By Cdr. Bud Slabbaert Customers are opinion multipliers, both in a positive and a negative sense. They pass on positive and negative perceptions to others by word of mouth. When negative, it can be destructive. When positive, it is preciously constructive and the lowest-cost manner of promoting a service or business. Customers want to be impressed. After all, that is what they are paying for. Acquiring new customers is more difficult and costly than keeping existing ones. Losing an existing customer is twice as expensive: for one, it is a loss for the business, and secondly, a replacement customer needs…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Where does the right to freedom of expression of civil servants begin and where does it stop? That question becomes relevant in the wake of the Facebook-rant by the head of the labor department, Peggy Ann Dros-Richardson. Fortunately there is some literature available from people who have examined this question.
DEN HAAG — Vrijdag 31 januari vond de nieuwjaarsbijeenkomst van Caribbean Business Hub plaats bij Het Kabinet van de gevolmachtigde Minister R. Violenus van Sint Maarten in Den Haag. De bijeenkomst stond in het teken van het bevorderen van samenwerking tussen ondernemers van Sint Maarten en entrepeneurs uit Nederland om het land Sint Maarten zo snel als mogelijk op te bouwen na de orkaan Irma. Voorzitter van CBH en financieel expert, de heer Nico de Visser, verwelkomde het gemixte gezelschap van entrepeneurs en wenste iedereen een succesvol en gezond 2020. Hij lichtte kort voor CBH de visie en doelen voor…
Philipsburg – Het Gerecht in Eerste Aanleg van Sint Maarten heeft woensdag 29 januari 2020 de voormalige CEO van het Havenbedrijf Sint Maarten veroordeeld tot een gevangenisstraf van 46 maanden wegens valsheid in geschrift en oplichting van het Havenbedrijf voor ongeveer 10 miljoen dollar. Ook is hem voor een termijn van zes jaar verboden te werken als bestuurder van een overheidsbedrijf. Zijn mededader, een Sint Maartense zakenman die zich daarnaast schuldig heeft gemaakt aan vuurwapenbezit, belastingfraude en het omkopen van een parlementslid, kreeg een gevangenisstraf van 66 maanden. Het parlementslid werd veroordeeld tot een gevangenisstraf van 36 maanden voor het…
PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance sentenced Member of Parliament Frans Richardson, leader of the United St. Maarten party (USp) on Wednesday to 36 months of imprisonment for accepting $370,000 in bribes in return for his political support for a dredging project, and for tax fraud. The court revoked Richardson’s passive voting rights (the right to be elected) for a period of five years. During the recent elections Richardson already lost his seat in parliament. The conviction is part of the so-called Emerald II-investigation into fraud at the Harbor Group of Companies. The court sentenced former harbor-director Mark Mingo…
Lions and Asses by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I had to it read again. Then I looked at his picture and gave it another inspection. Almost everyone knows the portrait that I’m referring to. Actually, a considerate number of people carry his picture in their wallet. It’s on the foremost currency in the world. Everyone knows his name. In the USA he is probably the most respected man in history- I’m talking about George Washington. You may be curious what he said. “An army of asses led by a lion is better than…
PHILIPBURG — Interim Minister of Public Health, Labour and Social Affairs (VSA) Pamela Gordon-Carty is confident in the St. Maarten surveillance system for the deadly Novel Coronavirus (nCoV). “There is no reason to panic. While the immediate risk of infection from the virus to the general public remains low, we are taking all precautions necessary.” The minister organized a press meeting Saturday afternoon to reassure the public that the Novel Coronavirus has full attention of the public health sector. “Everyone is looking to know what this virus is exactly and if it is affecting the island of St. Maarten. At…
GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – The Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department from the Sint Maarten Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour, is closely monitoring international health developments related to the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) respiratory virus in Asia. Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.…
Dear Editor, The rights of older persons to social benefits and to an adequate standard of living to support their health and well-being, including medical care and necessary social services, are laid down in the major international human rights instruments, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948, and (in more general terms) the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), The question then becomes more complicated, than to raise or not raise the pension age. The question becomes; how prepared is St. Maarten from a demographic point of view to take care of its pensioners and give…
By MP Wycliffe Smith On Monday, January 20th the Parliament of Sint Maarten held its first Question Hour (QH) for the parliamentary year 2019-2020. This QH was the fourth held thus far since it was instituted in 2017, after Hurricane Irma, according to MP Rolando Brison, who chaired the meeting. The awkward way in which this first QH for 2020 was handled attests to the fact that it is a new phenomenon in Sint Maarten’s parliamentary system, to which MPs still need to get accustomed. The QH in Sint Maarten is modeled after the Dutch “Vragenuurtje”, which was launched in…
