Dear Editor, I just read a letter sent to His Excellency Governor Eugene B. Holiday by Renate Brison, Secretary of the Pro Soualiga Foundation that starts with: “Pro Soualiga, on behalf of the population of St. Maarten, etc., etc.” Just to be clear and for the record: Pro Soualiga Foundation, nor Renate Brison represent me, Michael J. Ferrier, a member in good standing of the population of St. Maarten since April 17, 1957. Michael J. Ferrier St. Maarten
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – In July a united Parliament rejected the Kingdom’s conditions for continued liquidity support, labeling the intention to establish a Caribbean Reform Entity (CRE) as “a takeover of St. Maarten’s autonomy in disguise.” But five months later Parliament’s resistance has almost completely melted away. In Monday’s Central Committee meeting almost all parliamentarians gave Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs the green light to continue the process that will ultimately result in the establishment of the CRE. All this did not happen without a lot of political grandstanding whereby UP-faction leader Grisha Heyliger-Marten even asked PFP-MP Raeyhon Peterson to unzip her dress…
By Hilbert Haar Something does not add up. On November 5 the Parliament approved with an overwhelming majority a motion that declares, among many other things, support for attempts by the obscure Pro Soualiga Foundation to complete the decolonization process of the former Netherlands Antilles. The same foundation also maintains that the Kingdom Charter is not a lawful legal instrument and that it can therefore not be used as the basis for legislation. Said Kingdom Charter is of course instrumental to the creation of the consensus kingdom law Caribbean Reform Entity which, in turn, is a condition for receiving the…
PHILIPSBURG – The government will not have all its ducks in a row before the end of the year. That puts a big question mark behind the preparedness of State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) to give St. Maarten access to the third tranche of liquidity support during Friday’s meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers. A frantic exchange of correspondence with Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs shows that Knops is far from satisfied with the government’s steps towards accepting all conditions – and with it, the establishment of the Caribbean Reform Entity. Jacobs assures Knops in a letter dated…
PHILIPSBURG – The Integrity Chamber Sint Maarten has wrapped up introductory meetings with the supervisory boards and management of the “big four” government-owned companies. These virtual meetings were aimed at sharing the tasks assigned to the Integrity Chamber based on its governing ordinance and to learn more about the companies. Separate meetings were held by the three members of the Integrity Chamber and director of the secretariat with Sint Maarten Telephone Group of Companies TelEm, Sint Maarten Harbour Group of Companies, utilities companies GEBE and Princess Juliana International Airport. The meetings allowed the Integrity Chamber to gain valuable insight into…
PHILIPSBURG – Party for Progress Members of Parliament Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson issued a media statement on Monday, 14 December 2020, stating that the faction has taken note of a letter sent by Foundation Pro Soualiga to His Excellency Governor Drs. Eugene Holiday, the contents and tone of which stirred much concern for them. “We found the letter incredibly disrespectful towards Governor Holiday,” the faction stated in the release. “Such an attitude and tone towards a son of the soil, whose academic and professional record should not be called into question, is a perfect example of the ‘crabs…
PHILIPSBURG – The Jacobs-government is facing a tough couple of days. Monday is the last opportunity to create sufficient political support for an agreement with the Kingdom about continued liquidity support. Two days later is the deadline for the repayment of a 50 million guilders bullet loan. State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops has informed Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs in no uncertain terms that these deadlines are real. In an updated letter sent via email to Jacobs and to the cabinet of Governor Holiday, Knops writes that he expect a statement or motion on Monday, December 14, the latest that shows…
PHILIPSBURG – The auction of the Pasanggrahan Royal Guest House on Front Street is not off the books yet. OBNA, the Development Bank of the Netherlands Antilles (Ontwikkelings Bank Nederlandse Antillen), announced in a press release that the auction, originally scheduled for December 10, has been postponed until March 4 of next year. OBNA holds the mortgage rights on the property. At the request of the current owners, the Court in First Instance granted Pasanggrahan on Wednesday a temporary moratorium of payments (voorlopige surséance van betaling) and a cooling-off period of one month. The court also appointed an administrator at…
~ And other reports ~ PHILIPSBURG — Philipsburg Merchants Association and members of St. Maarten Police Force KPSM held a preparation meeting on Wednesday about the upcoming end-of-the-year busy season. During the meeting that was held at the Philipsburg police station, police management team was informed that the businessmen in Philipsburg were preparing to reopen most of the business in the Philipsburg area. They also want to be informed about the safety plans being implemented by the police for Philipsburg. The following points were discussed during the meeting were: The busy upcoming Christmas season Security aspects in the city center…
Wednesday, December 9th, was International Anti-Corruption Day. The difficulty of exposing corruption makes a mechanism to support whistleblowers essential. In St. Maarten, the Integrity Chamber was established in 2017 as an independent body that would receive and investigate reports by whistleblowers. A draft whistleblower’s policy has not yet been finalized. These are a number of topics we will be reviewing in this article by Jacqueline Hooftman. As insiders to an organization, whistleblowers have specific knowledge, access and expertise which allow them to detect corruption or other matters of concern that might otherwise remain hidden. However, they are often in a…
