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“ST MAARTEN, like you, I share the same sentiments time and time again. We are continuously being begged for our support during elections and once given the opportunity to represent us in government, our elected officials create amongst themselves a state of chaos and demonstrate incompetence. We, the people, suffer the consequences”.

This opening statement, written by Christian President, characterizes him as a man passionate about his country and explains his reason for entering politics and making himself the alternative candidate for the true leadership that St Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Presenting the candidates to the public via the media gives the people the opportunity to become acquainted with their prospective parliamentarian prior to the upcoming elections. In this article the Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP), Wycliffe Smith, takes pleasure in introducing Richard A Read more

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It is important to evaluate our representatives in Parliament on an annual basis and not wait until election time. Therefore, SMCP is developing a parliamentary report card that will indicate how well or how poorly our MPs are doing in the following six areas: attendance, participation, representation, supervision, legislation, and interaction. In the first letter to the editor on this topic, we covered the reason for and the nature of the report card and presented an extensive description of the first benchmark attendance Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- At the end of every school year, students are evaluated and promoted or not promoted based on their performance during the year. Conversely, at the end of a parliamentary year, Members of Parliament are not evaluated yet they continue in Parliament without anyone questioning their achievements, their performance or their competency to function as a parliamentarian.

I have observed that in several countries around the world, political and interest groups are developing report cards for parliamentarians Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Why even bother at this time to write about the qualifications of a parliamentarian when the next parliamentary election is all the way in 2020? Sadly, this has been the mentality in the past that has led us to vote for persons based, on friendship, family ties, and family tradition, instead of looking at the qualifications, qualities, and experience of the candidates.

One of the reasons why we have not paid much attention to the qualifications of parliamentarians is because, during election time, our politicians campaign as if they were running to become ministers in government Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Last week, yet another annual report was added to the long list of reports that Parliament has in its possession. The General Audit Chamber, one of the High Councils of State, submitted for the seventh time, its annual report in both the Dutch and English languages. Hence, Members of Parliament, who are not versed in the Dutch language have no excuse about not being able to read or understand the Chamber’s annual report. I would like to commend the Chamber for producing a very good report Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Parliament needs to be transparent with its budget! During budget debates, members of parliament pose numerous questions, some critical, many political, concerning government’s budgeting and spending, but no one raises questions about parliament’s budget and parliament’s spending. The reason for this is because parliament’s budget is camouflaged among the budgets of the High Councils of State. Furthermore, according to the Compatibility Ordinance and the Rules of Order of Parliament the budget of Parliament is drafted by the Secretariat of Parliament, approved by the Presidium and then sent to the Minister of Finance to be included in the national budget Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Some people wonder why my writings deal mostly with the Parliament of Sint Maarten. This is because our Parliament is a new constitutional institution. During the last campaign, leading up to the September 26th, 2016 elections, the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) observed that the majority of the people knew and understood very little about our Parliament and about the role and function of the parliamentarians they were about to elect Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Through its work, Transparency International (TI), a global organization, hopes to realize a world in which government, business, civil society and the daily lives of people will be free of corruption. Upon a country’s request, TI assesses its weaknesses and strengths with regard to integrity and good governance. Assessments were conducted in the Netherlands in 2012, for Curaçao in 2013 and for Sint Maarten in 2015.

To be able to assess a country’s integrity, TI looks at several pillars such as the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, the public sector, law enforcement agencies, etc Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The system of parliamentary committees in the Netherlands is considered the backbone of the Dutch parliament. The review further indicates that two-thirds of the work of parliament take place in the committees. Looking at how the committee system functions, in the parliament of Sint Maarten, we can only sadly conclude that our parliament is not functioning optimally due to the fact that the committees are not functioning. The Annual Report of the Parliamentary Year 2015-2016 of Sint Maarten gives some insight, as to how these committees are functioning Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- One of Parliament’s roles is to supervise the functioning of government. And one of its tools to carry out this supervisory function is the right to ask questions as laid down in article 62 of the Constitution. This entails parliamentarians submitting their queries in writing to the government via the President of Parliament. Article 63 of the Constitution mentions that a Member of Parliament may also invite the ministers to provide information. Article 62 of the Rules of Order of Parliament states that this invitation will be considered by the President of Parliament if it is supported by at least one other member of parliament Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Today, two months after the new Council of Ministers was sworn in, we still do not have a Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunication (TEATT). The blame for this has been placed on the vetting or screening process. However, in truth and in fact, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of our parliament.

Now, the USP will have to present another candidate minister and the screening process will start all over again Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Recently, Parliament held a meeting to discuss the appointment of a quartermaster for the Integrity Chamber by the Dutch Government. Most Parliamentarians, however, overlooked the fact that the discussion had to be focused on the process, the procedure, the legality and the validity of said appointment. With the exception of MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, parliamentarians and members of government spoke more about the Integrity Chamber Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The appointment of Quartermaster Hans Leijtens, last week, came as a shock to our politicians. The Honorable Prime Minister said he was flabbergasted. The Honorable President of Parliament called the appointment provocative and Member of Parliament, Theo Heyliger, described it as vindictive. And of course, the Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, Ronald Plasterk, gets the blame Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- SMCP wishes the people of Sint Maarten a blessed New Year and good governance throughout 2017. We pray that our Parliamentarians will raise the bar in Parliament and that the Council of Ministers will adhere to the principles of transparency, accountability, integrity, responsiveness, efficiency, effectiveness and the rule of law that result in good governance.

After a relatively long government formation process, Sint Maarten got a new government or Council of Ministers almost three months after the parliamentary elections that were held on September 26th 2016 Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The people of Sint Maarten expect a higher level of functioning from our Parliament in the New Year. Following a trial and error period of six years, our MP’s should begin to raise the bar in 2017.
We expect our MP’s, while on the floor of parliament, to stick to the business at hand and not be carried away by personal or emotional circumstances. According to article 53 of the Constitution, parliamentarians should refrain from debating and voting on issues related to their person, their spouses or family members to the second degree Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9:6. This prophecy was uttered by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah some 700 years before Jesus was born. Isaiah became a prophet, after the death of King Uzziah who reigned for fifty-two years. Under Uzziah’s reign, the land of Judah enjoyed a period of prosperity not known since the reign of King Solomon Read more

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PHILIPSBURG – Parliament’s website states that Parliament has two main tasks, namely to act as co-legislator and to exercise control over Government’s policies. The budget is an excellent example of co-legislation. It is drafted by the Government but, must be approved by Parliament in order for it to become a law.
On Monday, December 5th the Central Committee of Parliament, which consists of all fifteen members of Parliament, will meet to discuss the 2017 Budget of Country Sint Maarten Read more

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