Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
Parliament Goes All Out Against Attorney-General Schram “His Remarks Are As Bad As The Crimes He Fightsâ€
MP William Marlin: “The AG insults everybody in St. Maarten.†Photo Today / Leo Brown
St. Maarten – Parliament unanimously make minced meat of the remarks Attorney-General Guus Schram made on September 11 during the installation of Judge Sander van Rijen and demanded his resignation (see related story on our front page).
“I do not want to get into a debate with the attorney-general,†National Alliance faction leader William Marlin said Read more
New majority in Parliament to focus on ‘needs of residents’
~ Portfolios divided, NA gets PM ~
HARBOUR VIEW--The new eight-seat-majority coalition in Parliament formed on Wednesday plans to focus on the needs of residents and is prepared to make safety and security “a top priority†and to give the people of St. Maarten “an open Government that gives account on all levels.â€
The new majority comprises former United People’s (UP) party Members of Parliament (MPs) Silvio Matser and Maurice Lake; National Alliance (NA) MPs William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs, Christophe Emmanuel and George Pantophlet; Democratic Party (DP) MP Sarah Wescot-Williams; and United St Read more
PHILIPSBURG:--- The government of St. Maarten is now in shambles. The UPP/ De Weever/ LRM and USP Government fell on Wednesday when three Members of Parliament supporting the current coalition voted in favor of a motion of no confidence against the Gumbs cabinet which was presented by MP Sarah Wescot Williams Read more
Parliament Gives Council Of Ministers Vote Of No-Confidence Wednesday
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The parliament of St. Maarten gave the Marcel Gumbs cabinet a motion of no-confidence on Wednesday afternoon.
The motion was read by the leader of the DP Sarah Wescot-Williams 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
MPs meet about Schram’s comments on Wednesday
PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) are set to give their views in a plenary session of Parliament on Wednesday on the comments made by Attorney-General Guus Schram at the installation of a new judge on September 11.
Justice Minister Dennis Richardson has been invited to the session in Parliament House slated to start at 10:00am.
Richardson already has called on Schram to produce evidence of his claims of a serious mixing of the underworld and civil society.
This urgent public meeting was requested by Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams and National Alliance MPs William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs, and Christophe Emmanuel.
The parliamentary session will be aired live on St Read more
Meeting About Zebec-Deal Continues:Â Opposition Questions Deal, Coalition Praises Harbor
St. Maarten – Parliament will have to wait until this afternoon for answers to the questions it posed yesterday in a public meeting about the settlement between the Harbor Group of Companies and real estate developer Zebec over the failed Harbor Village project.
As Today reported on Monday, September 14, social insurance agency SZV borrowed the harbor $10 million on a short 3-month loan to settle the dispute with Zebec.
Yesterday’s meeting did not bring anything new to light 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?â€
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
Minister Richardson answers MPs on Harbour/Zebec settlement
PHILIPSBURG--Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson provided answers on Tuesday to questions Members of Parliament (MPs) had asked about the Harbour’s settlement with Zebec Development in a first round of questions during an emergency meeting the day before.
Richardson first tackled the reasoning for both the court case and the settlement, then went on to more individual questions asked.
Case/settlement
The core issue is that Zebec intended to develop the Dutch Village on long-lease land of the Harbour Read more
Minister to answer MPs’ dump questions by Friday
PHILIPSBURG--New Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Claret Connor has confirmed with Parliament that answers to the pertinent questions about the landfill, as discussed in the urgent plenary session on Friday, can be expected on Friday, September 25.
Therefore, another follow-up plenary session scheduled tentatively for Thursday, October 1, depending on the status of these answers, should be able to go forward as planned Read more
Editorial - Costly oversight
The answers on the settlement between the Harbour Group of Companies and Zebec provided to Parliament on Tuesday afternoon were to the point and clear. Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson, assisted by Port St. Maarten Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Mingo, said there was nothing sinister about the matter and it basically boiled down to a dispute over giving further content to a general property lease agreement for a Dutch Village to be built by the developers of Blue Mall.
The latter’s interpretation of the deal was not deemed favourable for the Harbour, particularly its separate arrangement with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) that initiated an own US $100-150 million venture, including a hotel near the area in question Read more
Dp Leader Maintains That Governing Program Lacks Substance
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Leader of the Democratic Party of St. Maarten MP the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams has accused the current coalition government of lifting certain segment of the governing program of the NA-DP-USP coalition government and using it in their own governing program entitled, “Ready to work for youâ€.
The DP leader was at the time speaking on the PJD2 aired program Breakfast with the Robert this past Sunday Read more
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
Members of Parliament wanted more speaking time in Zebec/Harbor debate.
Wescot-Williams: Connor ‘intimidated’ by coalition
PHILIPSBURG--Recently appointed Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure VROMI Claret Connor “seemed intimidated†by the coalition partners who appointed him in the post when he appeared before Parliament on Friday to answer questions from, in particular, opposition National Alliance and Democratic Party Members of Parliament about tackling the country’s garbage mountain Read more
Disaster waiting to happen at Landfill --- MP’s express outrage at the current situation regarding Waste to Energy Plant and statements made by Prime Minister.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Several Members of Parliament expressed outrage on Friday morning in Parliament while posing several questions regarding the dumpsite in the middle of Philipsburg. Recently Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel posted a video on Facebook on the current situation at the Landfill Read more
Urgent Plenary Session of Parliament scheduled for Monday about Settlement Agreement between Port St. Maarten and Zebec
The plenary session is set for Monday, at 2.00pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.
The agenda point is the settlement between the Harbour Group of Companies and Zebec.
This parliamentary meeting was requested by the Democratic Party faction and the National Alliance, Members of Parliament (MP) Hon Read more
Minister Richardson Criticizes Attorney-General Schram: “Justify Your Claims Or Shut The Hell Upâ€
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
MPs pass motion to make English ‘mother tongue’
PHILIPSBURG--Minister of General Affairs Marcel Gumbs and Minister of Education Rita Bourne-Gumbs have sixty days to present a plan to Parliament to establish English as "the first and mother tongue" of the country.
This was the instruction given to Government via a unanimously adopted motion that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday by Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams.
The motion also instructs government to develop "a plan of approach to gradually introduce the use of the mother tongue as the first official language of 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
Politically going forward, in our opinion there is only one way, as going back is not an option.Our faction has remained steadfast over the years about the political future of our island.
Back in 1994, it was our belief that the Netherlands Antilles had served its time Read more