PHILIPSBURG — On February 19, 2019, Theo Heyliger, then a member of parliament for the United Democrats party (UD) was arrested on suspicion of taking bribes from construction companies. The Public Prosecutor informed the Minister of Justice that Heyliger was therefore suspended by law as MP, based on article 50 of the Constitution. MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, then President of Parliament, asked Rotsburg Juridische Dienstverlening en Onderzoek (Legal Services and Research) for an analysis of the interpretation of article 50. Prof. Gerhard Hoogers, who teaches constitutional and administrative law at Groningen University put the article under his microscope. Related article: PoP…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Maybe President of Parliament Rolando Brison is not good at math. Or maybe he just wanted to take a cheap shot at MP Sarah Wescot-Williams for criticizing parliament’s decision to hire the Washington-based law firm Choharis for (at least) $7,000 per month to help out with the doomed decolonization petition to the United Nations. Anyway, in the radio program The Review (see video clip above), Brison claimed that Wescot-Williams had once paid a Dutch law firm over “twenty-something thousand euros” (€2?,000+) for advice about “how to keep (now former) MP Theo Heyliger out of Parliament.” In actuality, the…
By Hilbert Haar If you are not confused enough yet about the whole decolonization petition and what it means for Dutch liquidity support for our cash-strapped government, here is something else to think about. First remember: the United People’s party (UP) and its faction leader Grisha Heyliger-Marten are the driving forces behind that petition to the United Nations. And that petition asks to stop the process towards the establishment of the COHO – the Caribbean Reform and Development Entity. The establishment of the COHO however, is a hard requirement for continued liquidity support. No COHO, no money from the Netherlands.…
Willemstad/Philipsburg – On December 10, 2019, a moratorium was set at Girobank N.V. (Girobank), freezing all credit balances in excess of NAf 10,000 on Girobank’s current and/or savings accounts. A large part of these frozen assets will be paid out by GI-RO Settlement Holding N.V. (GSH) in short term, meaning that the majority of Girobank’s depositors will have free and full access to their funds. This, however, is not the case for depositors with a credit balance of more than NAf 1,200,000. These will be paid out to a maximum of NAf 1,200,000. Withdrawal of the payouts by GSH can…
THE HAGUE — State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) resolutely dismisses the notion that financial support for the inhabitants of St. Maarten is a form of suppression, racism and colonialism, as a petition the Parliament of Sint Maarten submitted to the United Nations suggest. Answering questions from Dutch Second Chamber parliamentarian Ronald van Raak (Socialist Party), Knops wrote: “Suppression, racism and colonialism are serious abuses. I absolutely do not share this opinion. The Netherlands supports Sint Maarten and the other countries in the Kingdom in the context of the consequences of the worldwide crisis that has come into being because…
PHILIPSBURG — State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) has confirmed in a letter to Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs what was already clear: the Parliament has put continued liquidity support at risk by filing a petition with the special rapporteur of the United Nations that aims, among other things, to stop the process towards the establishment of the COHO, the Caribbean Entity for Reform and Development. Related article: The answer is clear: Parliament opposes conditions for liquidity support Jacobs answered Knops stating that the Council of Ministers is committed to the realization of the country package and that “despite the petition…
PHILIPSBURG — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs must explain her position on the petition submitted to the United Nations and added that the Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison as well as the initiator of the petition Grisha Marten-Heyliger, is busy undermining their own initiative. MP Emmanuel reminded all Parliamentary factions that he had forewarned that they were playing a dangerous game with the Dutch government. He said the Prime Minister of St. Maarten will now have to explain how or if government will proceed with the Caribbean Reform Entity (COHO) after…
~ As of March 31st, 2021, the current contracts for the island-wide solid waste collection program will be coming to an end. ~ POND ISLAND — In accordance with article 47 of the National Accountability Ordinance “Comptabiliteit Landsverordening”, the procurement of services was publicly tendered on February 2nd, 2021, for the services of collection and transportation of solid waste to continue throughout the various districts. The Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure, (Ministry of VROMI) has prepared new multi-annual contracts to cover these services. The new contracts will commence on April 1st, 2021, and will last for…
PHILIPSBURG — The Choharis-petition to the special rapporteur of the United Nations has drawn widespread criticism, but the backers of this initiative – eleven of the fifteen members of Parliament – are sticking to their guns. But its proponents, led by UP-faction leader Grisha Heyliger-Marten are sending mixed signals about the relationship they want with the Netherlands. On November 20, 2020, Parliament approved a motion with the support of eleven MPs. The Party for Progress faction (Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson) and the UD (MP Sarah Wescot-Williams) voted against it. US party member of parliament Akeem Arrindell did not support…
PHILIPSBURG – Member of Parliament for the Party for Progress faction (PFP) Raeyhon Peterson has expressed his concerns for the complete disregard for the Constitution that is being displayed by the chairpersons of Parliament. MP Peterson was referring to the petition backed by twelve members of Parliament to the United Nations (UN) to “investigate systematic discrimination and racism perpetrated against the people of Sint Maarten.” “It is very alarming to see that the chairpersons are using the usual spin-tactic and fear-mongering to deliberately give the public false information, just to defend the illegality of their actions,” Peterson said. “I find…
