlin.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of National Alliance and Member of Parliament William Marlin asked several questions regarding the protocol Minister Dennis Richardson signed on May 23rd with the Dutch Government on the establishment of an integrity chamber Read more

style="text-align: center;">Will MP Meyers be living on his Knees or will he die Standing?

PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel did not mingle with words during the parliamentary debate on the establishment of an integrity chamber on St. Maarten that was held on Monday. MP Emmanuel said that people need to stop blaming the Dutch for everything and blame the person that places the country in the position it is now Read more

WICSU/PSU installs new board members

PHILIPSBURG--The new board of the Windward Islands Civil Servants' Union/Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU) was installed during a well-attended ceremony at the union's office Friday evening.

In keeping with the theme of the event, which was "light," board members were given lit candles while the song "Carry your candle" was sung.

The executive board members are President Henrietta Doran-York; Secretary General Riegnald Arrindell; Treasurer Francisco Mariana and Vice President Julia Solognier.

Other members of the board who were installed were Winair pilot Dino Arrundell; Dr Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams expressed her concerns on several issues that are playing out in the media and the community at press conference on Wednesday. The most disturbing for Wescot Williams is the ongoing saga at NIPA and the dismissal of the director Vernon Richards Read more

Does USP know something?

Everyone may think of United St. Maarten Party (USP) leader Frans Richardson what they want. Elected into Parliament on the slate of National Alliance (NA) in 2010, he left the party and kept his seat.

Together with the other independent parliamentarians Romain Laville and Patrick Illidge who had broken with respectively United People's (UP) party and NA, he orchestrated the so-called "Carnival coup" of 2012 to bring about a change in government that lasted one year.

Richardson then established USP, which earned two seats in its first election of September 2014 Read more

National Alliance Concerned About Dismissal Of Nipa Director

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - In light of the recent dismissal of the director of National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA), Vernon Richards, Deputy Leader of the National Alliance and chairperson of the committee for Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs of Parliament, the Honorable Read more

National Alliance Calls For Meeting Of Parliament To Address The Placing Of Gebe Coo On Inactive Duty

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The decision of the Supervisory Board of Directors of N.V. GEBE to Chief Operations Officer (COO) Mr. Romelio Maduro on inactive duty, is a matter of concern for the National Alliance faction in the Parliament of St. Maarten.

The decision to place Mr. Maduro on inactive duty was announced Thursday by the attorney for the Supervisory Board of Directors Jairo Bloem.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Directors N.V Read more

Marlin: naturalization exam in Dutch is ‘discriminatory’

PHILIPSBURG--“Discriminatory” is how National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament William Marlin has described the naturalization process that requires passing tests in the Dutch language in order to gain Dutch citizenship.

Marlin said in Tuesday’s meeting of Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations that the situation warrants looking into by MPs possibly at the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultations IPKO next year.

“It is discrimination that only the Dutch language is applicable Read more

UPP, NA AND DP have to return extra monies to donors.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The United Peoples Party (UPP), the National Alliance (NA) and the Democratic Party (DP) were informed by the Electoral Council last week that they have to return the excess monies they received from at least two donors for the 2014 Parliamentary Elections Read more

Passport fee increase passed retroactively

PHILIPSBURG--Fees for Dutch passports have been increased retroactively by Parliament. The fees are already charged to Dutch citizens applying for new passports or passport renewals since March 10, 2014. Monday’s approval of the amendments to the Stamp Ordinance was only a formality.

The amendments were unanimously passed in a Plenary Session of Parliament with very limited debate between Members of Parliament (MPs) and Prime Minister/General Affairs Minister Marcel Gumbs Read more

MPs have not yet received harbour security answers

PHILIPSBURG—Members of Parliament (MPs) have not yet received the "sensitive answers" about the St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies' security contract, despite the receipt of these by Parliament's Secretariat since May 26. The delay in the dissemination is due to "administrative reasons," according to Democratic Party (DP) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.

Speaking at a DP press conference in Parliament House on Monday, Wescot-Williams said she is patiently awaiting the answers to see if they satisfy her burning questions Read more