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New Marcel Gumbs Cabinet takes office

~ Governor issues challenge to unify people ~

PHILIPSBURG--"The greatest little country in the world" as St. Maarten has been described by its new Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, finally has a new Council of Ministers. Gumbs, a veteran politician, and the five other ministers were sworn in on Friday afternoon by Governor Eugene Holiday at his office.

The swearing-in ceremony was followed by the first meeting of the Council of Ministers with the governor in A.C Read more

style="text-align: center;">Marcel Gumbs second Prime Minister since St. Maarten became a country

PHILIPSBURG:--- Five of the seven required Ministers were sworn in on Friday. Former Senator of the Netherlands Antilles Marcel Gumbs was sworn in as the second Prime Minister of Country St Read more

Statement From The Honorable Prime Minister Marcel F.A. Gumbs

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is with a great sense of pride and honor that I sit before you as Prime Minister of this greatest little country in the world. My entire life has been dedicated to service in one form or the other to St. Maarten. This latest chapter is just a continuation of that service. And now, it's time to work!

We hold no illusions of the task before us. St. Maarten is at a critical stage in its development and growth as a nation.

Our mission is clear: To ensure that St Read more

MPs will propose review of Dutch nationality rescinding

PHILIPSBURG--The rescinding of the Dutch nationality of a number of people in the Dutch Caribbean due to administrative errors, and the subsequent statelessness of those persons as well as their children and in some instances grandchildren, is an issue Members of Parliament (MPs) want on the table for the Inter-Parliamentary Affairs Contact Meeting IPOK in Aruba January 6-9.

Parliament's Permanent Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations met in Parliament House on Thursday afternoon to review the draft agenda and preparations for the meeting of members of the Parliaments of the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St Read more

Sarah: Governor should answer to Parliament

PHILIPSBURG--Governor "should answer to Parliament regarding the formation of the next government, if only to stop the rumour mill," says Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams.

She shared this opinion in a press statement issued on Wednesday Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- In my opinion, it can and specifically in the case of the formation of the council of ministers, following a regular election.
The Governor has in this particular matter taken it upon himself (and we know why of course) to direct the process.
The government of the country is the responsibility of Parliament. When something seems awry, which it does, parliament has the responsibility to query the formation of a government for the country.
It should never be the case, that candidate ministers are publicly hung out to dry; taken down like sitting ducks, and all this on the basis of information that is somehow attained, because those who should apprise the people of the process, are mum.
Mostly, persons selected for ministerial positions are those who have postulated themselves in an election, unless there is a case of exceptional expertise in one or more particular areas and needed because of circumstances that warrant such Read more

Sxm Mp's To Meet On Upcoming Ipko Meeting Which Is Set For January

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Committee of Kingdom Affairs and Interparliamentary Relations (CKAIR) of the St. Maarten Parliament will be meeting again on Thursday, December 18th to discuss the upcoming IPKO (Meeting of Kingdom Parliaments) on Aruba in the first week of January 2015.

This committee of Parliament met for the first time on December 8th to elect its chairperson and vice chairperson. MP Sarah Wescot-Williams was elected to chair this committee.

On December 9th, by means of a video conference the chairpersons of the Parliaments and the parliamentary Kingdom Committees of Aruba, Curacao and St Read more

Sixty years charter marked in Curaçao

WILLEMSTAD--Curaçao observed the sixtieth anniversary of the Dutch Kingdom Charter on Monday, December 15, with a gathering at the renovated "autonomy monument" on Rijkseenheid Boulevard. Curaçao Governor Lucille George-Wout, Prime Minister of Aruba Mike Eman and caretaker Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot-Williams were among the invited guests.

