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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

MP Maurice Lake Grievances goes deeper than anyone would imagine – VORST Estate is only a tip of the Iceberg.

style="text-align: center;">Building Permits not Signed by Acting Minister of VROMI --- Reliable Sources

PHILIPSBURG:--- The situation at the Ministry of VROMI is not only disturbing to the former Minister Maurice Lake now Member of Parliament whom it is said tendered his resignation from the United Peoples Party prior to leaving the island Read more

Up Mp Lake Says Social Media Rumours Untrue And Baseless. Lake Remains Loyal To Coalition

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – 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.

It is sad that many people go based on hearsay and social media chatter which are fabricated for amusement, but at the same time it creates uneasiness amongst the populace Read more

MP Maurice Lake pulls Support from Current Coalition --- All MP’s have major issues with UP Leader Theo Heyliger.

style="text-align: center;">Prime Minister plans to dissolve Parliament early next week to stop formation of another Government. Reliable Sources.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Several fractures in the United Peoples Party/ De Weever/ Marlin- Romeo and US coalition seems to be beyond repair that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs have decided that he will send a Landsbesluit to the Governor of St Read more

De Weever wears bullet-proof vest after Bosman statement

THE HAGUE--Member of St. Maarten Parliament Cornelius de Weever (independent) took safety measures, which included wearing a bullet-proof vest, late 2014 following threats against his person when he left the Democratic Party (DP) in support of the United People's Party (UP).

This became clear during a court injunction in The Hague on Friday by De Weever against Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party Read more

De Weever, Bosman face-to-face in court

   By Suzanne Koelega

THE HAGUE--In what can be called a historic case, Members of Parliament Cornelius de Weever of St. Maarten and André Bosman of the Netherlands faced each other in court on Friday on allegations of slander. De Weever took Bosman to court to have the latter retract his statements of bribery in a rectification in the newspapers.

Main reason for the court case, which took place in The Hague in De Weever's presence, was an article of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf published on September 29, 2014, headlined "Corrupt St Read more

EXCLUSIVE: MP Leona Marlin seeking to appoint Aunt’s Husband as Minister of TEATT.

style="text-align: center;">Henry Lynch is expected to become Chief of Cabinet – Government in Shambles – Reliable Sources.

PHILIPSBURG: --- Member of Parliament Leona Marlin- Romeo is expected to appoint the husband of her aunt Ernest Sams, a pensioner from GEBE as Minister of TEATT. SMN News has been reliably informed that MP Marlin- Romeo contacted two other persons who declined the offer. Those persons are the former wife of MP Maurice Lake Marla Shemont who is currently working at the Tourist Office citing that her family does not agree for her to take up the position 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

Mp Tamara Leonard Calls On Women To Make It Happen

St. Maarten – United People’s party MP Tamara Leonard says the theme of International Women’s Day “Make It Happen” is a call to women on St. Maarten and all over the world to make more happen in their communities and a call to all women to strive for even more 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

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

Gracita Arrindell Candidate For Dutch Council Of State

St. Maarten –Drs. Gracita Arrindell is a candidate to fill the position for St. Maarten at the Council of State in The Hague, the former president of parliament confirmed to this newspaper on Saturday. The appointment has not yet been formally announced.

Arrindell would succeed Dennis Richardson who sat on the council until he was appointed minister of justice in the third Wescot-Williams cabinet in 2013 Read more

Mp Lake Wants More Money For University

St. Maarten – United People’s party MP Maurice Lake has submitted a list of points for the plan of action of the permanent parliamentary committee for education, culture, youth and sports. The committee will meeting today to discuss a draft a plan of action for 2015.

Lake suggests that the government recognizes the University of St Read more

Schotte, Heyliger met with security service man in 2010

~ Ronald van Raak publishes online article ~

THE HAGUE--Secret documents, supplied to Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) and published on Tuesday on the website ThePostOnline.nl, revealed a meeting on or around the 2010 elections in St. Maarten between a member of the Curaçao Security Agency VDC, candidate Curaçao Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte, candidate minister George Jamaloodin and United People's Party Leader Theo Heyliger.

The meeting in St Read more

Justice Minister Has No Knowledge Of Possible Replacement

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - According to reports on The Voice of St. Maarten News has learnt that Former head of the Coastguard Edson "Eddy" Kirindongo is tipped to be the next Justice Minister.

