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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

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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

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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

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Editorial - Despite the turmoil

People worried about the delay in installing a new cabinet and its consequences for the budgetary process should be reassured at least somewhat after statements this week from outgoing Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Finance Minister Martin Hassink (see Thursday paper).

The intention is to ratify the draft budget in the Council of Ministers on Tuesday coming, after which the Advisory Council is to review such Read more

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Minister Lake wants ministers to vote on Vorst land purchase

PHILIPSBURG--Outgoing Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake wants the Council of Ministers to vote in its upcoming meeting on the pending purchase of the Vorst land in Cay Hill.

He is preparing an advice on the land purchase to take up in the Council of Ministers' meeting. The decision on whether or not the land should be bought for US $4.5 million "should be a council decision," instead of outgoing Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams "deciding for the entire council."

Wescot-Williams told the press on Wednesday of the offer to government of a reduced purchase price for the land from the property heirs Read more

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Sarah withdraws her support from coalition

PHILIPSBURG--Just over a month after gaining the support of ten Members of Parliament (MPs), the United People's (UP) coalition has lost the support of one partner: Democratic Party (DP) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.

The withdrawal of support for the coalition has been considered a foregone conclusion since earlier this month, after Wescot-Williams announced that her party's minister candidates had been passed over in favour of those submitted by DP parliamentarian Cornelius de Weever to formateur of the new cabinet UP leader Theo Heyliger Read more

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Plasterk wants ‘sit down’ on integrity recommendations

PHILIPSBURG--Dutch Minister of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk wants a "sit down" with the St. Maarten Government to talk about the execution of recommendations from the Integrity Reports, particularly the one compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Caretaker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams said Plasterk's letter stated that he would make "no decision" on government's approach to the recommendations until such a meeting takes place Read more

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Vorst heirs offer a reduced land price

PHILIPSBURG--Government has been offered the Vorst land in Cay Hill for US $1 million less by the heirs to the property. This now puts the purchase price at US $4.5 million.

Caretaker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams said the Council of Ministers has not taken a decision on whether to accept the offer. Her preference is to leave the offer for the incoming cabinet to make a decision.

Outgoing Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure VROMI Minister Maurice Lake had come under much fire for opting to purchase the land, instead of following an earlier proposal with the heirs for government to lease land.

The purchase price was higher than the lease price Read more

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Tourism industry stars honoured at 9th Crystal Pineapple Awards

MAHO--Top performers across the different sectors of the tourism industry were honoured once again at the ninth annual Crystal Pineapple Awards organised by the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) at repeat gala host Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino on Friday night, November 21.

Sonesta's conference room formed a mecca for the who's who of the tourism industry, as a jam-packed room of professionals enjoyed a five-star buffet dinner, silent auction, song and dance performances by ARIAS and Dance Theatre of St Read more

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Justice Academy’s graduates sworn in

Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson (back row, 10th from left) stands proudly with the graduates.

PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson officiated the swearing in and graduation ceremonies of 13 Customs Officers, 15 Immigration and Border Protection Officers and six auxiliary officers from various governmental departments on Tuesday, November 18.

The ceremony was witnessed by Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams; Attorney General Taco Stein; Interim Secretary General of Justice Udo Aron; department heads of the various justice departments, department heads of the graduating auxiliary officers, and friends and family members of the graduating class of 2014.

In his presentation, Richardson congratulated all graduates and admonished them to carry out their duties in honour and humility, while respecting the uniform.

The Minister further instructed them to carry out their duties in the service of the people of St Read more

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Sarah questions reason for voting discrepancies meeting

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams wants an elaboration on the request for a Central Committee meeting on election day "discrepancies" as called for by MPs Leona Marlin-Romeo (independent), Tamara Leonard (United People's party) and Cornelius de Weever (DP) Read more

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Editorial - Worth it in the end

With the approval of the organisational structure for an Integrity Project Bureau (see Monday paper) the outgoing Wescot-Williams III cabinet is on the right track. It's one thing to reject the manner in which the instruction for one of the recent integrity investigations came about, but that doesn't mean the recommendations in the related report aren't valid and shouldn't be implemented.

In fact, St Read more

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Country’s old annual accounts handled by parliamentarians

PHILIPSBURG--The 2011 annual account covering the first year of country status was dealt with in a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Monday.

Finance Minister Martin Hassink told Members of Parliament (MPs) the handling of the account was "far overdue," but a lot of hurdles and bottlenecks had to be overcome to get the report completed.

The report was compiled with "outside help" while those for the two subsequent years were put together internally.

The third quarter financial report for this year is completed and will be forwarded to parliament soon Read more

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Lee calls on ‘opposition’ to form ‘united coalition’

DAWN BEACH--Democratic Party (DP) candidate hotelier Emil Lee has called on the "opposition" in Parliament, which now includes his party leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams, to form "a united coalition" to provide "quality opposition in Parliament."

