SXMElections.com

>PHILIPSBURG:--- A board member of GEBE Supervisory Board is over the edge claiming that the leader of the United Peoples Party is forcing his way over them and has used the Chief Operations Officer (COO) to do his dirty work and now that person is being penalized by the Supervisory Board.
The board member said that the COO Romelio Maduro took orders from Heyliger and hired a former journalist that will cost GEBE $120,000.00 annually Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  "The country is now moving into the second half of 2015 within the next five weeks, and I am hoping that within that period of time we will have the two ministerial positions filled by competent persons in order to continue moving forward.

"We got to start putting the right people in the right positions. Don't tell me we can't find persons out of the 23 candidates of the United People's party to fill one or both of these two positions. Why can't MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson be the minister of health or other persons within the coalition, fill one or both of these ministerial positions?

"We need to raise the bar and start working in the best interest of this country Read more

Ministers to face MPs this week about missing info

PHILIPSBURG--Ministers of the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet are to be called before Parliament's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations to provide information the committee has requested for several months.

The committee became displeased two weeks ago with the sluggish pace of government's response and issued a 48-hour deadline for all information to be submitted Read more

Vote Buying Case Heads Back To Court — No Proof Of Class Justice 

St. Maarten – The vote buying case, commonly called the “Masbangu case” was referred back to the Court of first instance by the Court of Appeal in a verdict rendered yesterday. The case was dismissed by the Court of First Instance when the judge ruled that trying the persons who allegedly sold their votes and not trying the person to whom they are accused of selling their votes smacked of class justice.

The case concerns charges brought against four persons who were accused of selling their votes to the UP in 2010 and were brought before a judge in 2012, following which the case was postponed and continued on August 24th of last year, just after the 2014 elections Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Court of Appeals has rendered its verdict on Tuesday ordering the Prosecutor's Office to conduct a complete retrial of the Masbangu (VOTE BUYING CASE). Press Prosecutor Tineke Kamps confirmed that the verdict was issued on Tuesday afternoon.
Kamps said although the case does not fall under her jurisdiction but that of the Solicitor General Taco Stein she understands that the court ruled that the verdict issued by the Court of First Instance was not correct therefore a complete retrial of the case involving the United Peoples Party and its leader Theodore Heyliger must take place Read more

Progress Committee to give report to Parliament

PHILIPSBURG--The Progress Committee, monitoring St. Maarten’s development since it became a country within the Dutch Kingdom, is keen to present its report to Parliament. Parliament Chairman Dr. Lloyd Richardson (United People’s party) is “very pleased” about this request of the Progress Committee Read more

Sarah: Coalition ‘suddenly lost interest’ in Integrity Chamber

PHILIPSBURG--It appears, said Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams, that the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet and by extension the governing coalition have "suddenly lost interest" in the establishment of an integrity chamber for the country.

"It is revealing that suddenly the urgency is no longer there for our own 'thing,'" the MP said.

She has drawn this conclusion from the response of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs to her inquiry Thursday about the timeframe for the tabling of the draft national law to establish the integrity chamber in Parliament.

Gumbs, in an immediate response on Thursday to Parliament President Dr Read more

Chief Prosecutor Ton Maan: “The Word Class Justice Has Hurt Us A Lot”

Chief Prosecutor Ton Maan: “We have indicated to the Minister of Justice that the prostitution policy violates international treaties.” Photo Today / Hilbert Haar

St. Maarten – “The word class justice has hurt us a lot and the effect is that you are almost going to have reverse class justice whereby you are inclined to prosecute dignitaries sooner than criminal citizens, if only to prove that you are not practicing class justice. That is not good either,” Chief Prosecutor Ton Maan says Read more

Mp Lake Commends Gebe; Urges Seniors To Apply For Relief

St. Maarten –NV Gebe has extended its senior relief program until December of this year and this has led to a verbal commendation from United People’s Party MP Maurice Lake to the company for taking this action.

The relief for seniors began in 2014 while MP Lake—then Minister Lake—was the minister with responsibilities for Gebe Read more

Country has 480 taxis and 263 bus licences

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten has a total of 480 taxi licences and 263 bus licences on the roads. There are 39 large “tour” buses with “T” (tour bus) licence plate numbers and a total of 31 “G” licence plate numbers. This is based on numbers given to Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Transportation by Transport Minister Claret Conner on Thursday.

