PHILIPSBURG – After a long period of silence St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) leader Wycliffe Smith returned to the public domain with a letter (erroneously dated January 7, 2020) to Finance Minister Ardwell Irion containing questions about the Stimulus Relief Plan and the spending of funds on payroll support programs. Smith notes that the stimulus relief plan contains two specific programs designed to support local businesses: the payroll support program and the lockdown payroll support program. Smith, who lost his seat in Parliament during the most recent elections, asks the minister to release the names of the companies that successfully…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Minister van Volksgezondheid, Richard Panneflek, stelt snelle antigeentests voor voor bezoekers van het eiland St. Maarten. Zijn doel is om alle bezoekers te testen als middel om zowel gasten als de bevolking te beschermen en de verspreiding en besmetting van COVID-19 te verminderen. Minister Panneflek, wiens portefeuille gezondheid, sociaal welzijn en arbeid omvat, heeft zondag een persbericht uitgegeven waarin staat dat we snelle tests zullen moeten gebruiken als we St. Maarten op verantwoorde wijze willen heropenen. Voor dit plan zal de minister de goedkeuring van het parlement vragen. Het eiland heeft de afgelopen maanden zijn best gedaan om…
PHILIPSBURG –Minister of Health, Richard Panneflek, proposes rapid antigen testing for visitors to the island of St. Maarten. His goal is to test all visitors as a means of protecting both guests and the population and reducing the spread and contamination of COVID-19. Minister Panneflek, whose portfolio includes Health, Social Welfare and Labour, issued a press release on Sunday saying we will have to use rapid testing if we want to reopen St. Maarten responsibly. The minister will be seeking the approval of Parliament for this proposal. The island did its best in the past few months to mitigate the…
By Leandra Cyntje St. Maarten was not happy with the conditions given by the Dutch. For this reason, many have suggested independence from the Netherlands. However, independence is not an indispensable solution to our current problem. This is because our problem is not the conditions presented to us by the Dutch. In actuality, our problem is the inability to take care of ourselves from a fiscal standpoint. As this present crisis continues to unfold in this reality, it becomes more evident that this has been a long-standing issue. Therefore, it is no fault of any particular faction or any current…
PHILIPSBURG – The Progress Committee that monitors the plans of approach for the police force and the prison system will continue its work for another two years. The royal decree that regulates this was established per 10-10-2010 and had been extended since then four times, every time for a period of two years. The regulation formally ends on October 10 of this year but because the situations at the prison and – to a lesser extent – at the police force still require urgent attention, State secretary Knops has now decided to extend it until October 2022. In a letter…
AIRPORT — The outcome of an analysis, with the goal to secure the business continuity during the COVID-19 crisis, brought the executive team of the PJIA operating company, PJIAE, to the difficult conclusion that personnel cost has to be reduced. That is the core message of a two-page letter sent to the staff of PJIAE by the management team. The letter is signed by Chief Executive Officer Brian Mingo and co-signed by Chief Operations Officer Michel Hyman. “I recognize that this news is very disappointing to all and hoped we would not have had to take these steps. But with…
PHILIPSBURG – The Windward Islands Bank (WIB) has shown with two actions that it takes its corporate citizenship seriously. The bank donated 110,000 guilders (close to $61,500) to the Rotary Club of Sint Maarten for its food program and it offered its clients a 3-month moratorium on payments for loans, mortgages and credit cards. The Rotary is going to use the WIB-donation for food baskets, clean water and essential items for those in need and in support of school meal programs when schools reopen. “The WIB is very much aware of the devastating impact of COVID-19 to our economy and…
PHILIPSBURG – TelEm-director Kendall Dupersoy hit back at union leader Ludson Evers in an interview broadcast on the Lady Grace breakfast show. “If we discuss issues concerning TelEm then let’s be honest about it,” he said. Dupersoy pointed out that while Evers, leader of the St. Maarten communication Union (SMCU) had never said this personally to him, many people have told him that he (Evers) is “going all over the place saying that he is going to get me fired. But when I asked him about it he said, I never said that.” Dupersoy took issue with the union’s demand…
~ Residents and students can return and go into quarantine ~ SIMPSON BAY — The Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) is expected to resume total operations around July 1st, but to a specified number of islands that are considered as COVID-19 free, the Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) announced on Wednesday during the press briefing, according to a report published on Soualiganewsday.com. This is contingent on the COVID-19 situation within the country. The islands being considered that the international airport would re-open to are Anguilla, St. Barths, Saba, St. Eustatius, Bonaire, Curacao, and Aruba. The…
POND ISLAND — After what can be described as a short but intense back and forth of letter correspondences, TelEm Group and the St. Maarten Communication Union (SMCU) has reached an agreement regarding cost-cutting measures in fulfillment of the request of the government of St. Maarten for the government-owned company to do its share of cost-cutting to satisfy the conditions for liquidity support from the Dutch Kingdom government. The agreement, which was signed at 5:05 pm on Thursday, June 4, regards the “12,5% Cost Cutting Negotiations between Management and Union” and reads as follows: As a result of the negotiations…
