PHILIPSBURG — In light of today’s meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers in The Hague, MP Claudius ‘Toontje’ Buncamper issued a statement to the press on Friday night urging the government of the Netherlands to come clean and stop hiding behind the CFT. The MP wants to know: “What are we really getting and what are we really giving?” The kingdom government has proposed a Caribbean Reform Entity (CRE) for the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curacao, Aruba and St. Maarten (CAS) as a condition for liquidity support needed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the CRE, the…
Author: The Publisher
We are of the opinion that we had this corona virus since November/December last year, long before the worldwide pandemic and lockdown. It is only now it is really rearing its ugly because of testing when people exhibit flu-like symptoms. Now we would even venture to say that you can get infected multiple times just like with the common flu. Therefore, we believe we will really need a vaccine for this virus. Because people who are vulnerable can die from it. The only problem is that this virus can mutate, making it difficult for the vaccine to be effective over…
By Hilbert Haar It always had to come to this. Protecting public health is an obvious priority to anybody with half a brain but what about protecting the economy? It is a horrendous dilemma. I recently saw a cartoon showing a bunch of kids standing on a beach where they hear from their teacher: “It’s okay to go into the water now. Only one percent of you will be eaten.” In the distant past, former Central Bank President Dr. Emsley Tromp already knew what was coming when he Did the CFT set the Kingdom on fire? that you cannot protect…
PHILIPSBURG – Alarm bells ought to go off in the Council of Ministers after learning of the Dutch demand that Aruba gives the RST (Detective Cooperation Team) and the National Detective Agency the authority to operate independently of the police force. What happens in Aruba does not necessarily stay there. The Dutch demand is a condition for granting the third tranche of liquidity support to the Aruban government. The RST used to operate on the island under a cooperation-agreement but Aruba decided earlier this year that it no longer had a need for the RST. The Kingdom had other ideas…
PHILIPSBURG – All public and private schools have to remain closed for onsite education, Education Minister Rodolphe Samuel wrote in a letter to all school boards on August 11, but that message was apparently wasted on the management of Learning Unlimited. It welcomed its students back the following day, got closed down by the police, and later reopened again for business. “Students are to continue to receive education via distance learning,” Minister Samuel wrote to the school boards. The minister urges schools to comply with the decision, threatening those who don’t with “an instruction to seize operations.” Learning Unlimited’s director…
PHILIPSBURG – Monday, August 10th, marked six months since the sitting Parliament was sworn in. Among the returning and new faces are Party for Progress (PFP) Members of Parliament (MPs) Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson. Six months into their new roles, the two MPs took a few moments to reflect on the time spent so far and offered their thoughts on some key topics facing the country. ~ PFP: Six Months In, A Brief Review ~ On Being in Parliament Having experienced St. Maarten’s political arena before being elected in their own ways, both MP Gumbs and MP Peterson were…
By Hilbert Haar How Minister Ludmila De Weever was able to reach an amicable settlement with Anthony Carty, the heavily overpaid director of the Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP) is a mystery to me. As the minister responsible for telecommunication, De Weever must be aware of a highly critical report about BTP from the General Audit Chamber in 2015. She must, therefore, know that Carty does not have a performance contract and that he hardly has any responsibilities. The annual salary Carty receives – reportedly around $214,000 – is also way beyond what can be considered reasonable. But so far…
PHILIPSBURG – Telecommunication Minister Ludmila De Weever brokered a settlement between telecom provider Telem and Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP), according to a press release issued by the ministry. Unfortunately, the press release was short on details so it remains unclear what this settlement exactly entails. Apparently, TelEm owed money to BTP and BTP owed money to the government. Minister De Weever settled the dispute in an amicable manner and now she is free to issue a concession agreement to TelEm, based on a positive advice from BTP. TelEm Chief Executive Officer Kendall Dupersoy said in an interview with…
Our feature interview article with Covidist and researcher, Dr. Leonard Richardson, MD, has so far been published in the Dutch and in the Spanish languages. The advice contained in that article urged governments to take evidence-based decisions. However, it seems we need to publish an article targeting the general public as well, with the urgent advice to heed the evidence that not practicing social distancing is not only detrimental to our health but to those of others as well. Cases are now almost 90 confirmed active. 89 to be exact, as of yesterday, Sunday, with a new death recorded on…
BALTIMORE / PHILIPSBURG — Landen hebben goed geïnformeerd leiderschap nodig en ze moeten op feiten gebaseerd medische beslissingen nemen. Dat is de boodschap van luitenant-kolonel Dr. Leonard (Lenny) Richardson, een COVID-19-onderzoeker uit Anguilla die momenteel werkt in het Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. “Het coronavirus is niet nieuw; COVID-19, ook wel bekend als SARS-CoV-2, is echter nieuw en nieuw voor de mens. We zijn niet COVID-vrij”, zegt Richardson. “Maar de vraag is: houden we de wereld buiten of stellen we ons open? Hoe zal onze economie anders overleven?” “Er is veel verkeerde informatie over dit virus. Sommigen zeggen dat het…
