~ Happy to be moving on with life ~ PHILIPBURG — Former Managing Director of the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) Henry Lynch on September 27, 2019, was finally able to close a challenging chapter in his life when the SMHDF failed in its appeal regarding his dismissal as Director of the foundation. Officially dismissed from the SMHDF on February 4, 2015, Lynch, represented by attorney Cindy Marica, eventually won damages against the SMHDF when the Court of First Instance on June 1, 2016, declared his dismissal unlawful and ordered SMHDF to pay damages to Lynch. This verdict was…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — “Crunch time for the Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism legislation,” writes Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a press release. “St. Maarten can not afford financial ‘blacklisting’.” It should be emphasized that St. Maarten has already complied with most of the AML/CTF recommendations, writes Wescot-Williams. She continues: The last few recommendations to be implemented on St. Maarten have however generated the most contention. Understandably so, because these recommendations have been inserted into our Civil, respectively Criminal Codes. In brief, the matter of shares in bearer’s name will no longer be possible. (Civil Code). The offenses of money laundering and…
Dear Editor, The last few years have seen on Sint Maarten the rise of substantial anti “Dutch” rhetoric and many will be asking why this has arisen so suddenly and strongly . The “Dutch” that are targeted are typically not individual Dutch metropolitan people nor specific Dutch institutions as much as the Kingdom and Netherlands government as a whole. It would appear to me that the sentiment is particularly strong in the political class and particularly amongst the younger and politically aspirant groups . It would appear that conditions placed on aid and support are what angers this group the…
Part 2 in a multi-part series about US Pre-Clearance for St. Maarten and the SXM Airport. Read what exactly is pre-clearance and what it involves in this second installment. A review.
PHILIPSBURG — “World Bank/EIB financing for the reconstruction of the Princess Juliana International Airport can not be revoked – despite attempts to thwart the process and put our livelihood at risk.” says MP Sarah Wescot-Williams in a statement issued on Saturday. The present majority coalition in parliament does not want to hear anything regarding the Princess Juliana International Airport. That is the contention of MP Wescot-Williams. “How else can they explain the embarrassment created in Thursday’s parliament meeting about the very airport?” Wescot-Williams asked. According to Wescot-Williams, the Deputy Prime Minister, who is totally unfamiliar with the topic, went out…
GREAT BAY – The Minister Plenipotentiary of Sint Maarten in The Hague, Jorien Wuite, together with the support of her Cabinet, have over the past couple of months explored various avenues to contribute to building sustainable capacity on Sint Maarten, for instance, in the field of legislative writing, a field in which there is an immense scarcity on the labor market. Under the coordination of the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary and in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Affairs, cooperation was sought with the Academy of Legislation in The Hague Netherlands. The law academy was established in…
PHILIPSBURG – The Cupecoy shadow government raises its ugly head in the national decree that invokes article 59 to dissolve parliament and in the address State Secretary Raymond Knops would have delivered to the central committee if parliamentarians had taken the trouble to show up and allow this meeting to continue. Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin also referred to outside influences. The speech Knops did not get to deliver contains the following line. “The fact that the reconstruction has taken so long to finally start is for one simple reason: it has been the counteracting and undermining of certain influential powers…
CAYHILL — The St. Maarten Medical Center, Positive and Elektralyets Foundation eagerly hosted the second registration drive at Kooyman for Prostate Cancer Awareness on Saturday September 21st from 10am to 2pm. Kooyman is pleased to have been part of second round of prostate cancer registration drives on St. Maarten. A hardware store is typically a man’s domain, therefore we are happy to participate in the Prostate Cancer Registration Drive and offer our male customers, the opportunity and convenience of registering to “Man Up” and “Checked Up “all the while continuing to run their daily errands, said Marketing Officer, Evencia Carty-Seabrookes.…
PHILIPSBURG — Below is a copy of the integral speech the Dutch State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, Raymond Knops, had intended to give to the Parliament of Sint Maarten on Wednesday, September 25, 2019. This meeting was at the request of Member of Parliament, Claude ‘Chacho’ Peterson (SMCP) and seconded by members of parliament Franklin Meyers and Dr. Luc Mercelina, both then of the United Democrats (UD) party. The meeting was however cancelled by then chairperson of Parliament, MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, citing the lack of interest of the majority of factions in Parliament to attend the meeting,…
PHILIPSBURG — In the very first meeting chaired by MP Marlin on Wednesday, September 25th, a motion was allowed to be tabled and passed, the motion having nothing to do with the agenda points on education, explains MP Sarah Wescot-Williams in a press release. Wescot-Williams: “The rhetoric against the former chair, started by some MPs, who now form the majority, regarding the Rules of Order of parliament, is swiftly coming back to haunt them.” According to Wescot-Williams, article 45 of the Rules of Order of Parliament states: “A member who has the floor may submit motions CONCERNING THE SUBJECT BEING DELIBERATED.…
