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Sarah Tests System Of Kingdom’S Responsibilities In ‘De-Risking’ Case

PHILIPSBURG – Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams sent a letter to the Kingdom government requesting the Kingdom Council of Ministers’ views on the matter of derisking by foreign banks.

Wescot-Williams sent her letter via St Read more

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Sarah Remains Adamant About English As 1St Official Language

PHILIPSBURG – In defending her decision to maintain English as the language of the timeshare ordinance, Member of Parliament (MP) Wescot-Williams referred to her proposal, which was unanimously adopted in a motion by parliament to establish English as the first official language.

English AND Dutch are the official languages, but the constitution of St Read more

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Sarah Declines Meeting With New Quartermaster

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams has declined to meet with the Dutch Government-appointed quartermaster for the yet-to-be-established Integrity Chamber.

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Cibc Firstcaribbean Takes A “Bold” Action On International Women’S Day.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Women in St. Maarten were challenged to take bold action to challenge social rules and break down sexist barriers. The advice came from attorney Dagmar Daal as she spoke as part of a panel discussion to mark International Women’s Day held at the Phillipsburg branch of CIBC FirstCaribbean on Wednesday, March 8. Daal encouraged women to create their own bold moments by taking action challenging social rules and perceptions and break sexist barriers.

Annually, the day provides a unique occasion to take actions that motivate and encourage significant change for women Read more

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Minister Silveria Jacobs Address On International Women’S Day

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — On this International Women’s Day, I would like to wish all women and girls a Happy International Women’s Day, especially the women of St. Maarten. St. Maarten is also historically known as Oualichi, which means Land of Strong Women.

The women of our land are also indeed strong. I must honor all women of influence, women in leadership in our homes, schools, churches, in the community and in government for the role they play in raising and shaping our tiny island nation.

Being the only female Minister amongst the men, I am deeply honored to be a woman, one of Oualichi descent, proud to be your voice and represent you – to bring the woman’s perspective to the floor Read more

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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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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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Parliament Staff Take Oath Of Office

PHILIPSBURG--Civil servants attached to the Secretariat of Parliament took an oath of office before Parliament Chairwoman Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams on Friday.

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Civil Servants Of The Secretariat Of Parliament Take Oath Or Pledge Of Office

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – On Friday, March 3, 2017 the civil servants of the secretariat of Parliament took an oath or pledge of office before the President of Parliament, MP Sarah Wescot Williams, during Parliament’s first ever oath and pledge ceremony for its staff members. Also in attendance for this occasion were Vice President MP drs Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:---- On Friday, March 3, 2017, the civil servants of the secretariat of Parliament took an oath or pledge of office before the President of Parliament, MP Sarah Wescot Williams, during Parliament’s first ever oath and pledge ceremony for its staff members. Also in attendance for this occasion were Vice President MP drs 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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Plenary Session Of Parliament About Draft Initiative National Ordinances Concerning Timeshare On Wednesday.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in a plenary public session on February 22, 2017. The initiative taken of these two drafts, Member of Parliament Sarah A. Wescot-Williams will be answering and queries from Members of Parliament on these two drafts.
The plenary public meeting has been set for Wednesday at 2.00 pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.
The agenda points are:

1 Read more

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Plenary Session Of Parliament About Draft Initiative National Ordinances Concerning Timeshare On Wednesday

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The House of Parliament will sit in a plenary public session on February 22, 2017. The initiative taker of these two drafts, Member of Parliament Sarah A. Wescot-Williams will be answering and queries from Members of Parliament on these two drafts.

The plenary public meeting has been set for Wednesday at 2.00 pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda points are:

1.  Incoming documents

2.  Draft initiative national ordinance to revise the rules pertaining timeshare

3.  Draft initiative national ordinance to establish a Timeshare Authority

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary session will be carried live on St Read more

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The First 100 Days Of Parliament?

On February 7, 2017, Parliament celebrated one hundred days in office. It is customary to evaluate a government’s performance, after they have been in office for one hundred days.

Parliaments, however, are generally overlooked when it comes to such an exercise. Seeing that St. Maarten got a most “unusual” parliament after the September 2016 elections, I became interested in wanting to know how effective this parliament has been during its first one hundred days, from October 31, 2016 to February 7, 2017 Read more

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Committees Of Parliament To Tackle Outstanding Matters

PHILIPSBURG – The chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the parliamentary committees were recently elected to guide the work of these committees on behalf of the Parliament of St. Maarten.

