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Franklin Meyers (Up): “Coalition Left Mp Lake Totally Out In The Cold”

St. Maarten News – Member of Parliament Maurice Lake and his appointed Vromi-Minister Angel Meyers were left totally out in the cold yesterday afternoon when the majority of Lake’s coalition members failed to show up for a parliament meeting to pass a law brought by the MP’s minister, United People’s party deputy leader MP Franklin Meyers said in a press statement.

“This is a very clear case of actions speak louder than words and the action in this case is a resounding vote of no confidence in MP Lake’s minister and a total lack of support for the MP himself Read more

Opinion: Vote Of No Confidence

Research by the Central Bureau of Statistics in Curacao returned a near fatal blow for the country’s politicians. Only 2.3 percent of the respondents among 2,620 households said that they trust their politicians. In other words, 97.7 percent do not trust the country’s legislators.

Suspicion towards politicians is nothing new and it is not uniquely prevalent in Curacao. It is a phenomenon across the board, and we suspect – though we obviously do not have hard evidence for it – that a similar research in, say, the Netherlands, Japan, the United States or St Read more

St. Maarten Garbage Collectors Want Money From Shopkeepers

Uncollected garbage on Front Street. Photo Today / Hilbert Haar

St. Maarten News – The messy situation with garbage collection got uglier yesterday after reports that All Waste in Place, the company responsible for collecting garbage in Philipsburg, has approached shopkeepers to sign individual contracts. Without these contracts, garbage will not be collected downtown.

Several shopkeepers have flat out refused to sign any contract with the garbage collector. Others, like real estate agent Leroy de Weever, disposed of their store garbage under their own steam Read more

Government About To Collect 13 Million From Casino Sector

Parliamentarians happy with withdrawal increased road tax

St. Maarten – By providing the receiver’s office with a mandate, the government is able to collect 13 million in tax arrears from the casino-sector, Finance Minister Richard Gibson said yesterday afternoon during a meeting of the Central Committee where he, as announced on Wednesday, withdrew the draft law to increase the road tax in 2016.

In a brief introduction, the minister told parliament that he would like to make some changes to the draft the previous government had submitted Read more

Mp Maurice Lake: Vital Role For Gebe In Renewable Energy

St. Maarten – Independent Member of Parliament Maurice Lake says he foresees GEBE playing a vital role in renewable energy in St. Maarten. “Based on the coalition of eight’s governing program, we will continue where the steering committee within government left off with the waste-to-energy plant discussions and review the latest draft agreement,” he said in a press statement.

Government is continuous and the previous Government should never have attempted changing plans that were in the best interest of the people, Lake noted. “Based on the shareholder’s meeting that took place yesterday, Gebe Management and supervisory board will inform the Council of Ministers about its current state of affairs.  The Minister of Vromi, who is shareholder representative of GEBE, needs to put as an agenda point the historical and current status of renewable energy.  We need to work towards the future by starting investments into renewable energy and alternative sources of energy through LPG/ LNG, also by promoting solar energy to the community in addition to having the necessary policies in place.”

Those who have invested in solar energy production in our community should be commended for taking the initiative on their own, Lake added. “All stakeholders, Gebe and government, need to put in place what is necessary for local solar energy producers to receive back what they contribute on a daily basis based on their solar energy investment and contribution to the electricity grid.  Gebe needs to adjust its meters to accommodate solar energy to residential homes Read more

Winners And Losers: Who Will Survive The Polls In February?

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – February 9, 2016 is crunch day for politicians and those who aspire to become one. The parliamentary elections – for some mysterious reason perceived by some as ‘snap elections’, whatever that may be – will give voters the opportunity to speak their mind about the constitutional drama that concluded on Wednesday when the ministers of the Marcel Gumbs cabinet tendered their resignation and Governor Drs Read more

University Reminds Government Of Promise To Increase Subsidy

St. Maarten – On May 20 the Board of the University of St. Maarten Foundation, assisted by its management team, discussed the developments of the University with the parliamentary committee of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport Affairs. During that meeting, which was chaired by MP Silveria Jacobs, Minister of Education Rita Bourne-Gumbs made two public promises Read more

“Principles And Values” Directed Maurice Lake’S Decision

Ex-Vromi Minister Maurice Lake.

St. Maarten – In a statement that runs almost 2,000 words, now independent MP Maurice Lake has defended himself against accusations by United People’s party leader Theo Heyliger that “power, position and ministry and others have manipulated him to break the government for self-interest.”

Lake says that he has known Heyliger for 25 years as a friend and for 15 years as his advisor.

“I have three Master’s Degrees and work hard for my family for everything I got in life and never asked Theo Heyliger for nothing in life Read more

Opinion: Something’S Brewing

We know since last night that Governor Holiday sent a letter to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. We do not know the content of this letter, but there is no doubt that this will come out some time today.

The past couple of days, two political parties have come out with press conferences where they made their positions clear. The National Alliance nor the Democratic Party fear elections, they say.

Do they really want elections? Not really Read more

Mp Matser Appeals Fraud Conviction This Afternoon

Parliamentarian Silvio Matser arrives at the courthouse on January 7 for his sentence hearing. File photo Today / Milton Pieters

St. Maarten – MP Silvio Matser appears in the Common Court of Justice this afternoon at 1.30 p.m Read more

Green Light For New Government, But Pm Gumbs Disagrees: “Even The Governor Can Make A Mistake”

St. Maarten – Governor Drs. Eugene Holiday has given the green light to the National Alliance-led coalition to form a new government. There will therefore be no elections on December 8, as would have been the case if the governor had ratified the national decree the cabinet sent to his office to dissolve the parliament and to call new elections.

Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs “absolutely disagrees” with the decision and his cabinet does not intend to make its positions available Read more

St. Maarten Government Falls Again: Fifth Cabinet In Five Years In The Making

UP-leader Theo Heyliger (left) and MP Silvio Matser on 10-10-14 when they were still political allies. Now the political marriage is over: “I cannot take the internal abuse anymore,” Matser said yesterday Read more

Lake Stays In Parliament, No Seat For Buncamper-Molanus

St. Maarten – Rumors about the makeup of the new cabinet and its possible consequences for seats in parliament spread rapidly yesterday after the fall of the Gumbs cabinet. One such rumor was that Maurice Lake, now independent, would return as the Minister of Vromi; that move would have opened a slot in parliament for Maria Buncamper-Molanus Read more

Lake Urges Ministry To Get Rid Of Nipa-Board

St. Maarten – United people’s party MP Maurice Lake urged Education Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs yesterday to get rid of the board at the National Institute of Professional Advancement (Nipa).

“When the school started in 2014 it had 288 students. In 2015 there are just 65,” Lake said. The board does not live up to any deadlines Read more

St. Maarten Government Falls – Three Coalition Members Defect

Picture: St. Maarten Parliament

NEWSFLASH!! St. Maarten– The Gumbs government fell shortly after 12.30 p.m. today (Wednesday, September 30, 2015) after the parliament passed a motion of no-confidence submitted by Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams with an 8-7 vote Read more

Garbage Meeting Fizzles: Many Questions, No Answers And No Solutions

St. Maarten – At the end of a long meeting, finally there were some fireworks when opposition MP asked Vromi-Minister Claret Connor to answer one question: “Is there a contract with a company to build the waste-to-energy plant and how does this jive with your visit to a project in Miami?”

Minister Connor, who had just said that he would be able to inform the parliament on Monday when he would be able to answer the more than one hundred questions MPs had asked, did not bite Read more

Silent March Honors Officer Benjamin

Workers and officers take part in a silent march to show their solidarity with Officer Gamali Benjamin. Photo Today / Milton Pieters St. Maarten – More than 200 people marched the streets of Philipsburg yesterday in solidarity with the injured police Officer Gamali Benjamin. Nagico Insurances closed its doors at 3 p.m. and staff members walked with police officers and supporters to the spot on the Front Street were Benjamin was gunned down on Wednesday.

Emotions ran high and people were weeping and consoling each other on their way to the location Read more

Mp Lake Went Shopping At French-Side Super U “A Plus For The Community”

St. Maarten – United People’s (UP) Party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake says it is high time government sits down with supermarkets and distributors of food products to get a grasp on why consumer prices on the Dutch side are so high compared to the French side.

“The cost of living on St Read more

Ebenezer Residents Want Clean Trenches

A scene from a trench in Ebenezer on Wednesday. Photo Today / Andrew Dick

St. Maarten – Residents from the Ebenezer District are disappointed that their trenches are filled with bush and debris. Grass and small threes can be seen budding from the bridge close to the Milton Peters College and behind in the trenches at the St. Maarten Academy PSVE. Daniela Richardson expressed her disappointment yesterday about the situation. She calls on public works to do something about it.

It is customary for the public works department to carry out major trench clean ups efforts before the beginning of the hurricane season 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

No Control On Right Of Long Lease By Council Of Ministers 

Former Minister Lake: “I am not aware of this”

St. Maarten – There is no control over the rules that apply to buying and selling rights of long lease by the Council of Ministers. This appears from a reaction by UP-MP Maurice Lake to questions from this newspaper about the long lease rights former Minister Maria Buncamper-Molanus and her husband Claudius sold on December 10, 2013 to Sint Maarten Building Supplies (SBS).

Yesterday this newspaper revealed how the Buncampers sold the right of long lease to a piece of land on Pond Island opposite the Melford Hazel Sports Complex for $345,000 to Sint Maarten Building Supplies Read more

Mp Lake Commends Gebe; Urges Seniors To Apply For Relief

St. Maarten –NV Gebe has extended its senior relief program until December of this year and this has led to a verbal commendation from United People’s Party MP Maurice Lake to the company for taking this action.

The relief for seniors began in 2014 while MP Lake—then Minister Lake—was the minister with responsibilities for Gebe Read more

Editorial: Creating Jobs

Members of Parliament love talking about creating jobs for the people. The latest cry is coming from MP Maurice Lake, the former Minister of Vromi, who urges the government to create work for local contractors.

It sounds sympathetic – no question about it – but when governments create work they are most likely whipping up jobs out of thin air that do not really exist Read more

Up Mp Lake Calls On Up Lead Government To Make Job Creation A Priority

St. Maarten –  “It is high time that Government and Parliament start empowering our local people to be tops where it concerns jobs and other relevant areas in the country,” UP MP and former Vromi Minister Maurice Lake said yesterday while contending that since his tenure as Vromi Minister not much is happening within the districts.

The UP MP has issued a call to the UP lead government to make use of local contractors in the various districts when it comes to district community improvement Read more