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William agrees with CFT’s lower budget assessment

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) leader Member of Parliament (MP) William Marlin says his party agrees with the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT estimate of the draft budget. CFT has tagged the budget at NAf Read more

2015 Draft Budget not Realistic – Council of Advice.

style="text-align: center;">Governing Accord, NIPA, AUC and SMMC highlighted in Budget Debate

PHILIPSBURG:--- The central committee meeting held on Thursday to debate the 2015 draft budget was intense as several Members of Parliament even those supporting the coalition asked various questions on the Naf. 445M draft budget that was presented to them for discussion.
Member of Parliament Leona Marlin in her presentation said that she agrees with her colleague MP Sarah Wescot Williams who highlighted that the Council of Advice already indicated to government that the draft budget for 2015 is not realistic Read more

Demand For Report About Bureau Telecommunication And Post: Btp-Statement Exasperates Mp Sarah Wescot-Williams

St. Maarten – Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams has reacted rather exasperated at the press release the Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP) sent to the media just before the weekend. In the release, the BTP-board denies fraud-allegations and claims that the responsible minister (the now departed Ted Richardson) has failed to provide integrity-researchers with the appropriate information, even though this information is available.

“Events in rapid succession are demanding Parliament’s attention,” Wescot-Williams writes in a press release, “and government is called to respond with equal urgency.”

The DP-MP notes that the BTP has been created by law to execute a public task and that it is considered an independent organization Read more

Gumbs To Wescott-Williams: Screening Happened Under Your Tenure

St. Maarten —Current Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs has pointed out to former Prime Minister that the screening of candidate ministers was done under her tenure and that since taking office he has not made any statements regarding the role of the Dutch Secret Service in the screening process.

The Prime Minister responded, via official letter, to the questions by former Prime Minister and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams as submitted to the Chairman of Parliament via letter dated January 13.

“It should be noted that I am not accountable for statements of Minister Plasterk or for publications of the media Read more

Editorial - Structural approach

Parliament will debate the draft 2015 budget today in an effort to meet the end-of-January deadline set by the Kingdom Council of Ministers. The total amount is 445 million guilders, but the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT still wants this reduced to 426 million due to what it considers realistic income projections based on collections in 2014.

Finance Minister Martin Hassink has maintained up to now that further cuts are hardly possible because it's already a "skeleton budget." He instead wanted to try to convince CFT that the current, higher revenue estimates are legitimate and supported by, for example, findings of the Central Bank.

In that light the recent suggestion of UP leader Theo Heyliger that government should demand that all its companies that are able to pay concession fees do so begs the question whether that's how the 19-million-guilder shortfall, according to CFT, will be covered Read more

Country St. Maarten ordered to pay indemnities to lawyer

~ For unreasonable dismissal ~

PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance on Wednesday ordered Country St. Maarten to pay NAf. 25,000 in indemnities to attorney-at-law Ellen Knoppel. The lawyer had filed a lawsuit against her former employer, because she contested her dismissal at the Ministry of Justice, which had caused loss of income.

On May 10, 2013, one week before then Justice Minister Roland Duncan was to leave office, he granted Knoppel a permanent labour agreement with the Justice Ministry Read more

Sarah: Gumbs twisted truth about screening

PHILIPSBURG--"I had nothing to do with the actual screening of the Gumbs Cabinet ministers, and the Prime Minister knows this full well," stated Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a statement Tuesday.

"After all, he was not only informateur, he himself was candidate minister Read more

Pledges of cooperation to new Dutch Representative

PHILIPSBURG--New Representative of the Netherlands in Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten Henk Brons was welcomed with pledges of cooperation and communication during an informal brunch at Sheer Restaurant in Philipsburg on Tuesday morning.

Hosted by acting Dutch Representative in Philipsburg Gert Versluis, the gathering also served to bid farewell to Dutch Representative Gerard van der Wulp, who served the Dutch Government in this capacity during the past three years and six months. He is now going into retirement.

