By Terrance Rey Esmee Bakker is an oral hygienist or what is known as a dental hygienist. She is 41 years of age, married and has two sons, 6 and 9 years old. Esmee is a new dental hygienist on the island of St. Maarten. She completed her studies at the Academic Center for Dentistry in Amsterdam in The Netherlands. She worked in Curacao for 4 years after graduating in 2001, that’s where the love for the Caribbean started. In December 2020, she moved with her family to St. Maarten. “We have been received so friendly on the island by…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — With a second postponement of the Central Committee meeting to discuss the Caribbean Organization for Reform and Development (COHO), Independent Member Of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel has questioned why government is now clearly stalling and keeping information from the people of St. Maarten. The meeting was requested weeks ago by Emmanuel along with MP’s Claudius Buncamper and Akeem Arrindell of the USP faction. The meeting has now been postponed twice with no explanation provided by government. In the meantime, the MP pointed out, “the COHO is pressing full steam ahead with a PR campaign, Facebook page, website, the works.…
By Hilbert Haar Blogger Bibi Shaw is a borderline criminal. At least, that is the inevitable conclusion if statements attributed to Sharine Daniel in a media report about Shaw are truthful. Shaw is only a criminal if both observations are correct, but they cannot both be incorrect. If Daniel is lying Shaw cannot also be a criminal. If Daniel is telling the truth, Shaw cannot be innocent. But the unhealthy odor that Shaw’s infamous blog has been emitting for years suggests that Daniel is most likely telling the truth. What is this all about? Daniel explained to the supervisory board…
PHILIPSBURG — The spat between TelEm CEO Kendal Dupersoy and SMCU-leader Ludson Evers has calmed down a bit after Dupersoy retracted the first paragraph of a letter he sent to the union that began with the sarcastic remark: “Do you like playing the victim?” Related article: Relationship between TelEm and union deteriorates Parties met with labor mediator Marcelina Loblak in a vain attempt to find common ground.
StMaartenNews.com brings you a special report on how the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) has become a ‘political football’ with the fundamental question: Who is really Brian Mingo’s boss?
~ TelEm CEO admits to ghetto tone in letter to SMCU ~ PHILIPSBURG — The relationship between TelEm’s Chief Executive Officer Kendal Dupersoy and Ludson Evers, the President of the St. Maarten Communication Union (SMCU) is deteriorating fast, it appear from correspondence between the two parties. The latest controversy began with a letter Dupersoy sent to the union on February 12. In it, he outlines six ideas for cost cutting measures. Dupersoy explains that he asked the government and financial supervisor Cft to clarify how the 12.5 percent cuts will have to be applied. He did not receive a reaction…
PHILIPSBURG — The Common Court of Justice has ordered the Public Prosecutor’s Office to prosecute MP Claudius Buncamper for crimes he allegedly committed when he was heading the Infrastructure Department at the Ministry of Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI). While the press release from the anti corruption task force (TBO) does not mention Buncamper by name (instead it speaks of “a politician in St. Maarten”) the suspect himself has already made public statements about his upcoming court case. In July 2018 the Detective Cooperation Team (RST), directed by the TBO, started a broad criminal investigation under the…
PHILIPSBURG — Members of Parliament fired dozens of questions about the airport at Minister Ludmilla de Weever (Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication) during a central committee meeting on Monday that lasted almost five hours, but they will have to wait for the minister’s return next week Wednesday before they will get any answers. Airport Director Brian Mingo gave a brief presentation, saying that the airport had been doing relatively well in 2020 by recording 37 percent of the passengers it handled in 2019, while the global average recovery-number is 25. MP Melissa Gumbs later remarked that using the numbers…
PHILIPBURG — It is about time to get the facts straight about the Princess Juliana International Airport now that politicians use every opportunity to badmouth its management, the role of the World Bank, State Secretary Raymond Knops and the Government of St. Maarten through lengthy press releases that appear without context or fact checks in local media. Let’s go back to January 2019, more than two years ago. The government announced in a press release on its website that on January 8, 2019, the Council of Ministers had unanimously agreed to approve funding of the airport reconstruction by the World…
~ Political agreement no guarantee for smooth cooperation ~ THE HAGUE – State Secretary Raymond Knops is not happy with the way St. Maarten manages its airport. This appears from his answer to written question from Dutch parliamentarians about the airport’s reconstruction. A political agreement is not a guarantee for smooth cooperation, he observes. “Investing in bricks and mortar at the airport is insufficient. The way the airport is managed and the accompanying checks and balances must also be tackled. Improving corporate governance is a condition to the release of funding.” Taskforce Corporate Governance Knops reports that St. Maarten’s government…
