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Sarah elected new Parliament Chair in spite of De Weever’s cancellation

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams is again at the helm of Parliament. She was elected Parliament Chairwoman by the new National Alliance (NA)-led coalition in an extraordinary meeting of Parliament on Thursday evening Read more

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Government has ‘autonomous right’ to dissolve Parliament

~ Governor wrote in 2013 letter ~

PHILIPSBURG--“The right to dissolve Parliament by national decree is a constitutional and autonomous right of the Government,” wrote Governor Eugene Holiday in a letter dated May 16, 2013, to then-Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams when she tried to stopped the then-National Alliance (NA)-led Council of Ministers from invoking Article 59 of the Constitution.

The letter came to light this week as political tension intensified between the newest NA-led coalition with a majority in Parliament and the UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo-supported Council of Ministers, after the crumbling of the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

The current Marcel Gumbs Cabinet has held tight to the view that it is its right to dissolve Parliament in the face of the shifted majority in Parliament Read more

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Editorial - Something has to give

The latest news last night in the ongoing constitutional saga was that the “new majority” has organised a Parliament meeting of its own to elect a new president, vice-president and second vice-president in place of those of the former UP-led coalition. This obviously will not be a “regular” meeting called by the secretariat on the instruction of the current chairperson and the legality of any decisions taken consequently will no doubt be questioned by those who favour dissolving the legislature and going back to the polls.

When the same thing happened in Curaçao in 2012, the new majority’s gatherings created a situation where at one point there were two different persons claiming to be President of Parliament Read more

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Marlin-Romeo resigns as Vice-Chair of Parliament

PHILIPSBURG--Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo has notified current Chairman of Parliament Dr. Lloyd Richardson and Secretaries-General (SGs) that effective immediately, the position she held as Vice-Chairperson is being made available.

Marlin-Romeo “duly notes that there is a new majority in Parliament and therefore, the appointment of the new chairmanship must transpire,” a press release said Read more

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Editorial - Deadlocked for now

Anybody expecting that the Parliament session on Tuesday to elect a new President and two Vice-Presidents might lead to some breakthrough in the current constitutional impasse between the new majority and the Gumbs cabinet was disappointed. Although both President Dr. Lloyd Richardson and First Vice-President Leona Marlin-Romeo had publicly made their positions available, they were not present and Second Vice-President Cornelius de Weever, part of the same former UP-led coalition, closed the proceedings as soon as they had begun, saying he needed legal clarification due to the Council of Ministers having passed a national decree to dissolve the legislature and hold snap elections.

The incoming NA/DP/UPS/Matser/Lake coalition did not appreciate this and called for an urgent new meeting about De Weever’s “illegal act” and its impact on the country’s democratic representation Read more

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New coalition says De Weever acted illegally, calls for urgent meeting

PHILIPSBURG--Second Vice-Chairman of Parliament Cornelius de Weever performed an “illegal act” when he chaired Tuesday’s plenary session of Parliament and closed it swiftly without giving Members of Parliament (MPs) the possibility to react, say representatives of the new coalition in Parliament.

After De Weever closed the session they submitted a request for an urgent meeting of Parliament to talk about his “illegal act” as well as “the consequences for the functioning of Parliament and for the representation of the people of St Read more

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De Weever seeks legal advice, suspends Parliament meeting

PHILIPSBURG--Second Deputy Parliament Chairman Cornelius de Weever took charge of one of the shortest Parliament meetings in the country's history on Tuesday and effectively thwarted the new coalition's move to appoint a new chairperson and two deputy chairpersons of Parliament.
  The meeting for which nine Members of Parliament (MPs) signed in, lasted approximately a minute and nine seconds Read more

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MPs question Dennis on Zebec settlement at Port

~ Sarah’s call for more speaker’s time voted down ~

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) fired off numerous questions seeking clarity on the Harbour’s settlement with Zebec Development during an emergency meeting on Monday.

The meeting was adjourned after the first round of questions to give Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson a chance to obtain answers. The meeting will continue at 2:00pm today, Tuesday.

A proposal by Democratic Party (DP) MP Sarah Wescot-Williams at the start of the meeting for the speaking time to be increased to 30 minutes in the first round and 20 minutes in the second round was voted down with eight MPs voting against the proposal and six voting for it.

The vote was called after United People’s (UP) party MP Franklin Meyers said he opposed Wescot-Williams’ proposal Read more

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Registry to be made for access to ‘foreign’ birth certificates

PHILIPSBURG--One of the great hurdles faced by people born outside of St. Maarten – acquiring certified copies of birth and other certificates with vital statistics from their country of origin – may soon become a thing of the past thanks to a motion tabled by independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo that was accepted unanimously by Parliament on Thursday afternoon.

The motion sets the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet to work on the establishment of “an Integral Copy Registry.”

The registry not only will make life easier for Dutch citizens, but will generate additional funds for Government’s coffers Read more

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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

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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

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Ambassador Braakhuis discusses Cuba developments, possibilities

PHILIPSBURG--Dutch Ambassador to Cuba Norbert Braakhuis addressed a full room of attendees at University of St. Martin on Thursday night in an informative lecture focussing on the economic and political facets that have shaped Cuba, and what the cumulative changes the country has been experiencing and those it is expected to experience can mean for the Caribbean region.

A diverse group of stakeholders was in attendance, including ministers, Government officials, lawyers and key private sector leaders and representatives.

