“PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL TREATMENT VIOLATED” Philipsburg, November 19. 2020. Gracita Arrindell said: the billion dollar question facing government and our citizens is, where do we find the right balance between much needed austerity measures as demanded by the Dutch government in exchange for temporary liquidity (cash support) and the right balance to get the economy moving in the right direction and still take care of our people. After fierce resistance from the islands against the first ‘Caribbean Entity’ proposal, the Dutch cabinet through its State Secretary for Kingdom and interior government relation Mr. Knops finally signed separate agreements with respectfully…
Author: The Publisher
~ Prime Minister Jacobs cautions Parliament about Decolonization chatter ~ PHILIPSBURG — In a letter dated November 17, the Prime Minister of St. Maarten apprised Parliament of her most recent contact with State Secretary Knops regarding the continued liquidity support in the form of a third tranche. This interaction took place on November 11, as per the Prime Minister’s letter received on November 18, 2020. “I was pleasantly surprised to receive this update, given government’s lackluster performance in keeping parliament timely informed. However, the conclusion of the letter gives away the true reason behind this letter to parliament. Although the…
PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten does not have a ‘Klachtencommissie Politieel Optreden’, although since 2013 there has been a law prescribing this. Complaints about the police are now being sent to the Police Chief, who will pass them on to the Department of Internal Affairs. “During the complaints procedure, things are not going as intended,” concluded the Law Enforcement Council in 2018. Little has changed since then. It has been more than five weeks since police officers restrained a mental health patient in the street and one of them broke the woman’s arm. The victim is self-employed and is without income…
PHILIPSBURG — The 2020 budget for the Mental Health Foundation from SZV is Naf 5,455,424. During the meeting with Parliament on Monday morning, November 17, former interim director of MHF Eileen Healy stated the budget was 4 million guilders. “It could be more,” she said. MHF also receives funding from stakeholders and sponsors, said to the amount of 2.4 million guilders. According to Healy, the funds are not enough for the 11.000 treatments performed on 581 patients so far this year. A total of 3,5 psychiatrists are needed to treat the number of patients on St. Maarten, the management of…
The Caribbean Reform Entity (CRE) was initially rejected by the governments of Aruba, Curacao, and St. Maarten. After Prime Minister Rutte stated that there would be no negotiations regarding the CRE in September of 2020, it seems that the Netherlands are actually willing to negotiate after realizing that the initial proposed CRE was indeed very draconian and against the political aspirations of the people as mentioned in Article 73b of the UN Charter. St. Maarten is in urgent need of a total revitalization of its tourism sector. If the Netherlands were to speak to the business, hospitality, hotel, maritime, tourism, as…
CAY HILL — During a presentation in Parliament on Monday, November 17, 2020, Dr. Kitty Pelswijk described how psychiatric care in St. Maarten is rather uncertain. “One psychiatrist is currently at home and I am the only other psychiatrist. If I fall ill, St. Maarten is done.” Pelswijk stated. This dramatic statement corroborates the information StMaartenNews.com has received over the past months. However, sources cite mismanagement as the reason for the uncertainty in the psychiatric care at the island’s only mental health institution. For instance, for the third time in three months, a patient has died, a tragic event that…
PHILIPSBURG – Monday’s meeting of the parliamentary committee for Public Health, Social Affairs and Labor about mental health did not pay a lot of attention to the relationship between the Mental Health Foundation and Fredericka Ford’s company Ethegrity though former interim director Eileen Healy did make a few comments about it. When Ford surfaced for the first time on the radar in St. Maarten in October with a presentation to Parliament about Ethegrity Healthcare Consulting, MP Claudius Buncamper asked her whether it was true that the company had made a proposal to the MHF worth $2.4 million. ”Yes, we did,…
PHILIPSBURG – Earlier this year, former Minister Plenipotentiary Jorien Wuite became a member of the Dutch political party D66. Now she is the number 19 (out of 65) on the party’s so-called advice-list of candidates for the parliamentary elections that are scheduled to take place on March 17 of next year. The D66-membership is able to vote on the candidates from November 19 until December 1. Shortly afterwards, the party will announce the definitive list of candidates. StMaartenNews.com had the opportunity to have a candid interview with Jorien Wuite about her D66-candidacy.
~ A StMaartenNews.com review of the open letter of the SHTA to the Prime Minister of St. Maarten ~ PHILIPSBURG – That St. Maarten is in dire financial straits does not need further explanation. The COVID-19 pandemic has killed the local economy and at the moment of this writing, there is no end in sight to the economic misery. If nothing changes, the country will soon run out of money and then the National Alliance-led government will no longer be able to pay its civil servants. Is there a way out of this doomsday scenario? According to the St. Maarten…
~ A StMaartenNews.com review of the 2020 Budget of the Central Bank of Curacao & St. Maarten ~ PHILIPSBURG – If it is up to the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten, then the Antillean guilders will disappear in 2021 and be replaced by the Caribbean guilder. The bank wants to introduce the new currency in the first half of next year, according to a publication about the bank’s 2020 budget.
