PHILIPSBURG — The government had decided to take decisions about COVID-19 related cost saving measures without the express approval of the unions that are represented in the CvV (Commissie van Vakorganisties – Committee of labor unions) and the GOA (Committee for organized consultation about matters that concern civil servants). This appears from three pieces of draft legislation that deal with salary cuts for politicians, civil servants and employees of (semi) public entities. The parliamentary Committee for General Affairs discussed the drafts in a closed-door meeting with Minister of General Affairs Silveria Jacobs on Friday January 22. The decision to sideline…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — To read an article that shows a Member of Parliament in The Hague questioning our Party’s Leader for interacting with a Citizen of St. Maarten, and making that a focal point for discussion, at a time when our people are suffering through a global pandemic, economic decline, job loss, homelessness and an uncertain future, belittles the integrity of our elected leaders. The UP Party issued the press release Sunday evening saying it found the article that appeared in the local newspaper portrayed an arrogant insistence by Dutch Politicians that they can dictate every action our elected officials take,…
PHILIPSBURG — More than three years after Hurricane Irma there are still 21 inmates from St. Maarten housed in prisons in the Netherlands. This appears from the 38th Progress Committee report. Per January 20 of this year this represents a cost of more than €3.6 million ($4.3 million or 7.8 million guilders) to the government of St. Maarten. According to the report there is “no perspective” for the return of these inmates to the troubled Pointe Blanche prison. The Progress Committee’s report covers the period July 1 – October 1, 2020. Currently there are 77 inmates in Pointe Blanche, while…
THE HAGUE – Members of the CDA-faction in the Second Chamber have their doubts about St. Maarten’s commitment to the conditions attached to Dutch liquidity support. This appears from the minutes of a written consultation in the parliamentary committee for Kingdom Relations. The CDA is in particular concerned about the history of MP Rolando Brison. “What reinforces our doubts about St. Maarten’s reliability is the fact that an active politician has embezzled money from Winair, a company that is financially supported by the Netherlands. The president of parliament Brison is buddies with casino boss Corallo who is associated with the…
PHILIPSBURG — Not even a week after the Ministry of Justice and its Immigration Department suffered a defeat in court for incorrectly denying a residence permit to an applicant holding a director’s license, the Court of Appeal handed down another ruling in favor of an applicant for a residence permit. Related article: Justice Minister oversteps authority with Compliance Department The case at hand was prepared by Brenda Brooks and handled in court by her associate, attorney Safira Ibrahim. According to Brooks & Associates the plaintiff followed all the rules to regulate his stay with his wife in St. Maarten. Procedures…
PHILIPSBURG- – A 22-year sales clerk of a local cheese shop lost her job due an argument with her now former employer over a 50 percent salary reduction. The Court in First Instance admittedly awarded the employee half of her salary over the one month term of notice, but it rejected a claim for damages that exceeded 25,000 guilders. A remarkable statement in the court ruling seems to indicate that the government encourages employers to fiddle with their administration when they apply for salary-subsidies. “That incorrect pay slips have been made is according to the employer due to the government’s…
PHILIPSBURG — President of Parliament MP Rolando Brison confirmed the worst fears of the authors of several integrity reports when he attempted to interfere with the work of economic control officers at the District 721 restaurant last week. The video of this incident shows Brison saying that he is “a citizen” but he is of course first and foremost a politician. That makes his actions highly questionable. The authors of the De Wit-Samson integrity report of 2014 knew already all about it. One of he report’s recommendations reads as follows: “Consider with the reorganization and expansion of the tax inspectorate…
By Hilbert Haar The Pro Soualiga Foundation does not have its own agenda, or so it claims in an email to StMaartenNews.com. I have a different impression: the foundation is pushing an agenda that aims to finalize the decolonization process and to declare the Kingdom Charter an unconstitutional document in the process. If that is not their agenda it must be somebody else’s agenda. That would not surprise me. Maybe it is time for this obscure foundation to offer some transparency, for instance by answering the following questions. Who are its board members? Who is paying for the efforts the…
Dear Editor, Please find a reply to your article entitled “Pro Soualiga Twists old study to fit its agenda” Firstly, Pro Soualiga does not have its own agenda. Pro Soualiga is merely stating what the United Nations declared in 1955, what the Dutch State declared in 2017 to the International Court of Justice, and what Dr. Hillebrink stated in his thesis. The fact that Dr. Hillebrink was awarded his law doctorate fourteen years ago does not change the facts stated in his thesis. His study was substantiated by Leiden University which happens to have one of the Netherlands’ most revered law…
PHILIPSBUG — In an attempt to revive its decolonization claims the Pro Soualiga Foundation sent out a press release about the promotion of Steven Hillebrink at Leiden University on the thesis The Right to Self-Determination and Post-Colonial Government: The Case of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba without noting that the promotion took place almost fourteen years ago on February 28, 2007, and by slightly altering some statements from this study to fit its own agenda. Hillebrink’s study is thorough and exhaustive (and accurate up to July 1, 2006) but it does not offer the definitive conclusions the Pro Soualiga Foundation…