Braakhuis also announced that a Kingdom trade mission was planned and that he would facilitate local stakeholders in making connections there Read more

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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

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Country has 1,612 registered physically, mentally challenged

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten has a total of 1,612 persons registered as physically or mentally challenged, based on figures ad interim Health Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs presented to Parliament in a Central Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Bourne-Gumbs was in Parliament for the continuation of the meeting on the national ordinance on public health that deals specifically with preventing and containing infectious diseases, health protocols and other related topics. The meeting originally started on August 5, but was suspended to give the ministry’s team time to research answers to questions posed by Members of Parliament (MPs).

The figures given by the minister date to 2011, and estimated the number of differently-abled persons living at home at 1,582 Read more

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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

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Leona requests meeting to move forward with Small Claims Court

PHILIPSBURG--Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo has requested a Parliament meeting to discuss the introduction of a Small Claims Court for the country based on Article 862 of the Code of Civil Procedures. The framework proposal for this court was presented to Parliament by Attorney Reynold Groeneveldt earlier this year.

The Small Claims Court will handle claims up to NAf Read more

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Elshot says education issues are not addressed in governing programme

PHILIPSBURG--The recently submitted governing programme failed to address some critical issues in the country's education system, according to Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) President Claire Elshot.

She said on Tuesday that the governing programme "is lacking" when it comes to addressing issues in education. She said "a lot" had not been "dealt with" in the programme, particularly with regard to personnel.

"What they outlined was with regard to the infrastructure and buildings, but nothing with regard to the care of the students and teachers," Elshot said.

She said the union and its members were concerned about the constant "deterioration" and "weakening" of educators' health care package, whereby medication was being substituted with generic ones.

The union is also concerned about the elimination of the early retirement or VUT package for retirement and authorities' failure to increase teachers' vacation allowance equal to the amount paid in other parts of the Dutch Kingdom Read more

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No word yet on completion of minister candidates screening

PHILIPSBURG--It has been more than a month since the submission for screening a minister candidate to join the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet and there has not been any word about whether and when the candidate will be sworn in to office. There also has not been any information about the progress of the screening from authorities.

The candidate, who is expected to take up the post of Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (TEATT), is former utilities company GEBE employee Ernest Sams.

Following a successful screening, Sams is to take up that post and current minister Claret Connor is slated to move to the portfolio of Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Read more

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Editorial Bare necessity

Again a public warning has been issued about the lack of marketing for the island, this time by its top bookings producer Expedia (see Friday paper). Both the Dutch and French sides are showing figures that were called sub-par.

In fact, the combined destination was just one of two within the Caribbean to achieve only single digit growth in nights booked via the company and its brands such as Travelocity, Hotwire, Trivago and Hotels.com so far this year compared to 2014. In addition, competitors such as Aruba are also able to get better average room rates.

It’s not entirely clear how this relates to somewhat more optimistic visitor arrival and resort occupancy numbers released in recent times locally, but sometimes it’s good to also hear from others “outside looking in” to get a balanced view Read more

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Parliament to co-sign letter on shelving of dispute regulation

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Parliament will be a co-signer along with the legislatures of Curaçao and Aruba on a letter to the First and Second Chambers of the Dutch Parliament, seeking that body’s position on the Dutch Government in effect shelving the establishment of a dispute regulation, and a related body for the kingdom.

The letter, drafted by the Curaçao Parliament, came after last month’s Kingdom Conference -a meeting of the countries of the kingdom- saw the Dutch Government putting up a road block on the issue Read more

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Editorial - What’s going on?

The visa requirement for Colombians to visit Curaçao and St. Maarten was dropped effective July 1. Although it took another week after that for the authorities in Bogota to actually make the official announcement, both islands are hoping the measure will lead to an increase in vacationers from the South American country, but not of immigrants overstaying their welcome.

Little has been heard since on the handling of the change in practice, especially by immigration officials at the respective airports, but apparently there have been no major complaints so far either Read more

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Coalition to outsource schools to private sector

PHILIPSBURG--The private sector soon will be asked to adopt public schools in an effort by the United People's (UP) party-led coalition "to reallocate responsibility to the business community."

This outsourcing seeks to persuade businesses to contribute to the community "in a productive, structured, visible manner," according to the UP-led coalition's "Ready to Work for You" 2014-2018 Governing Programme submitted to the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet on June 9.

It is now up to the cabinet to formulate an execution policy for the "Adopt-A-School" programme in which the private sector will have to participate Read more

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Emmanuel calls on Govt. to address Haiti matter with DR

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel has issued a call to Governor Eugene Holiday and the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet to talk with the Government of the Dominican Republic (DR) about putting a halt to the stripping of that country’s nationality from people of Haitian descent and from the move to deport tens of thousands of Haitians living in that country Read more

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Gendarmes, Firemen, honoured in Bastille Day pinning ceremonies

MARIGOT--The usually predictable format of the Bastille Day programme took on a different twist Tuesday when military medals were bestowed on six Gendarmes and, in a separate ceremony, three professional firemen promoted in rank received their stripes.

The medal ceremony for the Gendarmes of St. Martin and St. Barths conducted by Colonel Thiriot, second in command of the Guadeloupe Gendarmerie, preceded the wreath-laying ceremony at the war memorial in the garden of Hotel de la Collectivité.

Dignitaries from both sides of the island and Anguilla had attended a service in the Catholic Church just earlier.

The Military Medal, France’s third highest military distinction, was pinned on the lapels of Adjudant-Chef Nicolas Heslon (48) of the St Read more

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