PHILIPSBURG — The website dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl published an article about Aruba’s former Minister Benny Sevinger and his “incomprehensible decision” to grant the company Ocean Eco Cleaning in 2017 the right to change the purpose of a piece of land it held on long lease to commercial. The court annulled this decision in a ruling published on November 3, 2021. Why does all this sound so familiar? Because St. Maarten’s former VROMI-Minister Christophe Emmanuel did something similar with government-owned land on the day before the government he was a part of faced a motion of no-confidence in Parliament in November 2017. The…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar One would think that discussing the suspension of a parliamentarian who has just been sentenced for corruption and forgery is an excellent opportunity for the remaining members of parliament to take stand against these practices. That’s not what happened when the suspension of MP Claudius Buncamper was on the agenda on Thursday. Let’s not forget that, according to the court ruling of December 23, 2021, Buncamper handsomely lined his pockets while he made a mess of the management of the dump. People suffered, while this esteemed representative of the people fattened his bank account. So what did…
PHILIPSBURG — Parliament’s President Grisha Heyliger-Marten sent a letter to the Central Voting Bureau on Thursday, informing it about the suspension of convicted Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper and asking for its advice which candidate of the United St. Maarten party (USp) is eligible to take his seat as a substitute. She also sent a letter to Buncamper, informing him about his suspension. Buncamper’s suspension was a given, after the Court in First Instance sentenced him to 32 months of imprisonment on December 23 of last year, combined with a seven-year ban on holding public office. Buncamper has appealed the…
PHILIPSBURG — Party for Progress Members of Parliament Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson have expressed their concerns about developments at utilities company GEBE in a series of questions to prime Minister Silveria Jacobs and VROMI-Minister Egbert Doran. The questions revolve around the dismissal of interim director Mauricio Dembrook and the appointment of Sharine Daniel as his successor. “Sint Maarten has been plagued by a culture where CEOs of crucial government-owned companies are being used as tools for personal and political gain. When trying to appoint a person to lead our only utility company – the company responsible for the basic…
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert It is the season for it. It can show the difference between the message of a real Leader and the work of a ghostwriter. In most cases, you wouldn’t even know, because of the lack of unique vibrant and fiery expressions that characterize the Leader in question. A New Year’s speech should bring the audience to a new next level. They seldom do. What is missing in all these New Year’s messages? They should be planned like a firework show. Start with Saturn Sky Rocket for grabbing the audience attention, then on to Crazy Palm Fountains…
PHILIPSBURG — “My heartfelt congrats to all service members of the justice chain with the approval of the function books.” That text, accompanied by a picture of a smiling Minister of Justice Anna Richardson appeared in Facebook on Monday evening. A swift reaction from police union NAPB created confusion: “Is this a prank or are we being punked? We have zero knowledge of any completion and/or approval of said function book.” StMaartenNews.com is in the process of verifying the authenticity of the union-statement. The 42nd report of the Progress Committee points to other issues that may or may not have…
PHIIPSBURG — Politicians with criminal intentions better fasten their seatbelts because outgoing State Secretary Knops has almost doubled the funding for TBO, the Team Bestrijding Ondermijning (the anti-corruption taskforce) until 2025 to €25 million ($28.3 million) per year. This appears from a letter Knops sent to the Second Chamber on December 16 about the results of the TBO. Between 2016 and 2021, the TBO received annual funding of €12 million for a total over that period of €72 million ($81.4 million). Knops mentions the investigation into large-scale fraud at the port in St. Maarten as one of the results of…
THE HAGUE — The fourth Rutte-cabinet wants to contribute to the economic development in St. Maarten, Aruba and Curacao through guarantee regulations of the National Service for Entrepreneurial Netherlands (NVO), the National Growth Fund and regulations for sustainable energy production. These regulations will be open for applications from everywhere in the Kingdom. This appears from the governing accord VVD, CDA, D66 and Christian Union signed mid-December. The 50-page document emphasizes that St. Maarten, Aruba and Curacao are constitutionally autonomous and that they have their own responsibility for good governance and proper public finances. “The relationship between the three countries and…
PHILIPSBURG — Contrary to earlier optimistic reports, the draft consensus kingdom law COHO (Caribbean Development and Reform Organization) is not ready to be sent to the parliaments of the four countries until the four governments reach an agreement about an amendment, Emile Vaessen, spokesman for outgoing State Secretary Raymond Knops confirmed on Monday. The dispute between the Caribbean countries – St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba – and the Netherlands surfaced after last Friday’s meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers. Knops told journalists after the meeting that the three Caribbean countries refused to go along with an amendment to the…
PHILIPSBURG — The General Audit Chamber’s focus audit of the execution of the stimulus and relief program (SSRP) in 2020 raises questions about the program’s effectiveness, its authors write. The report’s cover shows a one hundred dollar bill, featuring the image of Benjamin Franklin, in the form of a puzzle. The ministry of finance “did not provide significant financial monthly reports” for the audit and the ministry of public health, social development and labor (VSA) “did not provide any information at all.” The report states that “an obligation to do so is a statutory requirement for an audit.” On December…
