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Stuart Johnson Asks If Brison Accepted Complimentary Gift

PHILIPSBURG--Former Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Stuart Johnson asked on Tuesday whether a particular resort in the country had provided a complimentary room to Chairperson of Parliament Read more

Is Possibly Ethically Unacceptable Behavior A New Norm?

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten — The behavioral ethics of our appointed and elected officials have come under questionable circumstances lately. While there is no regulation against gifts for government officials neither has the code of conduct been passed, which includes a gift registration for Members of Parliament (MPs).

Back on December 13th, 2018, former Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (TEATT) Stuart Johnson highlighted an embarrassing case our country faced.

Johnson in The Daily Herald newspaper article stated, Government was notified on November 28 of a 451-day past-due bill for a training attended by Member of Parliament Rolando Brison during his stint as St Read more

Is Possibly Ethically Unacceptable Behavior A New Norm?

PHILIPSBURG:---  The behavioral ethics of our appointed and elected officials have come under questionable circumstances lately.

While there is no regulation against gifts for government officials neither has the code of conduct been passed, which includes a gift registration for Members of Parliament (MPs).

Back on December 13th, 2018, former Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (TEATT) Stuart Johnson highlighted an embarrassing case our country faced.

Johnson in The Daily Herald newspaper article stated, Government was notified on November 28 of a 451-day past-due bill for training attended by Member of Parliament Rolando Brison during his stint as St Read more

PHILIPSBURG:_--- Kemilla Carty was awarded the President of Parliament Award 2021.
A young person is annually awarded the President of Parliament Award for exemplary behavior, leadership skills as well as contribution to the community.

Ms. Carty was nominated for being an outstanding citizen with a passion to work for and give back to her community.
Her nomination was submitted by Ms. Stephania Decembre who described Ms. Carty as a kindhearted person that loves to help others and in giving back to her community.
An active member of the Sint Maarten South Omega Leos club since November 2019, Ms Read more

Chris Calls Govt. Worst In CountryS History, Brison Says One-Man Faction Did Nothing

Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison and Secretary General Garrick Richardson.

PHILIPSBURG--While independent Member of Parliament (MP) Christophe Emmanuel has given the government of St. Maarten a failing grade for its performance, saying it is the worst government in the history of St. Maarten, backed by a bad Parliament, Cha Read more

Mp Emmanuel: Making Light Of Accountability Shows President Of ParliamentS Immaturity

Everything I predicted came true

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Monday said the fact that President of Parliament Rolando Brison continues to poke fun at the notion of accountability not only reflects his immaturity, but the low level of respect he has for the people of St Read more

Everything I predicted came true

Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Monday said the fact that President of Parliament Rolando Brison continues to poke fun at the notion of accountability not only reflects his immaturity but the low level of respect he has for the people of St. Maarten. In his mind, he and the government he supports is accountable to no one, Emmanuel said.
MP Emmanuel on Monday called the current government the worst government in the history of St Read more

Emmanuel: Coalition Not Holding Their Own Accountable, Meeting Requested

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — MP Christopher Emmanuel on Friday said a request has been submitted for an urgent Central Committee meeting with Minister of VSA Omar Ottley regarding COVID-19 protocols, their enforcement by the authorities and circumventing by members of the UP/NA coalition at their discretion for personal pleasure.

The MP said he has listened to Ottleys explanation of what transpired last weekend at Lotus Night Club, but as the Minister of VSA and Interim Minister of TEATT at the time, he did not address pertinent questions that specifically focused on breaching protocols.
The Minister used the opportunity to defend himself and take a target off of his back, but in doing so he either forgot or willfully did not answer important questions, MP Emmanuel said.

The question is, did the event, the same event the Minister said had just 100 people, carry on past 11pm and past 2am in the morning? If yes, who gave the permission to the club owners to continue their party later than the stipulated closing time of 11pm and have they been fined? Simple questions, yet all we get is dancing from the Minister who is obviously only concerned with protecting himself, the MP said.

