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Minister Richardson Criticizes Attorney-General Schram: “Justify Your Claims Or Shut The Hell Up”

Justice Minister Richardson is tired of accusations about corruption. Photo Today / Milton Pieters

St. Maarten – “My position has changed: it is put up or shut up. Justify your claims or shut the hell up. This has to stop,” Justice Minister Dennis Richardson said yesterday afternoon in parliament about the statements Attorney-General Guus Schram made last Friday about the interconnection between the underworld and the legitimate part of St. Maarten’s society.

“There are numerous indications showing that the underworld and the legitimate society in St Read more

Parliament adopts Constitution Day

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten officially has ditched Kingdom Day, December 15, as an official holiday and replaced with it Constitution Day, which is to be observed annually on the second Monday in October, starting this year.

Parliament unanimously adopted the law on Thursday to make the day official and strike Kingdom Day from the calendar. The establishment of this newest holiday comes ahead of the fifth anniversary of St. Maarten’s attainment of country-within-the-Dutch-Kingdom status and the coming into force of the St Read more

MPs get calls from inmates

PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister Dennis Richardson has been asked by Members of Parliament (MPs) to look into why they are receiving mobile phone calls from prisoners housed inside of Pointe Blanche House of Detention.

United St. Maarten Party (USP) leader Frans Richardson was the first to raise the issue in Parliament with the minister on Wednesday Read more

Dennis: Prosecutors need to do job without any bias

PHILIPSBURG--The Prosecutor’s Office on St. Maarten and the Attorney-General stationed in Curaçao must stick to their core responsibility to “find the truth” and not act on “perceived” political biases from The Hague or elsewhere, Justice Minister Dennis Richardson said on Wednesday.

The Prosecutor’s Officer “should distance itself” from any political statements or perceptions, said Richardson who was in Parliament for a second time this week to continue discussions with Members of Parliament (MPs) about the protocol he signed with The Hague that should result in a boost of manpower and finance for the justice service.

If the Prosecutor’s Office decides to work on political perceptions or decide to paint people as guilty without first seeking the truth, such an action would be like putting “a machete to the root of our system and cannot be accepted,” said Richardson, referring to the judicial position of being innocent until proven otherwise Read more

MPs want Constitution Day on 2nd Monday in October

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) want Constitution Day to be observed annually on the second Monday of October instead of the actual day – October 10 – when the St. Maarten Constitution came into force.

The proposal to make October 10 a holiday and to have it replace Kingdom Day, December 15, by amending a number of laws, including the labour ordinance, was tabled by Education and Culture Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs in a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

The minister is slated to be back in Parliament for a vote on the law changes Thursday Read more

Richardson to Schram: Prove underworld claims or ‘shut up’

PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister Dennis Richardson minced no words when he publicly called on Attorney-General Guus Schram to prove his claims about the mixing of the so-called underworld with civil society.

Richardson said in Monday's plenary session of Parliament that Schram should prove his claims or "shut the hell up."

Richardson was reacting to comments made by the Attorney-General on Friday at the swearing-in of a new judge for the Court of First Instance. Schram said, "The Friendly Island has lost its innocence."

He said another threat existed in St Read more

Minister of Education could not make full discloser to Parliament on NIPA saga due to meeting she has scheduled with NIPA board.

style="text-align: center;">Ministry is at its last straw --- Wednesday meeting Government will give NIPA Board ultimatum, situation gotten worst.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Education Rita Bourne Gumbs told Members of Parliament on Monday afternoon that her hands are tied while her lips have to remain sealed until Wednesday since she has a meeting scheduled with the board members of NIPA. The National Alliance Faction of Parliament called the Minister of Education to Parliament in an urgent meeting to get further information on what is happening at NIPA.
Minister Bourne Gumbs told Parliament that it is not ethical for her to divulge information to the public prior to sharing the Ministry’s decision on how they intend to move forward with NIPA Read more

Achievements and lack thereof highlighted as MPs close year

PHILIPSBURG--The achievements or lack thereof in the first Parliamentary year of the second Parliament came into focus as Members of Parliament (MPs) closed off the 2014-2015 legislative year in Parliament House on Monday. The 2015-2016 year opens today, Tuesday, with much pomp and ceremony.

The call to work together was issued by fraction leaders representing the coalition partners while the two opposition fraction leaders MP William Marlin (National Alliance) and Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party) were straightforward with their criticism about lack of action by the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

Destiny impaired

UP fraction leader MP Franklin Meyers laid the blame for the country’s stagnated growth and development in the past year at the door of The Hague saying that government and Parliament have spent the past year battling instructions and financial constraints due to financial supervision Read more

Faction leaders outline their achievement and failures during parliamentary year 2014 -2015.

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Faction leader of the United Peoples Party Franklin Meyers in his remarks during the closing of parliamentary year 2014-2015 said that the moment the UPP and MP De Weever formed the coalition that formed the current government they got all sorts of pressure from the Dutch Government (Kingdom Partners) which includes an instruction Read more

Government Administration Building Remains Empty: White Elephant Remains A Burden

Will there ever be light at the end of the tunnel? The lobby of the new government administration building is empty and waiting to be properly furnished. Photo Today / Hilbert Haar

St. Maarten – The new government administration building on Pond Island – aka the White Elephant with the Green Hat – is still waiting for its first civil servants. The interior of the building is not finished and yesterday nobody was working on it either.

Based on an overview of buildings in use by the government that is in the possession of this newspaper, 56 government departments are using real estate outside of the current governed administration building on Clem Labega Square.