Lee was the 12th highest vote getter out of 90 candidates who contested the August 29 Parliamentary Elections and was the third highest vote getter of his party Read more

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Sarah tenders her resignation

Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams caucuses with Parliament Presidium members MPs Cornelius de Weever and Leona Marlin-Romeo on whether she should continue chairing Thursday’s session of Parliament after she submitted her resignation as Parliament head (Rajesh Chintaman photo) Read more

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For St. Maarten’s sake

Dear Editor,

I have been writing articles to the opinion column of the local newspapers for over 16 years, including my latest on September 5, 2014, entitled “An undesirable city landmark,” in reference to pond mountain on Pond Island in the middle of the great salt pond.

However, very early on, I imposed a ban on myself from writing on political topics, which steered me clear off the Integrity and Instruction issues. But at 7am on Tuesday November 11, St. Martin’s Day, I was awaken by some flashing thoughts which I have decided to share with you, the people and elected leaders of St-Maarten, even at the cost of breaking my own self-imposed ban on political topics.

The last St-Maarten elections took place two and half months ago on August 29, 2014 Read more

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Top 10 ship-jumpers

Dear Editor,

Top 10 ship-jumpers, since inception of Country Sint Maarten in 2010

1. Romain Laville;

2. Cornelius de Weever;

3. Sarah Wescot-Williams;

4 Read more

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Minister candidates submitted to governor

HARBOUR VIEW--The names of the minister candidates for the new cabinet were submitted to Governor Eugene Holiday by formateur United People's (UP) leader Theo Heyliger on Wednesday. The security and judicial screenings of the candidates for the post of prime minister, the six other ministers and minister plenipotentiary has commenced, according to the governor's cabinet.

Holiday and Heyliger met yesterday to discuss the progress of the formation process Read more

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Plasterk prefers cooperation to new instruction for St. Maarten

THE HAGUE--Issuing another instruction to St. Maarten, this time in the area of Justice, does not have the preference of Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk. He would rather strengthen St. Maarten's Justice System and improve integrity together with the local government, he told the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Wednesday.

"That doesn't have my preference," Plasterk replied to the question of Member of the Second Chamber Roelof van Laar of the Labour Party PvdA, who asked the minister whether a new instruction for St Read more

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Editorial - Sooner rather than later

Today's report that Dutch Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Minister Ronald Plasterk prefers cooperation to another instruction for St. Maarten in the area of Justice is a positive development. Coupled with the news that "formateur" Theo Heyliger has submitted the names of proposed ministers for what now appears is the incoming UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo coalition – no longer backed by DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams (see related story) – to Governor Eugene Holiday, it could spell a start in restoring the lately disturbed relations between Philipsburg and The Hague.

This conclusion has a lot to do with the fact that Heyliger did not include himself Read more

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Sarah makes position as Parliament head available

PHILIPSBURG--President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has made her position as head of the legislature available to the United People's (UP) party-led coalition.

This move by Wescot-Williams comes a month and two days after she was appointed to the post on October 10 Read more

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Sarah Wescot’s ‘fire in the belly’ speech reaffirms solidarity on St. Martin Day

FRENCH QUARTER--Words such as unity, togetherness, and cooperation have become clichéd over the years in St. Martin Day speeches but while this was still a favourite theme on Tuesday's 66th November 11 celebration, some speakers looked at it in a different context, alluding to derogatory remarks about tearing up the Treaty of Concordia and establishing borders attributed to a French Parliamentarian some months ago. It caused a stir on the Dutch side.

No one dismissed such outside threats more forthrightly than caretaker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams in a typically rousing and patriotic speech that elicited rounds of applause.

"In the hearts of St Read more

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MAC opens high school amidst heavy downpour

EBENEZER--A number of persons braved heavy showers to witness the official opening and dedication of Methodist Agogic Center Comprehensive Secondary Education (MAC CSE) building in Ebenezer on Friday afternoon.

The heavy downpour prompted District Secretary Reverend Dr. Joan Meade, who performed the dedication, to delay blessing the new buildings and classrooms with holy water.

The new location has three buildings containing, amongst other things, five classrooms. A fourth structure on the property, which had existed at the location previously, had been refurbished.

Chairman of MAC School Board Reverend Moreland Williams told attendees that it was originally a long-term plan of the institution to construct a building for the secondary school Read more

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St. Maarten formally objects to instruction

THE HAGUE/PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten's caretaker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams confirmed in a letter to the Dutch Government on Monday that St. Maarten will not cooperate to execute the instruction given to Governor Eugene Holiday to hold off on the ratification of the appointment of the next Council of Ministers until after a profound screening of the candidate ministers.

In her letter, addressed to President of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Anouchka van Miltenburg and sent also to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk, Wescot-Williams outlined the reasons the St Read more

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