Many dignitaries and government officials sat in on the brunch Read more

Court Denies Attorney’S Claim For Damages: Departure-Policy Makes Labor Contract Invalid

St. Maarten – Eight days before Justice Minister Roland Duncan left office on May 18, 2013 he granted attorney Ellen Knoppel a permanent labor contract. The incoming government however – Wescot-Williams III – considered the contract invalid, arguing that this was part of so-called departure policy and it fired the attorney Read more

Dp-Leader Criticizes Heyliger’S Statements On Concession Fees

St. Maarten – Democratic Party MP  Sarah Wescot-Williams questions that United People’s party leader Theo Heyliger has no knowledge of the draft 2015 budget that has been sent to the governor and is from thereon on its way to parliament Read more

Dp Wants Answers About Housing Foundation

St. Maarten – Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams has repeated her questions about the Sint Maarten Housing Foundation, wondering when Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs will find the time to answer them Read more

Frans joins UP-led coalition, gets Justice Ministry portfolio

PHILIPSBURG--The United People's (UP)-led coalition again has the support of ten Members of Parliament (MPs) as of Monday morning when United St. Maarten (US) party leader MP Frans Richardson signed on to the coalition.

Richardson signed on with the "100 per cent support" of his party's board Read more

Editorial - Louder than words

It appears St. Maarten and the Dutch Government are heading for a showdown again, judging from statements by Justice Minister Dennis Richardson in today's paper. This time it regards what he called a "draconic" proposal for an Integrity Chamber.

The Hague apparently is not satisfied with the current local plans that call for one representative of the Netherlands in the three-member chamber as well as one in the Progress Committee that is to monitor the integrity improvement course. Instead, the intention is reportedly for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to appoint the Integrity Chamber's chairperson and his cabinet a second member, leaving St Read more

Sarah: Hassink has ‘no choice’

~But to release BTP report~

PHILIPSBURG--The recent call by Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP) to government to make publicly available the Government Accountants Bureau SOAB report, appraisal reports and advice on the bureau to put an end to fraud allegations has left Finance Minister Martin Hassink "no choice" but to explain to Parliament the hierarchical structure of BTP, said Democratic Party (DP) Leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a statement Sunday.

"I eagerly await the Finance Minister's reaction to this sudden outburst by BTP," Wescot-Williams said.

BTP said in a press statement on Friday that neither its present supervisory board nor management "ever took a decision to purchase a building Read more

Gumbs: Screening of ministers under Wescot-Williams’ watch

PHILIPSBURG--Minister-candidates who are now ministers in the Gumbs Cabinet were screened during the tenure of now-former Prime Minister/General Affairs Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams, said Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs in response to questions posed by the same Wescot-Williams, now a Member of Parliament, about the screening and the involvement of the Dutch Secret Service in the process.

Wescot-Williams sent her questions about the screening to Gumbs on January 13 via Parliament Chairman Dr Read more

PM submits declarations of assets to Advisory Council

PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs has submitted to the Advisory Council his declarations and notifications of assets, holdings, secondary positions and interests, those of the other five new ministers and of ministers who served in the Wescot-Williams III Cabinet.

The submission is in accordance with the National Ordinance Promotion of the Integrity of Ministers.

The declarations were submitted on Friday, three days before the stipulated 30-day deadline for submission by new ministers and persons who have ceased to be ministers.

The submission to the Advisory Council followed a similar submission to the Electoral Council that was tied to the National Ordinance Registration and Finances of Political Parties Read more

PM Gumbs responds to Wescot-Williams on Dutch Secret Service.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister the Hon. Marcel Gumbs has responded, via official letter, to the questions by Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams as submitted to the Chairman of Parliament via letter dated January 13, 2015 Read more

Sarah still awaits answers about housing foundation

PHILIPSBURG--It has been a month and Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams is still waiting on answers from government, in particular Public Housing Minister Marcel Gumbs, to her questions about whether St Read more

MPs emphasise need for information from govt

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament wants timely information from government when such is requested, especially on matters being handled in the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation IPKO. This need was highlighted by United St. Maarten Party Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson on Friday.