He said the coalition also has yet to answer for the behavior of the Chairman of Parliament Rolando Brison, who used the medical situation of a fellow MP (MP Buncamper) as an excuse not to travel to Bonaire to attend IPKO, but instead spent a weekend partying Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- MP Christopher Emmanuel on Friday said a request has been submitted for an urgent Central Committee meeting with Minister of VSA Omar Ottley regarding COVID-19 protocols, their enforcement by the authorities, and circumventing by members of the UP/NA coalition at their discretion for personal pleasure.
The MP said he has listened to Ottleys explanation of what transpired last weekend at Lotus Night Club, but as the Minister of VSA and Interim Minister of TEATT at the time, he did not address pertinent questions that specifically focused on breaching protocols.
The Minister used the opportunity to defend himself and take a target off of his back, but in doing so he either forgot or willfully did not answer important questions, MP Emmanuel said Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Sunday said members of government need to stop with unbecoming behavior, be transparent with the public, follow its established protocols and stop trying to deflect with empty, evasive press releases. CPS protocols are in place to protect people. Leaders in this country should avoid undermining them with irresponsible actions, the MP said.
The MP was referring to Minister of VSA Omar Ottleys response to reports that he and the President of Parliament Rolando Brison attended a gathering at Lotus Night Club after the stipulated 11 pm closing time on Friday last Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel wants government to provide answers and clear up rumors concerning what he termed as disturbing incidents from this weekend. The island was clamoring on Saturday over news that Minister of Health Omar Ottley and President of Parliament MP Rolando Brison either organized or permitted a private party at Lotus Night Club in contravention to the Ministerial Regulation (MR).
According to witness reports, police were dispatched to Lotus Night Club on Friday night to ensure that the club closed its operations in accordance to the recently passed Ministerial Regulation which mandates closure at 11:00 pm Read more

Mp Rolando Brison On Behalf Of The Up Faction Questions Minister Of Finance

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – To the Minister of the Finance:

Income of the National Budget, we are seeing an increase.

In terms of the collection efforts to help strengthen the Receiver to collect, please provide an insight as to what efforts are being 2021 to achieve the goals listed within the income.Are there any plans to continue to strengthen and improve the efforts of the Receivers dept and other departments?

Contracting of Country Loans

Please explain what prevents you to go on the open market and try to attract reasonable competitive loans to help pay civil servants, pay vacation salaries etc. If you were able to contract on the local market, what would be some of the favorable conditions, interest rates, etc you as Minister Finance would look at, for example, loan repay terms for liquidity.

Please explain?

Are interest rates measured? And by who if judge is a loan favorable or not?  Please explain.

UTS Funds

Please provide an update.

There were still other strategic assets to be sold after the sale of UTS.

Is Country SXM expecting any additional funds as result of the sale of UTS?

Airport

Can the actual concession agreement between the government and the airport be shared with Parliament?Please list all fees/ taxes that are due to Country SXM, that the airport is actually collecting because of the concession.

Budget post van Deskundige

Please indicate what happened to this budget post, as it is no longer listed in the 2021 budget.Is there any initiative from the Ministry of Finance to create a pool of experts or fund to pay experts that would assist the various Ministries especially with legislative support?What is the funding for this?

Belastingdienst der Inspectie

ATS is actively reviewing and auditing.

Will the minister consider synchronizing the efforts of the Inspection service together with the SZV?What should be done on the Minister of Finance end to integrate ATS into the tax inspection/tax auditing system that we have in St Read more

Minister Of Vromi Quizzed By Chairman Of Parliament During Draft National Ordinance Establishing The Budget Of Sint Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Questions posed by MP Rolando Brison on behalf of the UP Faction to the Honorable Minister of VROMI, Egbert J. Doran.

Environmental Levy

Was he able to examine the way the Aruba legislation is put up in terms of how tourist and the tourism industry is directly contributing to the cleanliness, environmental protection of the country?And if the Minister is also in line with that and if he looks forward to implementing such levies or be it if it comes as an initiative as we have planned from the UP party in parliament or in conjunction with the general ordinance?

