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Sarah: DP fraction of two MPs intact

PHILIPBSURG--The Democratic Party (DP) fraction comprises two Members of Parliament (MPs): Sarah Wescot-Williams and Cornelius de Weever, with De Weever serving as the party's fraction leader in Parliament Read more

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St. Maarten issues Ebola travel ban

~ For travellers from West Africa ~

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten has issued an Ebola travel ban and will deny entry or transit to persons who have travelled in the past 21 days to, from and through countries where the outbreak is not contained.

Persons who have travelled to, from or through Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo will not be allowed to enter or transit St. Maarten.

The decision was made based on an advice from health officials of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA, Health Minister Cornelius de Weever said in a statement last night.

"This travel ban will also apply to persons who have been in contact with a suspected or confirmed Ebola case from affected Ebola countries Read more

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Minimum wage to be indexed per Jan. 2015

PHILIPSBURG--The minimum wage will be indexed from NAf. 8.56 per hour to NAf. 8.75 per hour as of January 1, 2015.

A press release issued by Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever's Cabinet stated that consultation had been held with the Social Economic Council SER, which advised in December 2012 that with De Weever's vision coupled with the minimum hourly wage policy it had been agreed to index the minimum wage annually.

The Bureau of Statistics also had indicated that the price indices for household consumption "show that the figure for the month of the preceding year changed, thus a new minimum hourly wage."

Employers were requested to take note of the indexation and have it properly adjusted on their employees' pay-slips Read more

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Mosquito fogging starts November 1

PHILIPSBURG--Mosquito fogging throughout the country as part of a regular vector control programme is set to commence on the Western part of St. Maarten on Saturday, November 1. A complete schedule is set to soon be published in the Government Information Page (GIP) of both daily newspapers outlining dates, times and neighbourhoods.

During the spraying, residents should open all windows and doors, but stay away from them. Items such as cooking and eating ware, fish tanks and bird cages should be covered,

The announcement was made by Collective Preventive Services (CPS), a government agency under the Ministry of Health Care, Social Development & Labour VSA Read more

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Hopefully a new trend

Dear Editor,

Anyone who follows what happens in the world of politics would be surprised if Theo Heyliger is really serious about becoming Prime Minister or, for that matter, holding any position of which he is not in complete control. That move that he made to publicly ridicule the Prime Minister in the paper of August 27, 2014, was as if he was testing to see how far the Dutch would go as a consequence of his behaviour towards the sitting Prime Minister Read more

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MPs unanimously reject instruction

~ Motion to be sent to UN Decolonisation Committee ~

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) unanimously adopted on Wednesday a motion rejecting the instruction handed down by the Kingdom Council of Ministers to Governor Eugene Holiday for the execution of a boundless and limitless investigation into the backgrounds of candidate ministers, their families, friends, business associates and others.

Parliament is not in agreement with the instruction from the Kingdom Council, because the screening of candidate ministers is "not flawed Read more

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Heyliger: I never discussed money or moving for money with any MP

PHILIPSBURG--"No sitting MP in here or none of the ones that were just put out have I ever met with to discuss anything about money and about moving for money in government," United People's (UP) party leader Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger stated in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.

Heyliger's name has been bandied in the community for some time now as having paid MPs to break with their political parties to join as coalition partners in an UP-led government.

He said he wanted to answer all of the talk about the exchange of money Read more

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Christopher Emmanuel says he was offered US $2M for his seat

~ Lloyd, de Weever deny being paid ~

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Christopher Emmanuel said on Monday that he had been offered US $2 million for his parliamentary support as he stressed the point that St Read more

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Editorial - For a change

The Kingdom Council of Ministers has given Governor Eugene Holiday an instruction not to install any new cabinet members until there are sufficient guarantees regarding their integrity. This is to be determined by applying a more stringent screening, for which the Dutch Government will appoint a team of experts to assist the governor.

The highly unusual and unprecedented move has to do with a 2010 vote-buying case involving the UP party and developments since this year's elections held at the end of August Read more

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Friendly or Fantasy Island?

Dear Editor,

Some people may call St. Maarten the Friendly Island while others will call it the Fantasy Island but giving the recent political turmoil and political confusion I choose to reserve the right of giving it the appropriate name at the end of this article but not until I express my views on this topic.

Let us for a moment first view the phrases expressed by some of our political leaders and then the phases they allow our island to go through in order to have a better understanding on what island we are living on.