His recommendation was supported by other MPs in the debriefing meeting of Parliament's Permanent Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations held in Parliament House Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The outcome of the Inter-parliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IPKO) that took place in Aruba recently, will be a topic of discussion on Friday morning in the House of Parliament when the Permanent Kingdom Affairs and Inter-parliamentary Relations Committee will meet for a debriefing.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 10.00am in the General Assembly Chamber, and members of the public are invited to attend the open session.
The next IPKO is scheduled for May 27 to 29 in The Hague, the Netherlands which will be attended by parliamentary delegations from the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten.
Members of Parliament (MPs) will be sharing their opinions on Friday morning when the House sits for the debriefing.
On energy matters, delegation members fully support cooperation in the area of energy, and look forward to seeing the utility companies of Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten coming together to have discussions in exploring such cooperation.
After such discussions are held, it should lead to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) being signed by the three parties.
The delegation members then hope to be able to discuss the MOU at the next IPKO meeting.
A workgroup has been established with representatives from the following countries: Rasmijn (Aruba), Sulvaran (Curacao) and Bosman (the Netherlands) Read more

Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation In Aruba Covers Many Topics Requiring Follow-Up By The Four Governments. Debriefing Set For Friday Morning

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The outcome of the Inter-parliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IPKO) that took place in Aruba recently, will be a topic of discussion on Friday morning in the House of Parliament when the Permanent Kingdom Affairs and Inter-parliamentary Relations Committee will meet for a debriefing.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 10.00am in the General Assembly Chamber, and members of the public are invited to attend the open session.

The next IPKO is scheduled for May 27 to 29 in The Hague, the Netherlands which will be attended by parliamentary delegations from the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten.

Members of Parliament (MPs) will be sharing their opinions on Friday morning when the House sits for the debriefing.

On energy matters, delegation members fully support cooperation in the area of energy, and look forward to seeing the utility companies of Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten coming together to have discussions in exploring such cooperation.

After such discussions are held, it should lead to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) being signed by the three parties.

The delegation members then hope to be able to discuss the MOU at the next IPKO meeting.

A workgroup has been established with representatives from the following countries: Rasmijn (Aruba), Sulvaran (Curacao) and Bosman (the Netherlands) Read more

Editorial - Need for speed

The news that parliamentarian Sarah Wescot-Williams (DP) intends to "pick up" former DP fraction member Leroy de Weever's two initiative laws to establish a timeshare authority and better regulate the sector no doubt will be welcomed, especially in light of the problem at Caravanserai and the bad publicity for the destination this is generating Read more

Budget sent to Governor

PHILIPSBURG--The draft 2015 budget is a step closer to Parliament. The budget, with remarks from the Advisory Council, has been submitted to Governor Eugene Holiday by the Gumbs Cabinet.

The budget was top priority for the cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. That cabinet was sworn in by Governor Holiday on December 19, 2014, and faces an extended deadline from the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT Read more

Sarah questions Dutch Secret Service role in cabinet screening

PHILIPSBURG--The exact role the Dutch Secret Service played in the screening of minister candidates for the Gumbs Cabinet is questioned by Democratic Party (DP) Leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams in a letter sent this week to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs.

She seeks answers to the Dutch Secret Service's role in the screening, whether theirs was a one-time involvement, or will this continue for subsequent cabinets and how the service's role is "formalized nationally."

Her request to the prime minister for answers "has nothing to do" with the persons who were subjected to the screening process, but are directed to "the process" used to screen them.

Dutch Minister for Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations Roland Plasterk was quoted by the media as saying that ministers sworn-in on December 19, 2014, were "subjected with the assistance of employees of the Dutch secret service to an extra-severe screening."

Wescot-Williams framed her questions to the prime minister based on Plasterk's statement and St Read more