Although Kingdom Day is not a holiday in Curaçao, Prime Minister Ivar Asjes had decided that this milestone should not go by unnoticed Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Caretaker Prime Minister and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams dispatched an email to the President of Parliament with several questions to caretaker Minister Maurice Lake. Wescot Williams said in her email that the island has been gripped again with another saga this time involving a government owned entity Read more

Mp Wescot-Williams Seeking To Make Public Official Information On Smhdf Saga

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Member of Parliament and Leader of the Democratic Party, the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams Monday sent a letter to the President of Parliament the Honorable Dr. Lloyd Richardson seeking answers to a number of questions surrounding developments at the St Read more

Minister Cornelius De Weever Resigns From The Democratic Party

St. Maarten —Minister Cornelius de Weever yesterday officially severed ties with the Democratic Party by officially informing the leader of that party and care taker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams that he is resigning from the party.

Minister De Weever ran on the DP’s ticket in the August 2014 elections but secretly formed a coalition with the UP party shortly after the elections while the DP had publicly announced that it has signed an agreement and was forming a coalition with the US and NA Read more

Premiers Of Former Netherlands Antilles Boycott Kingdom Day

WILLEMSTAD – The Prime Ministers of Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten are boycotting the celebration of Kingdom Day. They refuse to travel to Amsterdam to attend the traditional Kingdom Concert in the presence of King Willem Alexander.

According to a reliable source in The Hague the three prime ministers of the three islands are so angry at the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte they have stated that they will not be present. This is especially painful because next Monday an anniversary celebration will be held Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- For the second consecutive year, Prime Minister and Member of Parliament of St. Maarten, Sarah Wescot-Williams has placed amongst the Top 100 Powerful Women, an annual selection of 100 women by the monthly Dutch magazine OPZIJ.
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams placed in the category "Politics", along with 9 other women, who together share the spotlight with 90 other women in 9 different categories.
The Prime Minister was informed of her placement by letter dated September 16th, from the Editor-in-Chief, Mrs Read more

Mp Wescot-Williams Among Opzij 100 Most Powerful Women

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - For the second consecutive year, Prime Minister and Member of Parliament of St. Maarten, Sarah Wescot-Williams has placed amongst the Top 100 Powerful Women, an annual selection of 100 women by the monthly Dutch magazine OPZIJ.

Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams placed in the category "Politics", along with 9 other women, who together share the spotlight with 90 other women in 9 different categories.

The Prime Minister was informed of her placement by letter dated September 16th, from the Editor-in-Chief, Mrs Read more

De Weever severs ties with Democratic Party

PHILIPSBURG--New Member of Parliament (MP) Cornelius de Weever has severed ties with the Democratic Party (DP), under whose slate he contested the August 29 parliamentary elections and secured a seat.

De Weever said in a press statement issued by his Cabinet on Thursday that he had notified DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams that he “has now officially resigned from the party.” De Weever, who also functions as caretaker Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs, said he informed Wescot-Williams “that due to the manner in which she and/or the DP publicly tried to portray me in a negative light, I have decided to reconsider my future with the DP and hereby resign my affiliation with the Democratic Party.

“I campaigned as a new democrat with a new Democratic Party, but it is readily apparent to many that it is the same old political strategy of trying to shame and blame,” he said Read more

>GREAT BAY:--- Minister of Public Health Social Development & Labor, Cornelius de Weever has notified the leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot-Williams that he has now officially resigned from the party.
Minister De Weever informed the leader that due to the manner in which she and/or the DP publicly tried to portray me in a negative light, I have decided to reconsider my future with the DP and hereby RESIGN my affiliation with the Democratic Party Read more

Minister De Weever Resigns From The Democratic Party

GREAT BAY, St. Martin - Minister of Public Health Social Development & Labor, Cornelius de Weever has notified the leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot-Williams that he has now officially resigned from the party.

Minister De Weever informed the leader that due to the manner in which she and/or the DP publicly tried to portray me in a negative light, I have decided to reconsider my future with the DP and hereby RESIGN my affiliation with the Democratic Party.

I campaigned as a New Democrat with a "new" Democratic Party but it is readily apparent to many that it is the same old political strategy of trying to shame and blame.

Minister De Weever further stated that he expected an internal "issue" to be handled internally, professionally and avoid giving others more ammunition against St Read more

Youth Care Centre has opened its doors

CAY BAY--The eagerly anticipated Miss Lalie Youth Care Centre was officially opened December 10 by Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson in the presence of a number of dignitaries, invited guests and members of the Meyers family, in commemoration of Eulalie Meyers who the Centre is named after. The Centre is set to start receiving youths as of next week.

