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Opinion Article: St. Maarten Covid-19 Chronicles

Oh, how I wish deep within my soul we were in better times and better prepared to handle the challenges we are now facing. Like so many of you, I have expressed my opinion and provided my feedback on many issues via Facebook.

Everyone one of us can give our own personal story on how COVID-19 has either directly or indirectly affected us Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Seven Political Leaders In The Political Debate 2020 Organized By Pjd-2 Radio & Sxm Daily News

PHILIPSBURG, ST. MAARTEN — PJD-2 Radio & SXM Daily News is hosting a Political Debate 2020 to introduce and present the parties Leaders who are contesting the upcoming Island/Parliamentary election on Sunday, January 5, 2020 which will allow them to give the general public their party’s ideologies and views on the relevant issues.

The debate will broadcast live via St. Maarten Cable TV channel 115 and via www.stmaartenmediacenter.com and facebook.

Doors open at 7pm and everyone should be seated at 7.30pm because the live broadcast will start promptly at 8pm and end at 11pm.

The debate will be at the Musical Institute Building on Backstreet next to the alley leading to A.C Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Live Smcp Cyber Public Meeting

LIVE NOW

WE NEED A CHANGE… CHANGE YOU CAN TRUST !!! On February 26 come out and vote for SMCP Candidate # 7 MAURICIA-PETERSON F.A.

The post LIVE SMCP CYBER PUBLIC MEETING appeared first on 721news.com.

Smcp To Hold First Ever Cyber Public Meeting

~ SMCP reaching the people throughout Facebook, Instagram, Twitter social media ~

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The Sint Maarten Christian Party is scheduled to hold its first Cyber Public Meeting on Thursday, February 22nd, 2018 at 7pm. As far as SMCP knows, this is the first ever cyber political public meeting that will be held in Sint Maarten.

What is the difference between a political meeting that is being broadcasted directly via social media and a cyber public meeting? The public meeting that is broadcasted live via social media is actually organized for a live audience Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Mauricia-Peterson: We Need To Start Educating Our Children At School About Recycling

~ Working on recycling laws is a most ~

Cali, Colombia / Philipsburg, St. Maarten — Francelise Mauricia-Peterson the #7 candidate on the St. Maarten Christian party (SMCP) has been doing some research in Cali Colombia on recycling.

“While in Cali, Colombia I have been doing a bit of research pertaining to the way recycling is done here, as it amazes me to see how they keep the place clean and preparations are on point.”

Mauricia-Peterson stated that it all starts with each business for example with the hotels dividing the trash from inside the room and straight out to the streets Read more

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Mauricia-Peterson Plans On Bringing A New And Innovative Order To Conduct The People’S Business In Parliament.

Great Bay, St. Maarten — Francelise Mauricia-Peterson is the #7 candidate on the slate of the St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) taking part in the 2018 Parliamentary elections. Francelise Mauricia-Peterson told 721News that she plans on bringing a new and innovative order to conduct the people’s business in parliament Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Mauricia-Peterson: Stop Playing With People’S Feelings With Empty Election Promises

Stop playing with the people’s feelings.

For decades, we the people, have been hearing over and over solutions to each and every problem in Sint Maarten during election time. After that nothing is done in the best interest of the people. The thing is it is not the solutions at risk here, but the livelihood of our people. While the dump is an ongoing problem for years, and solutions have been highlighted throughout each election time, this is my take.

We need to start educating our people from home on how to separate their garbage and also dispose of it, via all media houses and DCOMM Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Who Is Francelise Mauricia-Peterson Candidate #7 On Smcp

As a God-fearing woman, wife, mother of three, I decided to take up this challenge once again to run for parliament in the upcoming election on February 26, 2018.

My reason for doing so is the fact that through the years I have seen a lot of changes in Sint Maarten. Some good and some extremely bad that were not in the best interest of our people. Sint Maarten has become a country of many surprises, especially by those in whom we have put our trust, whereas you can wake up one morning and hear that the government has fallen.

You sit to listen to a parliamentary debate and suddenly votes of non-confidence are passing Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Sint Maarten Christian Party Is The Only Party That Published Manifesto In Timely Manner

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten —  The Electoral Council would like to remind all political parties contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections that in accordance with the National Ordinance on Registration and Finances of Political Parties they are required to make their manifestos public in a timely manner.

In order for the public to make well-informed decision, the political program of a party should be published around the date of postulation. To date only one party, the Sint Maarten Christian Party, has presented their manifesto for the 2018 elections to the public.

