~ 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)…
Author: The Publisher
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…
By Hilbert Haar Reactions in St. Maarten to the negative Council of State-advice about the draft kingdom law COHO were jubilant and that is understandable. But the COHO, the Caribbean Reform and Development Entity, is far from dead, and therefore it is too early to uncork the champagne. Related article: Council of State criticizes COHO draft law, but supports its objectives That the draft law needs some work is clear. The kingdom cannot continue with legislation that, according to its higher advisor, violates the Kingdom Charter. You’d think that this is obvious but weirder things have happened in the past.…
~ Says govt an embarrassment onto itself ~ GREAT BAY — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Tuesday had only four words in response to reports that the Council of State has determined that the COHO is in contravention of the Kingdom Statuut: “I told you so.” He continues: “And I’ve been telling the government and the people of St. Maarten so since November 2020. This government is careless and an embarrassment unto itself.” MP Emmanuel is the only Member of Parliament who has vehemently stated his position against the COHO and the only MP to vote against the…
“The route to the UN via the CLG petition is a way to circumvent the route to the people of St. Maarten for their opinion.” PHILIPSBURG — MP Sarah Wescot is of the opinion that the longer the government pussyfoots around the division in the coalition on the topic of the UN petition, the more detrimental it gets. MP Wescot elaborates: “By now, the Prime Minister should have received the Kingdom Council of State’s advice on the draft COHO kingdom law and while this advice should be treated with confidentiality, I highly doubt that the St. Maarten government and its…