He also informed MPs the moratorium on the issuance of bus and taxi licences remains in place until a study on the state of the industry is conducted Read more

Integrity Chamber Meets Resistance From Coalition

St. Maarten – The draft ordinance for the establishment of St. Maarten’s Integrity Chamber met with unexpected opposition from within the governing coalition yesterday. Members of the opposition also expressed their doubts. Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs said that he is facing a May 5 deadline. On that date, the Dutch Council of State renders judgment on the advice the Kingdom Council of Ministers has requested about a looming instruction for St Read more

MPs to discuss ‘alleged’ election discrepancies

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) will discuss alleged discrepancies in the August 29, 2014, parliamentary elections during a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Wednesday, April 8, at 10:00am.

The meeting was requested by MPs Leona Marlin-Romeo and Cornelius de Weever (both independent) and Tamara Leonard (United People's party) in correspondence dated November 6 and 7, 2014.

Main Voting Bureau and Civil Registry Department representatives will be present to discuss alleged discrepancies that occurred in preparation of and during the August 29 parliamentary elections Read more

Judge hammers Bosman for unfounded Statements –Denies De Weever retraction

>Netherlands/ Philipsburg:--- Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever got a partial victory from the courts in the Netherlands where the judge ruled that MP Andre Bosman made unfounded statements against MP Cornelius de Weever whom he said was bought when he joined the United Peoples Party to form a coalition government Read more

style="text-align: center;">UPP Leader bit off more than he could chew --- political pundits.

PHILIPSBURG:--- With the political shambles within the United Peoples Party several persons such as Minister of TEATT Claret Connor and UPP candidate Julian Rollocks do not know what tomorrow will bring for them Read more

Former MP arrested for threats, firearms found

PHILIPSBURG--Former Member of Parliament Romain Laville was arrested on Thursday morning, following allegations made against him in two unrelated cases.

The first case concerns gun threats made against Isidore York, better known as steel pan musician Mighty Dow, in an argument over local artistes not having been paid the same rate as foreign artistes during an event Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- SMN News learnt that the Leader of the United Peoples Party Theodore Heyliger has given interim Minister of VROMI Marcel Gumbs the green light to sign off on the building permits for Taliesin Construction in order for the company to finalize the Fixed Based Operations (FBO) project at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) Read more

Parliament Ad Hoc Integrity Committee meeting stalled

PHILIPSBURG--The second meeting of Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee for Integrity stalled on Thursday, when sufficient Members of Parliament (MPs) failed to show up for the session to have a quorum.

Ad Hoc Committee Chairman Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Lloyd Richardson opened the meeting just to announce that three MPs were signed in and present in the General Assembly Hall of Parliament House Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Maurice Lake Jumps back in order to take up VROMI Minister seat --- Where would this leave Minister Claret Conner? – Reliable Sources.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Maurice Lake seems to have gotten exactly what he wanted from the leader of the United Peoples Party in order for him to remain a member of the United Peoples Party and to keep the shaky coalition in-tact.
SMN News learnt that MP Maurice Lake wanted to remain in his position as the Minister of VROMI when the UPP/De Weever coalition was formed but his party leader Theodore Heyliger allegedly denied him his request stating that he did not do what he "Heyliger" wanted him to do while he was a Minister Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Rainforest Adventure got steal of a deal in Long Least at Emilio Wilson Estate.

style="text-align: center;">Government stand to lose Naf1.6M per year --- Reliable Sources.

PHILIPSBURG: --- Rainforest Adventures allegedly got what one could describe as a steal of a deal from the interim Minister of VROMI Marcel Gumbs and Leader of the United Peoples Party Theodore Heyliger.
In an advice it is stated that Rainforest Adventures will get 375,000 square meters land in long lease at the Emilio Wilson Estate that the Government of St Read more

style="text-align: center;">People are fed up and wants to know what the UPP was Ready to do.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The four members of parliament from the National Alliance faction told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday that they would like to know what the United Peoples Party was ready for when they campaigned in 2014 Parliamentary elections and won seven of the 15 parliamentary seats 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

style="text-align: center;">Saunders Welcome Sign not paid for --- procedures were not followed.

PHILIPSBURG:--- There seems to be more in the mortar than in the pestle when it comes to the construction of the FBO section at the Princess Juliana International Airport. SMN News learnt that the Fixed Based Operations (FBO) project that have to be constructed at the Princess Juliana International Airport is creating more problems even though Taliesin Construction legally won the bid. According to information provided to SMN News some five companies were invited by PJIAE to submit their bids for the project 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

>PHILIPSBURG:----  United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake says the social media rumours and the story in a daily newspaper over the weekend where it mentions that he is involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs as untrue and baseless.

MP Lake who is currently off island says that he was informed about the rumours that started on Facebook and later moved to the blogs.

"There are individuals who sit in front of a computer everyday with nothing to do and try to create news by telling fibs that are untrue Read more