The modern Cay Bay building had been designed as a boarding school-type facility meant for foster care, and was then restructured for use as a closed facility for boys ages 12 to 18, who are to be detained whilst receiving counselling, treatment, guidance and education, in order to enable them to have the best possible chance of succeeding in society.

A closed institution, it provides 10 places for boys sentenced by the criminal court and another 10 for boys with severe behavioural issues who have not been sentenced but who have received a placement order by a civil court.

Until now, there has been no such facility available locally for this demographic, as explained by Angela Dekker of Dutch financing institution USONA who said that the lack of a youth rehabilitation centre was questioned over a decade ago by a Geneva committee during a conference on the Rights of the Child.

Team Leader Natasha Carty acted as Master of Ceremonies for the opening event, introducing various key decision makers and dignitaries, the Center's team comprising social and security workers, and guiding a tour of the facility.

The Centre was financed by the Ministry of Justice and USONA Read more

Hassink: Country operating in financial ‘crisis management’

PHILIPSBURG--"We are operating in a crisis management situation," Finance Minister Martin Hassink said in describing the country's financial situation to Members of Parliament (MPs) when he outlined the government's earnings and expenditures for the first three quarters of 2014 in a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Tuesday. The meeting will continue on Friday.

Government expenses are growing while its income has shrunk in some areas and stayed flat in others in spite of the economic growth forecast by the Central Bank of Curaçao and St Read more

Dp Leader Says Some Par Latino Sessions Focused On Women

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - In addition to the regular committee meetings of Parlatino last week (already reported on), Thursday and Friday Parlatino's activities centered around the empowerment of women.

Several simultaneous discussion forums were held, allowing female parliamentarians from the different countries to discuss ?topics such as leadership and the position of women in politics.

Some challenges faced by women in politics are universal, other challenges are exacerbated b Read more

>GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- The Council of Ministers received the College financieel toezicht (Cft) delegation on Thursday morning, December 4, 2014, to discuss the finances of country Sint Maarten, in particular the status of affairs of the budget 2014 and the draft budget of 2015. Cft was represented by Chairman Mr. Age Bakker, Member upon proposal of Curaçao Mr. Alberto Romero, Member upon proposal of the Netherlands Mrs. Sybilla Dekker, new Member upon proposal of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba Mr Read more

>PANAMA/PHILIPSBURG:--- On Wednesday, December 3rd, Member of Parliament and DP leader, Sarah Wescot-Williams attended her first Parlatino committee meeting in Panama Read more

Dp Leader Mp Wescot-Williams Attending First Par Latino Meeting, Framework Law On Violence In Schools Approved

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - On Wednesday, December 3rd, Member of Parliament and DP leader, Sarah Wescot-Williams attended her first Parlatino committee meeting in Panama.

The St. Maarten MP participated in the meeting of the Parlatino committee on Gender Equity, Childhood and Youth.

In its meeting of Wednesday, aforementioned committee approved a framework law on violence in schools, with an emphasis on anti-bullying measures and actors.

This draft was commissioned in a previous meeting of the committee in June of 2014.

This draft will now be sent to a plenary session of Parlatino.

It is expected upon approval to serve as a guide and impetus for member states to use and tailor to the specific needs and circumstances of the individual states.

On Thursday and Friday, the DP faction leader will attend the forum on Women and Politics (abbreviated), along with several other members of parliament of St Read more

“The Initiative Is Up To The Caribbean Islands” – Dutch Parliament Divided About Commonwealth

THE HAGUE – The Netherlands cannot force the Caribbean islands to change the Kingdom into a Commonwealth. In spite of this, the Second Chamber reflected yesterday on a plan (from the Socialist Party and the VVD) to do this, Jamila Baaziz reports on Caribisch Netwerk.

VVD and SP say that they are in particular after ‘clarity and a vision’ and that they want to kick-start the discussion with their initiative memorandum. But PvdA, Christian Union, CDA and D66 do not want to exclude any option Read more