He will be replacing the current Justice Minister, the Honorable Dennis Richardson.

Although, it is still not clear as to when Kirindongo will take up the position, according to reports, he is currently being vetted, as the choice of Member of Parliament and leader of the United St. Maarten Read more

D66, PvdA opposed on St Maarten intervention

THE HAGUE--The Dutch Labour Party PvdA and the democratic party D66 have contradicting views when it comes to the proposed intervention by the Kingdom Council of Ministers to tackle integrity violations in St. Maarten.

The PvdA is of the opinion that intervention by the Kingdom Government in the case of St. Maarten is merited because the country has offered insufficient redress to effectively deal with integrity violations in government.

PvdA Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Roelof van Laar made this clear during a public debate in The Hague on Thursday evening, organised by the Committee Kingdom Relations and the Kingdom Youth Parliament.

Member of the Second Chamber Wassila Hachchi of D66 condemned the extreme measure of the Kingdom Council of Ministers to start the procedure to impose a General Measure of the Kingdom Government ("Algemene Maatregel van Rijksbestuur AMvRB") to establish an Integrity Chamber for St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Of the eight registered political parties only three of them submitted their donation registers before February 1st as is stipulated in the National Ordinance registration and finances of political parties. These political parties are the Citizens for Positive Change, the United People's Party and the Social Reform Party Read more

2015 Draft Budget is not the budget for current Coalition Government --- "This is a matter of procedures to avoid instruction."

style="text-align: left;">PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Franklin Meyers and the leader of the United Peoples Party (UPP) Theodore Heyliger made clear in their presentation to Parliament on Thursday that the draft 2015 budget is not a budget that would reflect the Governing Program of the current coalition government.
MP Meyers called on Members of Parliament to come together despite their political differences and secure St Read more

Dp-Leader Criticizes Heyliger’S Statements On Concession Fees

St. Maarten – Democratic Party MP  Sarah Wescot-Williams questions that United People’s party leader Theo Heyliger has no knowledge of the draft 2015 budget that has been sent to the governor and is from thereon on its way to parliament Read more

style="text-align: left;">PHILIPSBURG:--- Well placed information provided to SMN News states that allies from the United Peoples Party (UPP) approached the leader of the United St. Maarten Party (USP) Frans Richardson and asked him to join the current coalition Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Board of the National Alliance calls for the immediate resignation of United People's Party Member of Parliament Mr. Silvio Matser. The National Alliance Board is of the opinion, that in light of the verdict that has been handed down to MP Matser by the Court on Wednesday January 7th, 2015, to 2 years for 'tax evasion', that the honorable thing to do would be to step down and relinquish his seat to the people of Sint Maarten.

Sint Maarten has faced extensive challenges in maintaining integrity in its Governance and considering that being elected to Parliament, the highest body in our governmental structure; it would be yet another gross injustice and ill representation of the people of Sint Maarten to have a convicted Member of Parliament continue to retain his seat in light of such a sentence.
This cannot be the state of 'readiness' that the United People's Party chanted to the people of Sint Maarten throughout the election period.

The board of the National Alliance believes that it is critical for the people of Sint Maarten to be reminded, that within 3 weeks after the Elections of 2014, the National Alliance, Democratic Party & the United St Read more

Board Of The National Alliance Requesting The Immediate Resignation Of Mp Silvio Matser

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Board of the National Alliance calls for the immediate resignation of United People's Party Member of Parliament Mr. Silvio Matser.

The National Alliance Board is of the opinion, that in light of the verdict that has been handed down to MP Matser by the Court on Wednesday January 7th, 2015, to 2 years for 'tax evasion', that the honorable thing to do would be to step down and relinquish his seat to the people of Sint Maarten.

Sint Maarten has faced extensive challenges in maintaining integrity in its Governance and considering that being elected to Parliament, the highest body in our governmental structure; it would be yet another gross injustice and ill representation of the people of Sint Maarten to have a convicted Member of Parliament continue to retain his seat in light of such a sentence Read more

UPP Coalition in shambles MP Silvio Matser convicted to 24 months.

style="text-align: center;">Maria Buncamper now MP based on the next in line.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Court of First Instance was not at all lenient with Member of Parliament Silvio Matser who was convicted to 24 months imprisonment, 18 of which are suspended. MP Matser has to also do 240 hours of community service. His company Energizer NV was condemned to pay some Naf Read more