No one on St. Maarten, living and working on the island in the 70s and 80s, was not affected by Mullet Bay in one form or another. Every family had at least one or more relatives that worked at Mullet Bay. Many professionals today on St. Maarten started their careers at Mullet Bay. Can you imagine the psychological impact on people’s psyche what it means to have then Mullet Bay remain undeveloped for over 25 years? Can you imagine that a handful of people systematically kept Mullet Bay undeveloped for personal gain all these years? The financial, economic, and social…
Author: The Publisher
Philipsburg St. Maarten, September 6, 2020 – With the opening line “The ongoing saga at our borders has to stop”, Member of Parliament, Sarah A. Wescot-Williams through the local Government requests that Foreign Affairs Minister S. Blok, takes up his responsibility with his counterpart in Paris. MP Wescot- Williams: The ongoing saga at our borders has to stop. Today it is closed coming into Philipsburg, tomorrow it is closed going into Marigot. We have no guarantee that the announced opening date by the French authorities will stand and furthermore that the borders will not be closed again for an indefinite…
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert I don’t know when it was, the night of December 31, 2020 or December 2021, that I heard a leading politician make the statement: “We have seen hardship, we have seen triumph. We shall see more of both. We stood strong in faith. Giving freely what little we had and what little we were. Never doubting that we spent ourselves for a general good”. And then I woke up. It was only a dream. Dreams don’t label what time or year it was, and they don’t put a name on persons. Actually, the dream was much…
SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) – The St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce & Industry (COCI) is in the final phase after steering the process leading to the establishment of the “Soualiga Employer Association (SEA).” The establishment of the SEA is part of the process of nominating various representatives to the high council of state the Social Economic Council (SER). A list of names will be submitted to the Prime Minister hopefully by the end of the week of September 7. President of the COCI Supervisory Board Benjamin Ortega, said on Friday that COCI was mandated by the Prime Minister back in April…
PHILIPSBURG — Party for Progress’ Members of Parliament MP Melissa D. Gumbs and MP Rayhean A. Peterson, in a letter sent from Parliament, urge Government to consider the two pieces of advice received from the Council of Advice seriously and to resume discussions with the Dutch government about the proposed consensus Kingdom law and the much-needed liquidity support for St. Maarten. The letter dated September 1, 2020, reads as follows: “We have now received both advices from the Council of Advice. While the Prime Minister, and indeed several of our colleagues, have maintained that State Secretary Knops has ‘shut the…
ST. PETERS — On Saturday, August 29, 2020, some thirty families received two bags of groceries, bottled water, facemasks, and COVID-19 awareness pamphlets compliments of the Hyacinth Richardson Educational Awareness Foundation and Secours Populaire Français. These two organizations intend to give away 260 food bags in the coming week to families and senior citizens negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. The Hyacinth Richardson Education Awareness Foundation, HREAF, founded by Member of Parliament Hyacinth Richardson, has found an international partner in Secours Populaire Français (SPF), a French Popular Relief organization, which is a French non-profit organization founded in 1945, dedicated to…
Our local accountant had some very interesting things to say wherein he gave us his opinions about the demands SZV was imposing on some of his clients. Companies are utilizing a loophole by filing zero for the wage tax and social premiums. It is expected that these companies also file “0” for the turnover tax over the same periods. SZV is not falling for this trick, however. According to our accountant, SZV requires companies to de-register employees that, due to the lockdown and the present economic crisis, are not being paid and to re-register those employees when things pick back…
PHILIPSBURG – In a media release dated August 31, 2020, Party for Progress members of Parliament Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson expressed their disappointment and agitation at what they call the ‘horse-leading’ of Parliament and the country to a conclusion dreamed up in the minds of the governing coalition, which they say is made evident by the fact that the July 28, 2020, advice from the Council of Advice has not been provided to Parliament due to being “missed” by the Prime Minister’s office. “It is totally and completely unacceptable,” Gumbs said, “that Government has had this advice since the…
PHILIPSBURG — Following last week’s media reports that the Point Blanche Prison Inmates Association expressed its concerns about the health conditions at the institution, United St. Maarten Party (USP) Members of Parliament (MP’s) Akeem Arrindell and Claudius “Toontje” Buncamper sent a letter to Justice Minister Anna Richardson on Monday, requesting clarification on the concerns brought forward by the Inmates Association. The association, represented by Sjamira Roseburg sounded, what is being referred to as “an even louder alarm” urging the powers-that-be to “get serious about restructuring the prison system or risk facing a situation they will not be able to control.”…
~ Legal jurisprudence needed whether lockdown is force majeure or not ~ PHILIPSBURG — We asked local accountants to provide us with their Top Three Tips for businesses on St. Maarten to survive this economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One local accountant sent us an extensive email on the following issue. In this article, we would like to discuss this highly important topic for many businesses on the island impacted by government lockdown measures. According to the accountant, SZV is now requesting companies to write out (read: fire) employees because companies have been filing “0” in wage taxes…
