~ Prime Minister Jacobs cautions Parliament about Decolonization chatter ~ PHILIPSBURG — In a letter dated November 17, the Prime Minister of St. Maarten apprised Parliament of her most recent contact with State Secretary Knops regarding the continued liquidity support in the form of a third tranche. This interaction took place on November 11, as per the Prime Minister’s letter received on November 18, 2020. “I was pleasantly surprised to receive this update, given government’s lackluster performance in keeping parliament timely informed. However, the conclusion of the letter gives away the true reason behind this letter to parliament. Although the…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten does not have a ‘Klachtencommissie Politieel Optreden’, although since 2013 there has been a law prescribing this. Complaints about the police are now being sent to the Police Chief, who will pass them on to the Department of Internal Affairs. “During the complaints procedure, things are not going as intended,” concluded the Law Enforcement Council in 2018. Little has changed since then. It has been more than five weeks since police officers restrained a mental health patient in the street and one of them broke the woman’s arm. The victim is self-employed and is without income…
PHILIPSBURG — The 2020 budget for the Mental Health Foundation from SZV is Naf 5,455,424. During the meeting with Parliament on Monday morning, November 17, former interim director of MHF Eileen Healy stated the budget was 4 million guilders. “It could be more,” she said. MHF also receives funding from stakeholders and sponsors, said to the amount of 2.4 million guilders. According to Healy, the funds are not enough for the 11.000 treatments performed on 581 patients so far this year. A total of 3,5 psychiatrists are needed to treat the number of patients on St. Maarten, the management of…
The Caribbean Reform Entity (CRE) was initially rejected by the governments of Aruba, Curacao, and St. Maarten. After Prime Minister Rutte stated that there would be no negotiations regarding the CRE in September of 2020, it seems that the Netherlands are actually willing to negotiate after realizing that the initial proposed CRE was indeed very draconian and against the political aspirations of the people as mentioned in Article 73b of the UN Charter. St. Maarten is in urgent need of a total revitalization of its tourism sector. If the Netherlands were to speak to the business, hospitality, hotel, maritime, tourism, as…
CAY HILL — During a presentation in Parliament on Monday, November 17, 2020, Dr. Kitty Pelswijk described how psychiatric care in St. Maarten is rather uncertain. “One psychiatrist is currently at home and I am the only other psychiatrist. If I fall ill, St. Maarten is done.” Pelswijk stated. This dramatic statement corroborates the information StMaartenNews.com has received over the past months. However, sources cite mismanagement as the reason for the uncertainty in the psychiatric care at the island’s only mental health institution. For instance, for the third time in three months, a patient has died, a tragic event that…
PHILIPSBURG – Monday’s meeting of the parliamentary committee for Public Health, Social Affairs and Labor about mental health did not pay a lot of attention to the relationship between the Mental Health Foundation and Fredericka Ford’s company Ethegrity though former interim director Eileen Healy did make a few comments about it. When Ford surfaced for the first time on the radar in St. Maarten in October with a presentation to Parliament about Ethegrity Healthcare Consulting, MP Claudius Buncamper asked her whether it was true that the company had made a proposal to the MHF worth $2.4 million. ”Yes, we did,…
PHILIPSBURG – Earlier this year, former Minister Plenipotentiary Jorien Wuite became a member of the Dutch political party D66. Now she is the number 19 (out of 65) on the party’s so-called advice-list of candidates for the parliamentary elections that are scheduled to take place on March 17 of next year. The D66-membership is able to vote on the candidates from November 19 until December 1. Shortly afterwards, the party will announce the definitive list of candidates. StMaartenNews.com had the opportunity to have a candid interview with Jorien Wuite about her D66-candidacy.
In February of 2018, the Kingdom of the Netherlands submitted a Written Statement to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague regarding the Chagos Islands and their struggle for a full measure of self-governance and right to self-determination. The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is one of the six organs of The United Nations. Its primary tasks are to settle “disputes between states in accordance with international law and give advisory opinions on international legal issues.” In the the aforementioned Written Statement of February of 2018, the Kingdom of the The Netherlands declared that “the right to self-determination of…
PHILIPSBURG — The Common Court of Justice (Hof), on Thursday, October 29th, ruled against the claim of the Attorney General (PG) to prosecute MP Mr. C.T. Emmanuel for among other accusation, abuse of function in connection with the issuance of leasehold property . The legislator has determined that if the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) wishes to prosecute a political authority, they must seek an order to that effect from the Court. This procedure serves as a guarantee for a thorough prosecution decision in such cases. In its decision to reject the claim of the Attorney General, the Court of Appeal…
By A Contributor The predominantly Dutch European Judiciary and Public Prosecution Service consistently claim that adjudication and prosecution takes place without regard to persons (‘zonder aanziens des persoon’). However, has the proclaimed blindness of lady justice created a just society, where righteousness is even a sought after ideal? Are we living in the country of St. Martin proudly, united and integrated or conveniently with one foot in and one foot out? Or are we further muddying the water ensuring that greed and corruption prevails, as the system and individuals that partake in the shared state power knowingly or unknowingly partake…