Our good "Samaritan" or leader of government Sarah Wescot-Williams struck the nail on its head when she boldly chose her political phrase Read more

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Ferrier resigns from DP, against Sarah supporting UP coalition

~ Richelda feels deceived, doesn't support Sarah ~

PHILIPSBURG--Former President of the Democratic Party (DP) and candidate in the August 29 parliamentary election Michael Ferrier has tendered his resignation from DP over the move by party leader Sarah Wescot-Williams to join the United People's (UP) party-led coalition.

DP candidate Richelda Rodriguez-Emmanuel in an email responding to Ferrier's resignation said she still couldn't "get over the feeling of anger, deception, disappointment and disbelief" to put in any form of communication Read more

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Editorial - Sooner rather than later

That just about anything is possible in local politics was proven again over these last few days, as DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams and US Party number two candidate Leona Marlin-Romeo signed up for the incoming UP/De Weever coalition Read more

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Sarah elected as the new President of Parliament

~ Marlin-Romeo VP, De Weever second VP ~

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams was elected President of Parliament during a plenary session on Friday.

United St Read more

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Holiday says MPs play critical role to foster good governance

~ MPs sworn in ~

HARBOUR VIEW--The fifteen Members of Parliament (MPs) elected during the August 29 Parliamentary Elections took their oaths to serve in the presence of Governor Eugene Holiday on Friday.

Sworn in were United People's (UP) party MPs Theo Heyliger, Franklin Meyers, Silvio Matser, Tamara Leonard, Maurice Lake, Lloyd Richardson and Johan "Janchi Leonard; Democratic Party (DP) MPs Sarah Wescot-Williams and Cornelius de Weever; United St Read more

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Sarah, Leona join UP/De Weever to form broad-based government

PHILIPSBURG--Outgoing Prime Minister and Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams and United St. Maarten Party Member of Parliament (MP)-elect Leona Marlin-Romeo have joined the United People's (UP) party/De Weever coalition to form a broad-based government for 2014-2018.

The two new coalition members signed on to the existing UP/De Weever governing accord as "addendum two and three" on Thursday, paving the way for a majority of 10 seats in Parliament.

The news of, in particular, Marlin-Romeo joining the coalition comes after much speculation about this possibility taking place even after she publicly had denied any such intentions Read more

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Editorial - Handle with care

The governing accord of the incoming UP/De Weever coalition announced in Wednesday's paper specifically mentions "finalising and implementing the changes in the Civil Code that regulate short-term labour contracts and finalising the process related to execution of Article 10 of the "Uitvoeringsbesluit arbeid vreemdelingen" as approved by the Council of Ministers on August 12, 2014 (the "Counterpart Policy")."

That's not really surprising, as the main reason current Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever gave for deciding to take his DP seat and form an alliance with UP was that the envisioned NA/DP/US Party government would not include the counterpart requirement in its programme Read more

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UP/De Weever coalition signs Governing Accord

~ Portfolios to be decided on 'collectively' ~

PHILIPSBURG--The eight Members of Parliament (MPs)-elect forming the United People's (UP) party/De Weever coalition signed their 2014-2018 Governing Accord on Friday, October 3. This accord and its attached division of portfolios for the incoming cabinet were submitted to Governor Eugene Holiday by informateurs Joseph Richardson and Marcel Gumbs last week.

Formateur UP leader MP Theo Heyliger continues his work to formalise the incoming government.

Both the Governing Accord and the Division of Portfolios documents were signed by all eight coalition members – MPs-elect Heyliger, Cornelius de Weever, Franklin Meyers, Silvio Matser, Tamara E Read more

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Holiday asks Heyliger to form Government

HARBOUR VIEW--Member of Parliament and United People's (UP) party leader Theo Heyliger, in his capacity as formateur, was requested by St. Maarten Governor Eugene Holiday on Monday to form a new government for the period 2014-2018.

A press release from the Governor's office said, "Having evaluated the report of the informateurs and following the consultations, the Governor met with Mr Read more

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Governor Holiday receives final report of informateurs

HARBOUR VIEW--St. Maarten Governor Eugene Holiday received the final report of the current information process from informateurs Joe Richardson and Marcel Gumbs on Friday.

The informateurs presented the Governor with a 2014-2018 governing accord signed by eight incoming Members of St. Maarten Parliament, seven of whom are members of the United People's (UP) party Read more

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Mobile Health Services bus here

PHILIPSBURG--The Mobile Health Services Bus was transported from the Port of Galisbay to the Fire Department on Monday by representatives of the Health Ministry's Collective Prevention Services (CPS) and Social and Health Care Insurance SZV.

The bus will be stationed at the Fire Department when there is no outreach activity taking place.

The bus is equipped with medical testing and examination facilities that will facilitate the delivery of preventive care. It will be used to strengthen the existing programmes that are executed by CPS and broaden the scope of service delivery, a press release said Read more

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