Of fourteen buildings, the list today has in its possession mentions the value of the buildings Read more

Kingdom Committee supportive of law to digitize court process

PHILIPSBURG--The draft Kingdom law to allow the digitization of court processes has the support of the Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations. The draft law was before the committee on Tuesday and after getting the nod of approval was forwarded to the Central Committee of Parliament for further handling.

Committee Chairwoman Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party) explained that the law amends several other Kingdom laws to allow for the digitization in the courts across the Kingdom Read more

Lake urges stakeholders to work out waste-to-energy plant project

PHILIPSBURG--United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake has issued a public call to all stakeholders involved in the stagnated waste-to-energy plant to get to work.

His call comes after Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs said last week that getting the project moving had encountered some difficulties Read more

UP MP Lake would like to see stakeholders for Waste to Energy Plant Project getting together to move project forward

>PHILIPSBURG:---- United People’s (UP) Party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake sent a letter to the Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, and also publicly made a statement on July 13th, 2015 requesting an update on the Solid Waste Ordinance and the progress of the long awaited Waste to Energy Plant to address the ‘growing garbage mountain.’

“As the former Minister of VROMI, my ministry and the Steering Committee was very much involved with the final stage the bidding process which was won by a company to build the plant Read more

Parliament not fully utilizing the forum of its committees to debate matters that affect the people of St. Maarten.

>PHILIPSBURG:---It was a progressive step when the parliament of St. Maarten in its wisdom decided to keep meetings of the parliamentary committees open. However, by not calling meetings of these committees as often as is possible and desirable, the purpose of these committees is defeated, said leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams.
The work of these committees is to a large extent determined by the members of parliament who chair these committees Read more

Parliament Not Fully Utilizing The Forum Of Its Committees To Debate Matters That Affect The People Of St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - It was a progressive step when the parliament of St. Maarten in its wisdom decided to keep meetings of the parliamentary committees open.However, by not calling meetings of these committees as often as is possible and desirable, the purpose of these committees is defeated. The work of these committees is to a large extent determined by the members of parliament who chair these committees. Members can ask for topics to be tabled, but there are no regulations that these meetings must be held Read more

Up Mp Lake Would Like To See Stakeholders For Waste To Energy Plant Project Getting Together To Move Project Forward

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – United People’s (UP) Party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake sent a letter to the Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, and also publicly made a statement on July 13th, 2015 requesting an update on the Solid Waste Ordinance and the progress of the long awaited Waste to Energy Plant to address the â€˜growing garbage mountain.’

“As the former Minister of VROMI, my ministry and the Steering Committee was very much involved with the final stage the bidding process which was won by a company to build the plant Read more

Only National Alliance Votes Against Ordinance: Parliament Establishes Integrity Chamber

St. Maarten – After everything was said and done yesterday, only the opposition faction of the National Alliance voted against the establishment of the Integrity Chamber. The United People’s party faction, having voiced serious opposition against the Dutch pressure on St. Maarten, withdrew all of the amendments it proposed to the law in June, and went along with a strategic proposal from opposition MP Sarah Wescot-Williams to accept the proposal the government put on the table Read more

Parliament Meet On Health Care Wednesday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Central Committee of Parliament met in public session on Wednesday.

Members of Parliament received a presentation on the National Ordinance on Public Health Care.

The presentation was made by a team from the department of Health headed by Drs. Fenna Arnell.

However members of Parliament had several questions as well as expressed areas of concern within health care. MP the Honorable Leona Romeo-Marlin was particularly concerned about the spread of infectious diseases.

DP leader the honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams in her remarks spoke about the complexities of the ordinance and its importance.

She also noted that the execution and monitoring of the legislation has been placed on a lower level in some cases, even below the legislation itself.

MP the Honorable Janchie Leonard also had various questions particularly in the area of control and enforcement.

As a former Police Officer the MP stated that this forms an integral part of the overall execution of the ordinance Read more

How Credible is MP Leona Marlin? Problems brewing in Government.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Leona Marlin Romeo in a radio interview on Tuesday said that the current coalition government is in-tact and that she is not part of any complot to break the UPP/De Weever/LMR/USP coalition government Read more

Governing Program Entitled "Ready To Work For You" Ratified By Council Of Ministers Thursday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Governing Program 2014 – 2018 was ratified by the Council of Ministers of St. Maarten on Thursday.

After its ratification, the Governing Program was then sent to the Parliament of St. Maarten.

The 2014 – 2018 Governing Program was signed by the faction leaders supporting the coalition government, namely MP's Read more

Only 6 Of 22 Motions Since 2012 Yielded Results: Motions Carry The Day – But Only In Parliament

St. Maarten – The motions Members of Parliament submit during the annual budget debate seldom yield results. This newspaper examined 28 motions a host of parliamentarians tabled since 2012. With 22 of them successive government did absolutely nothing. Six of them yielded (some) results.

When governments fail to execute motions, parliament never retaliates. In the Netherlands, a cabinet that refuses or neglects to execute a motion that is carried by a majority in parliament, could lead to a cabinet crisis Read more

Shake up in current cabinet – Where does this leave Coalition partner MP Frans Richardson?

>PHILIPSBURG:--- There seems to be an imminent shake up in the current Gumbs cabinet. SMN News wrote various articles mentioning that Minister Claret Connor will be removed from his post as Minister of TEATT and be placed at the Ministry of VROMI. On Wednesday evening the UPP faction leader and deputy leader Franklin Meyers announced that Minister Claret Connor will be moving to the Ministry of VROMI but the UPP deputy leader did not say how soon this will take place Read more

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