Windward Roads

Would it not be preferable for the Ministry of VROMI to have received via the crime fund this money in cash and then be able to contract whoever they want to be able to conduct the works at a value of $2 million dollars rather than them be able to mark up the project or do whichever project how they want?What control would the minister have in terms of price control, how do we know that Windward roads wont just charge fls10 a meter instead of fls2 a meter in order to actually make this $2 million project cost them $200,000?What safe guards are in place in that regard? And why is not handled that way?

Long Lease Land

Can information be provided as to how much long lease land has been given to marinas and or maritime purposes(marinas, boat yards, any such structures) ?The Harbor itself, is that long lease? Can we get an indication of how many total square meters of land has been given out for those maritime purposes and how many lease holders there are?

Wrecks in the lagoon

Were there challenges getting the owners of the wrecks in the Lagoon to respond to the ministry in regards to their responsibility to these wrecks? What are your thoughts on mandating a mandatory insurance on all vessels parked in St.Maarten waters?

Turning Point/Mental Health Foundation

What is the status of Turning Point to get land from Government in order to do their necessary expansion? In regards to the Mental Health Foundation, what is the status for their request for land to be able to expand their facilities?

Planet Hollywood and Kimpton

With regards to Plant Hollywood and the Kimpton who filed requests, can the Minister update us on the status of those requests? What is the relationship like with the Ministry of VROMI and the Government by extension with these developers are they motivated and interested in continuing these projects despite the delays that COVID 19 might have caused for them?

Hospital

Can the Minister clarify if there are any requests at the Ministry of VROMI that the hospital is waiting on in order to continue their work and what the progress is in that regard?

Provisional Permit

Is there any sort of provision that the Minister could create or consider where there is a provisional permit granted? Is that even legally possible, is that something that the Minister could consider?

Housing Foundation

Can the Minister update us on what is the status, what is the interactions like with this foundation? Is he satisfied with the functioning of the Housing Foundation? Can he tell us anything about the Housing Foundation and what his plans are to improve it?Would the Minister if not satisfied consider the establishment of a new entity  to manage this?

Condo Levy

Would the Minister welcome a condo levy?

WorldBank

What projects are related to VROMI that funding is already moving? IF we can get an indication of what those figures are?

Alegria

In terms of Alegria, we saw that the appeal was won by the Minister, is that from a legal perspective in terms the legal discussion with Alegria is that over or is there any other cases that are pending right now?Has the Minister investigated this further from an internal perspective as to what led to these mistakes happening?Have the legal fees incurred by the Government been recovered as per the Judgement?Has an internal investigation been conducted to declare who it was responsible for giving the developer the feeling that he was entitled? And also in terms of it being entitled to the price, how did the developer feel that the price that was promised within meetings, letters, or papers was absolutely his entitlement and how do we prevent that from happening in the future? What is being done to prevent that from happening again?

Motion #1: Parliament year 2018/2019

Has the Minister had any opportunity to fulfill the positions of this motion?Can he please give the Parliament an update as to the amounts that are stated in this motion that are NAF1,250,700 ? Has interest been accumulated, have more fees been accumulated?What is the debt now and when are we going to collect this money?If one removes themselves as a director and shareholder of a company,  the company does not adhere and that company then declares bankrupt, I then remove myself Read more

Chairman Of Parliament Poses Several Questions To Minister Of Justice, During Draft National Ordinance Establishing The Budget Of Sint Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Questions posed by MP Rolando Brison to the Minister of Justice Anna Richardson During the Central Committee meeting handling of the draft National Ordinance establishing the Budget 2021

Function Book

What are the financial implications, if everyone was to be place in their proper function with their increase in pay in the next 2 months, is this accounted for in this 2021 budget?If not, how will the Government afford to pay these increases?Or is this more anticipated for future budget 2022?

CFATF

When is the next meeting of the CFATF and report to the membership?What is the expectation that the Minister would have to be faced with?Are there any implementation costs for the remainder of 2021 that the Ministry of Justice expects to incur, within the MOTT and/or other aspects within Justice?

Challenges faced with the Prosecutor office

Please provide an update on the challenges the Minister faces with the fines from Prosecutor office in their role and lack of action with the collection to the tune of 1mil guilders in fines.

