PHILIPSBURG – The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) issued a public statement against St. Maarten during its fiftieth plenary meeting in Antigua last week. This is due to the country’s failure to comply with legislative measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Finance Minister Egbert Doran played down the significance of the public statement, saying that it “did not urge other countries to impose counter measures on St. Maarten.” This is however standard procedure. CFATF executive director Dawne Spicer already told parliamentarians during a central committee meeting in February that a first public statement would point out…
Author: The Publisher
By Dr. J Foundation November 28, 2019 We wish to provide clarification on the status of the Hurricane Irma Re-integration Temporary Shelter program (H.I.R.P.S) which was established by the then Ministry of VSA in collaboration with the Dr. J Foundation. The shelter is managed by the Dr. J Foundation The shelter program was established as a two years program in the beginning of 2018 and is fully financed by the Government. The aim of this program was to provide temporary living arrangements, support, the necessary assistance and guidance for the persons misplaced by Hurricane Irma that would have otherwise been…
By Hilbert Haar Let me make one thing clear before writing anything else. The real winners and losers will become apparent only after the January 9, 2020 elections. But I still think, quoting Greta Thunberg, that “change is coming whether you like it or not.” I already outlined the first indications of imminent change based on the strength of the lists of candidates the seven parties have presented. That analysis showed that the National Alliance list contains the strongest voting power. It leaves all other contenders far behind. The re-established United People’s party is at best a dark horse in…
By Hilbert Haar The interim government led by Silveria Jacobs currently consists of five ministers – one from the United St. Maarten party (USp) and the rest are all with the National Alliance (NA). Until the remaining two ministers – proposed by the USp – have been sworn in, the Council of Ministers is practically a one-party affair. Does that matter? Yes and no. For the decision-making process in the Council of Ministers it is irrelevant whether the two remaining ministers are there or not. This is because decisions in the council are taken by a majority of votes and…
PHILIPSBURG – The Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS) is not happy with a letter Faroe Metry, president of the supervisory board of insurance company Ennia’s operating units, wrote. The Central Bank hardly gives any information to the supervisory board, Metry complained. He also wrote that the costs for restructuring Ennia have risen to 8 million guilders, while the court earlier had limited those expenditures to just 500,000. The Central Bank says that Metry’s letter contains many errors that damage the bank’s reputation. In 2018 the court placed Ennia under emergency measures at the Central Bank’s request. That…
PHILIPSBURG – Seven parties, 112 candidates and fifteen seats available in parliament: the theoretical odds of winning a seat are close to 1:7.5. The January elections promise an earthquake shift in the balance of power, due to the absence of two big names: Theo Heyliger and Frankin Meyers. In the 2018 elections, Heyliger won by far the most votes of any individual candidate: 1,299. Meyers was good for 402 votes. The merger of the United People’s party (UP) with the Democratic Party (DP) lasted just one election. The Heyliger-less UP will make an attempt to rise from its ashes under…
PHILIPSBURG — On Postulation Day, Thursday, November 21, 2019, the Sint Maarten Christian Party, SMCP, submitted a list of 13 candidates for the upcoming 2020 elections to be held on Thursday, January 9. The list of 13 candidates are as follows: #1 – Smith, Wycliffe Sylvester #2 – Peterson, Claude Alfred Hans #3 – Somersall, Michael Orlando #4 – Gittens, Keith Peter-John #5 – Gibbs, Beverley Denisse #6 – Bell, Benjamin Stephen #7 – Nunes geb. Burleson, Tswana #8 – Sam geb. Arrindell, Marva Rosalinda #9 – Kotai, Viren Vinod #10 – York, Linda Cherline #11 – Rattan geb. Poulo,…
Video explaining the process on Postulation Day:
PHILIPSBURG — StMaartenNews.com was informed by Drs. Rodolphe Samuel that he submitted his documents on Tuesday, November 19, to the Secretary General of the Secretariat of Parliament. These documents will be vetted on Wednesday at 11am during a meeting of Parliament. If all goes according to schedule, at 4:30 in the afternoon, Samuel will take the oath of office at the Governor’s cabinet in order to officially become a member of Parliament.
GREAT BAY — On Monday, November 18, 2019, Faction Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party and Member of Parliament, Claude Chacho Peterson, sent a letter to President of Parliament informing him of his resignation as a Member of Parliament according to article 49, sub 2 of the Constitution of St. Maarten. MP Peterson was quoted as saying: “Since the formation of Government process in 2018, I always told the Leader of SMCP, Mr. Wycliffe Smith, I would give back the seat to the party should Government fall and he would no longer be Minister. I became MP when Mr.…
