PHILIPSBURG – “In The Hague you had to use a searchlight to find the few people who were really interested in the islands. You cannot be successful with that dossier,” former Minister of Administrative Innovation and Kingdom Relations Alexander Pechtold writes in his contribution to Koninkrijk op Eieren, a book with observations by a colorful crowd of fifty scientists, politicians and other stakeholders about the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and the formation of the autonomous countries Curacao and St. Maarten. Retired professor Joop van den Berg and former journalist René Zwart compiled the book. Its title refers to the…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – During the first nine months of this year there were more than 600 recorded traffic accidents, it appears from a press release issued by the communications department of the police force. The A.T. Illidge Road tops a list of twelve roads were most accidents happened. The roundabout at Indigo Bay is listed as the most dangerous intersection. There were 59 traffic accidents on the A.T. Illidge Road, representing 14.9 percent of the 396 accidents that took place on eleven different roads. Second on the list is the Walter Nisbet Road (53 accidents, 13.4 percent), followed by the A.J.C.…
Government at odds on COVID-19 testing, claims to be awaiting the green light from RIVM. Is Government really speaking with the business sector? “During the past week again Government’s lack of cohesion on a important matter was as glaring as a sunlit day”, commented Member of Parliament, Sarah A. Wescot-Williams on the public meeting regarding the financial and socio-economic outlook of Friday last. While debating in the second round, MPs received answers to questions in the first round via email from the Minister of VSA. Answers such as: “At present, all antigen tests are inferior to RT-PCR, from a diagnostic performance perspective. Use of antigen tests to conduct source and contact tracing among the…
PHILIPSBURG – As more information surfaces about Ethegrity Health Consulting and its Chief Executive Officer Fredericka Ford the question becomes increasingly pressing whether it makes any sense at all for the Mental Health Foundation to enter into a $2.4 million contract with this company. In a LinkedIn page that touts Ford’s husband Wesley Mason III as the CEO of Meridian Behavioral Health Systems (MBH), established in Brentwood, Tennessee, a picture appears that shows Fredericka Ford with the text: “She is a billionaire and her name isn’t Oprah.” The same page claims that Ford is on the Spelman College Board of…
Dear Editor, In 1946, the Netherlands’ three colonies were Indonesia, Surinam, and the former Netherlands Antilles. In 1946, under the United Nations Resolution 66 (I) (UN Resolution 66 (I) all three aforementioned Dutch colonies were listed as Non-Self-Governing Territories. The only way to be OFFICIALLY removed from said list of 1946 is through a United Nations Resolution. Indonesia was officially removed from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories on the 28th of September 1950 through United Nations Resolution 491 (V). The only way to be OFFICIALLY removed from said list of 1946 is through a United Nations Resolution. Suriname became independent on…
PHILIPSBURG – Ethegrity Healthcare Consulting’s appearance in a parliamentary committee for public health has triggered a tidal wave of questions. Was its director Fredericka Ford in this meeting to provide support or was she there to sell the services of her company? Her presentation had all the hallmarks of a sales pitch. Now it appears that Ethegrity did not fall out of the sky: at least one parliamentarian knew Ford already back in April 2018. On May 2, 2018, an article appeared in The Daily Herald. It featured a photo that showed Fredericka Ford, Wesley Mason and Pat Charles together…
Simpson Bay – After 30 years of service with WINAIR Captain Roger Hodge is retiring. Captain Hodge began his career with WINAIR in 1990 thru 2020, Rogers 30 years of service in our flight department, beginning as a first officer progressing thru the ranks quickly to become our most senior Captain. His many accomplishments as a training instructor, check airman and most importantly sharing his knowledge thru tutoring and developing our junior pilots, providing the example of what it means to be a pilot. Captain Hodge, a pillar in the flight department, provided all our staff the example of how…
By Hilbert Haar If the result of the island council elections in Statia have made anything clear it is that change does not come easy to people. You can take horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink, the well-worn cliché goes. The electorate has spoken and the message is clear: they have lived for twenty years with Clyde van Putten as the controversial leader of the Progressive Labor Party and they want him back. The PLP won three of the five seats in the new Island Council, one more than it did in the 2015 elections.…
ORANJESTAD – “We have to prevent at all cost that the situation on the island from before the intervention reappears after a return to a regular administrative administration,” is one of the observations in the law that aims to address the gross neglect of duties by the island government of Statia.
~ Says: “Free and Fair elections allow democracy to reign.” ~ PHILIPSBURG— “Democracy at work,” were the words, Member of Parliament, the Honorable Grisha Heyliger-Marten used to describe her sentiments after hearing the results of the Island Council elections on St. Eustatius yesterday October 21, 2020. She said, “Part of self-determination is the ability of a people to participate in free and fair elections where their elected officials can serve without fear of attack from forces within our external forces. The people who you elect as your leaders must be the people who lead you, or you risk seeing your…
