MP Wescot-Williams wants meeting of Constitutional and Decolonization Committee of Parliament. Wants to discuss the consequences of the endorsement by Parliament of the Pro Soualiga Foundation. Philipsburg, St. Maarten, 21 December 2020 – MP Sarah A. Wescot-Williams has sent a letter to Parliament requesting an urgent meeting of the Constitutional and Decolonization Committee. This comes after several days of email correspondence from the Pro Soualiga Foundation on different matters, but especially on the topic of decolonization. The most recent communication from the foundation, actually advises Parliament why it can not/should not retrack its decolonization stance”, the MP states. Letter to the…
Author: The Publisher
The WICSU-PSU Union read with much dismay the press release “All draft function books to be submitted by December 23” which appeared in the Daily Herald on Wednesday December 16, 2020. The article informed that the “draft function books for all nine departments in the Justice Ministry will be handed over to the Committee of Civil Servants Unions (hereafter: CCSU) by December 23rd 2020”. The article went on to state “it would normally be allowed six weeks to do this but the CCSU requested an extension in a letter to Richardson on December 9, 2020, which was granted by the Honorable Minister…
~ Says Pro Soualiga employed in Parliament ~ GREAT BAY — Independent Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel criticized PM Silveria Jacobs on Monday for deflecting from the fact that she has a political deficit within her coalition and trying to place blame on other members of Parliament. Emmanuel was reacting to the PM’s statement that a letter has been sent to Holland distancing her government from the Pro Soualiga Foundation and its decolonization efforts. In that same statement in the media on Monday, the Prime Minister specifically only mentioned a “Hitler” statements that she had to distanced herself from made…
In order to receive the third tranche of liquidity support, the Dutch government recently asked the Government of St. Maarten to distance itself from comments made by various Members of Parliament regarding State Secretary Knops. Honorable Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel compared the thinking process of Mr. Knops to that of Adolf Hitler. While members of the Dutch Government labelled his remarks as disrespectful, The United Nations Security Council made a similar declaration regarding the Netherlands and Adolf Hitler at its 390th meeting in Paris, France in 1948. In January of 1948, the Netherlands and Indonesia had signed the Renville…
~ 2020 Christmas holidays address from MP Buncamper of the USP faction in Parliament ~ Fellow citizens of St. Maarten, as the Christmas holidays draw near, I am certain that many of you, like myself, may be in full preparations for the season. The Christmas season is a time that we all look forward to. But this year’s merriments may be somewhat dampened due to the COVID 19 global pandemic as we are confined to some restricted social policies and to many also economic hardship. During this past year we have been through some trying times like we have never…
Dear Minister Panneflek, Do we REALLY need another public holiday for our businesses to stay closed or have to pay overtime if we chose to open anyhow? Why did the COM not just give THEIR employees the day off and leave the rest of the economy do its thing! We are this COVID year already losing our shirts and REALLY do not need Government to play Santa Clause at Private Sector’s (and your empty coffers’) expense!! Mike Ferrier
PHILIPSBURG – In the Kingdom Council of Ministers (RMR) meeting held this morning in the Netherlands, Sint Maarten’s Minister Plenipotentiary Rene Violenus was present to deliver Sint Maarten’s position for receiving the third tranche of liquidity support. However, this was not before an agenda point pertaining to statements made in a central committee meeting of Sint Maarten’s Parliament held on Monday, December 14, were addressed and discussed. Following the RMR meeting, St. Maarten received word from Minister Plenipotentiary Violenus and later in a call with State Secretary Knops, that the Government of Sint Maarten would need to express in clear…
~ Government should meet urgently, float bond ~ GREAT BAY — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Friday night said that he has no qualms with the COHO deal not seeing the light of day, but pointed out that the government of St. Maarten continues to allow itself and St. Maarten to be insulted and treated like children. St. Maarten, he said, should move now to go back to the table to find alternatives including floating another bond. Related article: Frontal collision: no deal about liquidity support MP Emmanuel said the Dutch “gave us a preview of how the…
By Hilbert Haar Now they’ve really done it. I never thought that the government would be so daft to put the livelihood of its citizens at risk by stubbornly refusing to accept the Dutch conditions for liquidity support and – let’s not forget that one – the refinancing of a 50 million-guilders loan. Minister Plenipotentiary René Violenus blamed the Dutch in Friday’s meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers for the situation St. Maarten finds itself in. Did Violenus act on his own? Of course not. He is the responsibility of Prime Minister and Minister of General Affairs Silveria Jacobs.…
PHILIPSBURG / THE HAGUE – The government caused a frontal collision with the Kingdom Council of Ministers on Friday that makes it highly questionable that there will be a deal about continued liquidity support and about the refinancing of a 50 million guilders loan. At the time of this writing that deal is off the table. We learned from impeccable sources that Minister Plenipotentiary René Violenus read a letter in the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting that basically blames the Netherlands for St. Maarten’s current predicament. The Minister Plenipotentiary falls under the responsibility of Prime Minister and Minister of General…
