PHILIPSBURG – After a parliament meeting that lasted close to three hours and fifty minutes, Christian Party MP Claude Peterson’s motion that aimed to assure bondholders about the caretaker government’s authority to sign off on loans from the World Bank and the European Investment Bank for the reconstruction of the airport failed to get majority support due to a lack of quorum. When it was time to vote, there were only seven parliamentarians left in the meeting. MPs Franklin Meyers, Jules James, William Marlin and Chanel Brownbill were not there, while MPs Brison and Emmanuel had already left before the…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Parliament unanimously approved the initiative of MP Rolando Brison to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into issues concerning the Mullet Bay property. An amendment presented by MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, geared towards narrowing down the scope of the inquiry, was defeated by 8 to 4 votes. Brison presented an abbreviated version of the proposal he made earlier in a central committee meeting. “This is an historic day, because it is the first time parliament discusses a parliamentary inquiry,” Brison said, adding that the inquiry aims to “remedy the ill-managed issue of the Mullet Bay property.” The MP furthermore said that…
PHILIPSBURG — MP Rolando Brison made Parliamentary history again on Tuesday when his proposal to conduct a Parliamentary into Mullet Bay was approved by Parliament by a unanimous vote. All members of Parliament present voted FOR! It was the first time the Parliament for St. Maarten voted to initiate a Parliamentary inquiry into any subject. As he has been stressing for a few months already, MP Brison re-iterated that the people of St. Maarten has waited nearly a quarter of a century to see any kind of action on Mullet Bay. The time to act is NOW. “24 Years is…
GREAT BAY — MP Rolando Brison made Parliamentary history again on Tuesday when his proposal to conduct a Parliamentary into Mullet Bay was approved by Parliament by a unanimous vote. All members of Parliament present voted FOR! It was the first time the Parliament for St. Maarten voted to initiate a Parliamentary inquiry into any subject. As he has been stressing for a few months already, MP Brison re-iterated that the people of St. Maarten has waited nearly a quarter of a century to see any kind of action on Mullet Bay. The time to act is NOW. “24 Years…
GREAT BAY — The Parliament of St. Maarten will vote on Tuesday for or against a proposal for a Parliamentary inquiry into Mullet Bay as tabled by Member of Parliament Rolando Brison. Entitled “Proposal for Parliamentary Inquiry: Giving Mullet Bay Back to the People”, the proposal calls for an inquiry into the ownership of the Mullet Bay area (issues with certificates of admeasurements and lack of deeds), the current volatile situation that exists between its current owner, government and citizens, and the need for Parliament and Government to intervene in every feasible way possible to protect one of its most…
By Hilbert Haar Without further ado, former Finance Minister Michael Ferrier has pointed to the procedures the World Bank uses for the distribution of recovery-dollars from the trust fund to explain why post Hurricane Irma home repairs are progressing at a snail’s pace. There is however more to say about this issue – much more. In its 2018 annual report the World Bank identifies one of the bottlenecks it has encountered: procurement constraints due to market limitations. It seems that the World Bank has trouble finding local companies to execute recovery projects. According to its report, this is partially due…
GREAT BAY — On Sunday, November 03, 2019, MP Claude “Chacho” Peterson issued the following press release. As announced in my press release of October 28, 2019, I posed 4 questions to the caretaker Minister of Finance, Mr. Perry Geerlings, on the financial situation at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA). I would first like to commend the caretaker Minister for seeing the urgency of the situation and providing the answers to my questions expediently. Regretfully, the President of Parliament did not share the urgency to reconvene the urgent public meeting on State of Affairs of PJIA (listed as OV-34) during…
GREAT BAY — Member of Parliament Rolando Brison on Sunday evening told The Daily Herald that he will contest the upcoming Parliamentary Elections with the United People Party (UP) in the #1 position and as new leader of the green party. The move has been accepted and approved by the board of the UP and received the blessing of former party leader and founder Theo Heyliger. Brison made his decision after meeting with political parties this past week. Brison began his stint in the political arena with the UP as part of the party’s marketing team. While in college he…
PHILIPSBURG – St. Maarten has to take more measures to create a budget surplus, the Board financial supervision (Cft) writes in its advice about the 2020 budget to Finance Minister Perry Geerlings. The financial supervisor notes that expenditures are budgeted 16 million guilders too high and that lower pension premium payments for civil servants (around 8 million) are part of the draft budget while the Parliament still has to approve pension reform. The capital account does not include income from payments on outstanding study loans; the Cft asks Geerlings to adjust the budget on this point. The explanations for intended…
PHILIPSBURG – The shelter former Minister Emil Lee established in Sucker Garden after Hurricane Irma is scheduled to close down by the end of January next year. There are still forty hurricane-victims in the shelter that have nowhere to go. Through its Cole Bay Housing Project the shelter’s manager – the Dr. J. Foundation – is attempting to raise $45,000 for the repair of eight homes. “We are trying to renovate eight homes in Cole Bay,” says Dorian Neijs, case manager at the Dr. J. Founation. “They are good, concrete homes and we want to put eight families there that…