According to the articles of association of the respective political parties the publication dates of their manifestos are:

–          US Party: latest February 1, 2018

–          NA: around January 5, 2018

–          SDM: latest January 5, 2018

–          SMCP: latest January 27, 2018 Read more

Smcp Signs Declaration Eradication Of Poverty

On Saturday, February 3rd 2018, the Board of the Sint Maarten Christian Party signed a declaration stating that the Party’s MPs will begin the process towards eradicating of poverty on Sint Maarten when elected to Parliament. Witnessing the signing ceremony were members of the Sint Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform (SMAPP) Raymond Jessurun and Claire Eshot and Alberto Bute.

I am sure that there will be people who will immediately label the signing of this document as another political gimmick leading up to the February 26 elections Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Smcp Candidates Pledge To Reduce Mp Salaries

On January 30th 2018, candidates of the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) gathered at the Party’s Headquarters in the Backstreet for their usual Tuesday evening meeting. However, on this night, these loyal and enthusiastic candidates were going to do something that had never been done before by a political party or its candidates. The candidates, all of them prospective members of parliament, agreed, that when elected, they will submit a motion in Parliament, to lower the salary of parliament members by 15%.

The SMCP’s prospective parliamentarians are of the opinion that, given the financial predicament that the country finds itself in during the period of post-hurricane Irma, members of parliament ought to be sympathetic towards our citizens who are suffering and in a symbolic gesture of empathy should demonstrate their care and concern for the people of Sint Maarten Read more

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Candidates in this article:

A Manifesto Or A Governing Program?

Two major documents play a pivotal role in the electoral process. They are a party’s political program, popularly known as the manifesto and the governing accord which we call the governing program. By law parties are obliged to present a manifesto, but people expect a governing program.

One of the legal requirements to be able to establish a political party is, that the party’s Articles of Incorporation must include the commitment “to publish a political programme in good time before the elections” Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Four Parties Participate In Endorsement Of The List On Monday 

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – The endorsement of the list of candidates took place – as per article 23 of the Electoral Ordinance – today, January 8th 2018 as of 9am thru 4pm.

Of the six political parties that submitted a list of candidates, only four were required to be endorsed. The National Alliance and the United St. Maarten Party were exempted from this requirement, as they received one or more seats during the previous Parliamentary election Read more

Sint Maarten Deserves A Stable Coalition Government

After the new interim UP/DP/Brownbill government is sworn in, Sint Maarten would have had seven coalition governments in seven years. This is an average of one government per year. If we also count the number of elections since 2010, including the upcoming February 2018, Sint Maarteners would have gone to the polls four times which boils down to an average of one election every two years.

For a small young country such as ours, having on average, a change of government every year and elections every two years is unacceptable Read more

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Candidates in this article:

A Report Card For Members Of Parliament

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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Candidates in this article:

The Qualifications Of A Parliamentarian

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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Candidates in this article:

What Will Parliament Do With All The Reports?

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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Candidates in this article:

A Critical Look At Parliament’S Budget

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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Candidates in this article:

Is Parliament Serious About Independence?

Last week Wednesday, the Central Committee of Parliament, once again, invited the Independence for St. Martin Foundation (ISMF) to give a presentation regarding holding a referendum to determine whether the people of Sint Maarten desire to become independent or not. This is the fourth time that the ISMF was in parliament presenting its case. The first presentation was held in March 2016. Hereafter, the Central Committee reconvened, in September 2016, to give the ISMF the opportunity to answer questions that the MPs had posed in the first round in March Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Un Asiento Vacío En El Parlamento

Traducido por Máximo Castro

Desde hace varias semanas, un escaño en el parlamento ha quedado obviamente vacío. Cuando la Presidenta del Parlamento, al comienzo de las reuniones públicas o de las reuniones del Comité Central, pregunta si hay notificaciones, ni un parlamentario, ni siquiera el líder de la facción del USP informa sobre la ausencia del diputado Silvio Matser.

En mi opinión, sólo una enfermedad puede justificar la ausencia continua de un miembro del parlamento Read more

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Candidates in this article:

The Empty Seat In Parliament

For several weeks now, one seat in parliament has remained obviously empty. When, the President of Parliament, at the beginning of public meetings or of Central Committee meetings, asks if there are any notifications, not one parliamentarian, not even the USP faction leader reports on the absence of MP Silvio Matser.

In my opinion, only sickness can justify the continuous absence of a member of parliament Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Parliament, Our Weak Link

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 26, 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.

The people generally equated the role of a parliamentarian with that of a minister Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Committees Are The Backbone Of Parliament

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 takes 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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Candidates in this article:

Parliament’S Right To Question Government

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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