Referring to the National ordinance Bestuurlijkehandhaving Jan 25, 2018 was passed in Parliament. 

Is this law fully ratified and implemented?If yes, is this assisting with the collections?If not, what would be the plan for the ratification and full implementation and use of Bestuurlijkehandhaving?Would this law help the Minister in terms of collections and if not having to be done via the Criminal code as was done in the past?

Income of the issuance of Gun licenses

What is the status for issuance of gun licenses?What is the status of the new gun policy?Is there a projected increase as a result of the efforts to create a proper policy for the issuance of gun licenses?Will there be a fee increase and can we expect additional funds in Government koffers?

Police records

What is the status of the new reform of police records that were expected to come, and what are the projected revenues to be achieved from this?

MOT  (Meldpunt Ongebrijkelijke)

There is an ongoing concern with the legislation passed in Parliament Read more

Brison Calls On Pm Jacobs To Initiate Finalisation Of Decolonisation Process

Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison.

PHILIPSBURG--Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison has called on Prime Minister (PM) Read more

Honouring The Fallen

From left: Governor Eugene Holiday, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs and Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison.

Government observed National Remembrance Day on Tuesday, Read more

National Day Of Remembrance. Two Honorable Guests To Be Present

    

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) On Tuesday, May 4, the Government of Sint Maarten will recognize National Remembrance Day, (Dodenherdenkingsdag) similar to the other countries within the Dutch Kingdom.

During this national day of commemoration, all Dutch victims civilians and soldiers who have been killed or murdered in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere else in the world in war situations or during peace-keeping operations since the outbreak of the Second World War are commemorated.

The regular commemoration ceremony that will commence at 5:30 p.m Read more

National Day Of Remembrance. Two Honorable Guests To Be Present. .

PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- On Tuesday, May 4, the Government of Sint Maarten will recognize National Remembrance Day, (Dodenherdenkingsdag) similar to the other countries within the Dutch Kingdom.
During this national day of commemoration, all Dutch victims civilians and soldiers who have been killed or murdered in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere else in the world in war situations or during peace-keeping operations since the outbreak of the Second World War are commemorated.
The regular commemoration ceremony that will commence at 5:30 p.m Read more

~ Dr. Luc Mercelina remains out, now that De Weever accepts MPs position. ~

PHILIPSBURG: --- Minister of TEATT Ludmilla de Weever who spent just over a year in the executive branch of government has decided to tender her resignation and to now occupy the vacant seat in parliament in the United Peoples Party Faction (UPP) Read more

Debate On 2020 Budget Amendment Suspended

PHILIPSBURG--Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison on Wednesday suspended the meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament to debate the amendment to the 2020 budget pending the outcome of a decision from the Constitutional Court on the request of the Ombudsman to quash all or part of the three national ordinances on employment benef Read more

Knops Accepts ParliamentS Letter, Liquidity Support Trajectory To Resume

Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs in Parliament on Monday.

PHILIPSBURG--A letter from Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison, clarifying the legislatures petition to the United Read more

~UP Leader MP Brison withdraws candidacy. ~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The number 3 candidate of the United Peoples Party (UPP) MP Omar Ottley will be sworn in on Tuesday, April 20th, 2021, now that the Minister of VSA Richard Panneflek has officially resigned Read more

Letter Clarifying Un Petition Approved With Stiff Opposition From Several Mps

~ Some call letter garbage ~

PHILIPSBURG--A draft letter from Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison, clarifying the legislatures petition to the United Nations (UN) was approved by a majority in Parliament on Thursday with strong opposition from some Members of Parliament (MPs).

Read more

Garrick J. Richardson Sworn In As Secretary General (Griffier) Of The Parliament Of Sintmaarten

PHILIPSBURG,SintMaarten Mr. Garrick J. Richardson, LL.M, ML,took the oath of office as Secretary General(Griffier)of theParliament ofSintMaarten on April 1st2021. The swearing in ceremony took place in the Legislative Hall of Parliament and was officiated by President of Parliament, the Honorable Rolando Brison. Present at the ceremony were Members of Parliament,the Staff of theSecretariat, Faction staff and family members of Mr Read more