PHILIPSBURG—Prime Minister, the honourable Silveria Jacobs, will have to say whether the Government of St. Maarten is prepared for the process of finalizing decolonization and assuming more autonomy to govern when she appears before Parliament soon. She has been requested to answer questions on decolonization by Faction Leader in Parliament for the United People’s Party the Honourable Grisha Heyliger-Marten. Heyliger-Marten brought forward her first motion to finalize of the decolonization of the Caribbean Netherlands, which started seventy years ago, on the anniversary of her 100th day as a sitting MP, May 20. On June 8, she sent a letter to…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – The government – and government-owned companies in its wake – is playing with fire and is putting continued financial assistance from the Netherlands at risk by not following an advice from financial supervisor Cft about the distribution of payroll support. Currently, the government had divided companies into three categories; those who have lost between 20 and 50 percent of their turnover since the outbreak of the corona-virus crisis fall into the “moderate impact” category. Turnover loss of between 50 and 80 percent is considered as “moderate high impact” and turnover losses that exceed 80 percent are “high impact.”…
PHILIPSBURG – In a blistering letter, attorney Cor Merx has terminated his membership of the United People’s Party (UP). Merx participated in the elections in January, winning 40 votes as the UP’s number 18 candidate. Now he has turned his back on the party: “There is no team. It is one individual cause, one individual direction, one individual agenda.” In an email to StMaartenNews.com Merx writes that there is no ship-jumping “because there is no ship. We are on a barge without navigation and without a captain. We’re drifting off course and we are not doing what we promised.” Merx…
PHILIPSBURG – Based on current regulations, the government will not be able to publish the names of companies that have so far received payroll support. Finance Minister Ardwell Irion said during a press briefing that 479 companies had received funding from the program, and SMCP-leader Wycliffe Smith recently asked the government to publish the names of these companies. Public Health Minister Richard Panneflek has tasked SZV with the execution of the program, but the ministerial decree that regulates this contains an article that looks like a confidentiality clause: “The USZV does not provide information about individuals or companies to third…
PHILIPSBURG – The business license process at the Economic License Department is cumbersome but there is plenty of room for improvement, it appears from the General Audit Chamber’s report entitled ‘Audit into the business license process and the possibilities of digitizing.’ The Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs, Ludmila de Weever, read the report before its release and had no comments on its contents. In 2019 the license department received 579 business license applications. While the department aims to issue these licenses within six weeks, it managed to do this only with 16 percent (95) of them. Processing the bulk…
PHILIPSBURG – Unlike St. Maarten, the island of St. Barth’s has all its ducks in a row for reopening to tourism. But regulations put in place by the French government frustrate these efforts. Collectivité of Saint Barths President Bruno Magras addressed the issue in a scathing letter to the French Minister of Overseas Territories, Annick Girardin. Former parliamentarian Claude ‘Chacho’ Peterson labels Magras’ action as an example of how St. Maarten ought to change its attitude towards its kingdom bosses. Magras notes in his letter that St. Barths has not had a single new case of COVID-19 during the past…
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…
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…
