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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

Lloyd Richardson Elected Chairman Of Parliament

St. Maarten – Parliament elected Dr. Lloyd Richardson of the faction of the United People’s party yesterday morning as the successor of Sarah Wescot-Williams as its chairman Read more

Prominent Podiatrist Zenia Duncan Dies

St. Maarten -Prominent podiatrist and health advocate Zenia Duncan passed away Sunday morning after a brief but courageous battle with leukemia. Leukemia is a group of cancers that usually begins in the bone marrow and results in high numbers of abnormal white blood cells.

Duncan had always been a proponent of healthy living and devoted her resources and time to disseminating nutritional information and diabetes awareness.

Her clinic at the Heritage House on Front Street, Barefeet Chiropody, was a successful practice that offered foot care, surgery, examinations and treatment especially to the elderly and diabetic community on St Read more

Mp Dr. Lloyd Richardson Voted In As President Of Parliament

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Members of Parliament in a Central Committee meeting on Monday morning, Member of Parliament of the United People's Party, the Honorable Lloyd Richardson was voted to the position as President of Parliament.

He is now replacing leader of the Democratic Party, Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams who resigned from the post on Thursday November 13th.

During the voting on Monday, Dr Read more

Lucas Berman tipped to be next deputy minister plenipotentiary

PHILIPSBURG--Attorney Lucas Berman is said to be the candidate minister for the post of deputy minister plenipotentiary in The Hague.

Providing he passes the security and integrity screening, Berman will join the minister plenipotentiary in representing the country in the Netherlands, particularly at the meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers. Minister plenipotentiary is expected to be Josianne Artsen, who currently serves as deputy minister plenipotentiary.

Berman, a junior partner with Lexwell Attorneys-at-Law, was born in Toulouse, France, and was raised in the Netherlands Read more

Editorial - Not unthinkable

That outgoing Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake wants the Council of Ministers to get on with approving the much-discussed purchase of the Vorst land in Cay Hill (see Friday paper) is to a certain extent understandable. After all, the family has been waiting since the days of former Minister Roland Duncan and his plans for a Justice Park on that location.

Not only that, but they have agreed to lower the price at least twice Read more

Heyliger to now present final formation report on Dec. 16

HARBOUR VIEW--The process of searching through the lives of the minister candidates for the new Cabinet with a fine-tooth comb is in “its final stage,” but has not yet been completed. This has led Governor Eugene Holiday to grant formateur of the new Cabinet United People’s (UP) party leader Theo Heyliger a new deadline of December 16 to present his final report.

The screening of minister candidates covers a background review of personal and professional credentials, their financial position, fiscal compliance (tax and social security premiums), a judicial check for possible suspicious transactions, the security background and, if necessary, the health condition of the candidates.

The purpose of the screening is to assess the integrity, independence and solvency of the candidates, as well as the stability of the new government, according to a statement from the Governor’s Cabinet.

Member of Parliament Heyliger met with Holiday on Friday, ahead of his November 23 deadline for his final report, to give his progress report on the screening of the candidates for the posts of prime minister, ministers, minister plenipotentiary and acting minister plenipotentiary.

The current Wescot-Williams III Cabinet has remained in office as a caretaker government since the August 29 Parliamentary Elections.

This is the first time in St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Caretaker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams did not waste any time on Friday after she read the press statement issued by caretaker Minister Maurice Lake. In a letter sent to the various media house Wescot Williams outlined what she said on Tuesday to Minister Lake in the Council of Ministers meeting and what she stated on Wednesday during the weekly press conference, below is the letter from caretaker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams.

Dear Minister Lake/Dear Maurice,

In my opinion, we have arrived at a sad state of affairs when persons can not express their own view(s) Read more

Dp Leader Responds To Minister Lake Request Concerning Planned Purchase Of Vorst Property

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - DP leader the Honorable MP Sarah Wescot-Williams responded Friday to a press statement from the Honorable Minister Maurice Lake on the subject of the Vorst property.

Minister Lake in his press statement which was also carried on this website, stated that he would like the Council of Ministers to take a vote on the planned purchase of the Vorst property.

In his statement Minister lake stated that "I was not surprised by the comments of our Prime Minister about the Vorst and Emilio Wilson land purchases Read more

DP moves to ‘expel’ De Weever from ranks

PHILIPSBURG--The Democratic Party (DP) has moved to expel Member of Parliament (MP) Cornelius de Weever from its ranks. The party has given De Weever until 5:00pm today, Friday, to appeal his expulsion if he so wishes.

De Weever, who is off-island, has not responded to requests for a comment on what he intends to do in the face of his pending expulsion.

De Weever was informed of his pending expulsion from St Read more