Dear Editor, We are about over a year into the Covid-19 pandemic. The impact of this disease on our island nation has been nothing short of disastrous. The impact has meant 2134 confirmed infected cases with 27 deaths. Thousands have been pushed into poverty. Equivalently, thousands of jobs have been lost. This can be clearly reflected in the claim of the Minister of Finance indication of the severe increase in income assistance requests, the drastic increase in the requests for social welfare, and the tens of thousands receiving food aid by the various food aid agencies such as the Red…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Government and Parliament are at a crossroads due to the continued dispute about the insistence by State Secretary Raymond Knops that the Parliament denounces the petition it submitted to the United Nations that demands a stop to the process towards the establishment of the Caribbean Reform and Development Entity (COHO). There is not only a rift between Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs and the coalition that supports her government; the parliament is also strongly divided. Yet, the demands from the Kingdom Government are clear: support the COHO and withdraw support for the UN-petition or there will be no liquidity…
PHILIPSBURG – Cleaning company Quality Sweepers and Maintenance (QSM) has filed a complaint with the Ombudsman against the result of the public Solid Waste tender 2021-2026, claiming that the Ministry of VROMI secretly changed the rules and that its bid for garbage collection in parcel 1 (Philipsburg and Pointe Blanche) was the best offer but that the contract went to a company that demanded a higher price. Related news: Solid Waste Collection Contracts “2021-2026” Awarded to Successful bidders According to a press release issued by QSM, 23 companies took part in the bidding process. Five contractors received 5-year contracts for…
~ Personal agendas and lack of strategy at center of current crisis ~ PHILIPSBURG — PFP faction members Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson called on the current coalition to withdraw the petition submitted on March 9th to UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.` “As a faction, we repeat our rejection of this petition,” PFP said on Sunday, 28 March 2021. “On November 5th, 2020 Parliament established a Permanent Committee for Constitutional Affairs and Decolonization, following a proposal by MPs Solange Ludmila Duncan (NA)…
THE HAGUE / PHILIPSBURG – The adjusted draft consensus kingdom law Caribbean Reform and Development Entity (COHO) will reach the parliaments of the Netherlands, St. Maarten, Aruba and Curacao before the summer break of the Dutch Parliament. State Secretary Raymond Knops wrote on Friday in a letter to the Second Chamber that this is his objective. The summer break for the Dutch Parliament begins on July 9 and ends on September 6. Knops emphasizes in this letter that the draft law is not fundamentally at odds with the Kingdom Charter according to the advice from the Kingdom Council of State.…
THE HAGUE / PHILIPSBURG – St. Maarten needs 39 million guilders ($21.8 million) in liquidity support for the second quarter of this year but the Kingdom Council of Ministers is not going to provide these funds until there is unequivocal support from the parliament for the country package and for the trajectory towards the establishment of the Caribbean Entity for Reform and Development (COHO). The Kingdom Council of Ministers took the decision to put liquidity support on hold for the second quarter on Friday. In a letter to the Second Chamber, State Secretary Raymond Knops explains the situation. Knops writes…
By Hilbert Haar Is anybody surprised about the decision by the Kingdom Council of Ministers to freeze liquidity support for St. Maarten? I saw this coming along time ago. The inevitable you-know-what has hit the fan and the responsibility for this situation rests exclusively with those members of parliament that want to have it both ways. Related article: Choharis-petition puts liquidity support at risk These parliamentarians half-heartedly support the country package and the trajectory towards the establishment of the kingdom law COHO (if we have to believe what Parliament’s Chairman Rolando Brison wrote to State Secretary Knops) but they also…
What A Success – On March 24th, 2021, Yacht Club Port De Plaisance, hosted their first Farm to Yacht Program – local Farmer’s Market in the beautiful Oasis Garden, from 8:30am to 10:30am. The overwhelming support YCPDP received from the attended local government officials, captains and chefs was positive and appreciated by YCPDP team. All public health protocols were followed including the use of the sanitizing station that was displayed and the entrance of the Oasis Garden. “It was a challenge to have a market this season. We implemented additional measures to keep our vendors, customers, and staff healthy and…
PHILIPSBURG — “We can only come to consensus if the advice from the Kingdom Council of State is followed,” Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said at a press conference hosted by the National Alliance about the status of the draft consensus kingdom law COHO (Caribbean Entity for Reform and Development). The advice from the Kingdom Council of State points out that the authorities the draft law gives to the COHO are disproportionate and that the draft furthermore triggers questions about its compatibility with the Kingdom Charter. Jacobs and National Alliance faction leader William Marlin explained their position on the issue. “We…
THE HAGUE — An earlier report on dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl about the advice concerning the draft kingdom law Caribbean Reform and Development Entity (COHO) stated incorrectly that the Kingdom Council of State considers the proposal to be a violation of the Kingdom Charter. Instead, the Council merely notes that the draft law triggers questions about its compatibility with the kingdom’s constitutional structure, as established in the Kingdom Charter. Autonomy and own responsibility are important points of departure in this context. The Council of State published its integral advice on its website on March 24. You can find it here: raadvanstate.nl/adviezen/@123232/w04-20-0408. In its…