Chairlady of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has facilitated the work of these committees by providing all the committee chairpersons with the matters, which have been referred to the committees Read more

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Minister Jacobs Attends “Shing Din” For Special Needs Citizens

ST. LOUIS, Saint Martin – On Saturday, February 11, Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Affairs, Silveria Jacobs attended the first annual “Shing Din” at the cultural site of St. Louis.

The “Shing Din” was an event put together by the Rambaud-St. Louis Fete Association and hosted the special needs citizens of both the French and Dutch side Read more

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Minister Jacobs Attends “Shing Din” For Special Needs Citizens.

St. Louis:--- On Saturday, February 11th, 2017, Minister of Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports Affairs, Silveria Jacobs attended the first annual “Shing Din” at the cultural site of St. Louis. The “Shing Din” was an event put together by the Rambaud-St. Louis Fete Association and hosted the special needs citizens of both the French and Dutch side Read more

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Chairlady Of Parliament Sets The Stage For Handling Draft Laws

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — From the outset of the Central Committee meeting of Parliament on Friday, February 10, dealing with the draft law “Rules for Administrative Enforcement,” Chairlady Sarah Wescot-Williams made it clear that Members of Parliament will be given the time and opportunity to delve into the depth and width of this necessary, but very technical piece of draft law.

The handling will not be delayed, but neither will Parliament rush through this draft law Read more

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Chairlady Of Parliament Sets The Stage For Handling Draft Laws.

From the outset of the Central Committee meeting of Parliament on Friday, dealing with the draft law "Rules for Administrative Enforcement", the Chairlady Mrs. Wescot-Williams made it clear that members of Parliament will be given the time and opportunity to delve into the depth and width of this necessary, but very technical piece of draft law.
The handling will not be delayed, but neither will Parliament rush through this draft law.
Already the Chairlady has pointed out that she will break down the law in main parts, making the deliberations more manageable and constructive.
The meetings, in the Chair's view, should, in addition to providing the MPs the opportunity to apply debate draft laws and topics, also serve as informational exchanges for the public at large.
During today's initial deliberations on the "Rules for Administrative Enforcement", the Chairlady explained the gist of the law as follows:
How does the government administration enforce compliance with existing laws? Who makes up the reports of such? How are persons notified that they are or that they have acted in contravention of a law or rule? How far can the government go with sanctions against citizens?
A plus point in this respect, she pointed out, is that the draft eliminates bias in handling such cases.
Secondly, where such is possible, infringements will be dealt with administratively (by the government) rather than criminally.
The draft law was initiated by the government, hence the presentation of such by the Minister of Justice, Mr Read more

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Wescot-Williams: Acu Can Strengthen The Socio-Economic Fabric Of Society

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — President of the Parliament of St. Maarten Hon. Sarah Wescot-Williams in attendance at the opening of the ACU’s office on St. Maarten. Several members of this credit union reside on St. Maarten and were quite pleased now that the services are brought to St. Maarten.

Credit unions are organizations of persons (members) who save at the institution and also are able to borrow Read more

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President Of The Parliament Wescott-Williams: Mr. York’S Life Story Is Indeed One Worth Recording.

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — I was privileged and honored to celebrate with family and friends, St. Maarten’s illustrious centenarian, Mr. Freddy York. Fittingly so, the family of Mr. York celebrated this milestone with him in grand style, and in true St. Maarten tradition kicked off the celebrations with a church service in his honor on Friday.

“I was thankful for the opportunity to offer words of congratulations on both occasions and stressed the need for the lives of St 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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Sxm In The Whirlwind Of Dutch Politics

A lot of indignation reigned during the discussions on the appointment of a quartermaster by the Dutch government and rightfully so. The Dutch minister (Plasterk) has, however, remained undeterred and firm: “The quarter master will come, it was an agreement and SXM procrastinated.”

Did we?

The govt. of SXM learned of the appointment via the press, evoking a caution from the Finance Minister Gibson that newspapers can be wrong. True, in this world of “false news,” even newspapers can be tricked.

However, in the Netherlands, this news was an orchestrated part of simultaneous and official publications Read more

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Let Us Not Blame The Dutch

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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