PHILIPSBURG — The Government of Sint Maarten signed the OCTA Oceans Declaration and Roadmap in Brussels last week. This declaration highlights common marine priorities amongst OCT’s, encourages blue economies and calls for united action for the preservation of oceans and marine wildlife. A commitment that will ensure Sint Maarten contributes to the achievement of SDG14 on a local level. The conference took place on October 16 and 17 and was chaired by the Prime Minister of Curacao, the Honorable Mr. Eugene Rhuggenaath. The declaration commits each signatory to strengthen human capacity. Extra capacity to develop legislative frameworks for the conservation…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – On Monday afternoon, October 21st the Council of Ministers during an extraordinary general meeting of the Shareholder took the decision to extend the contracts of the Managing Board of Directors for a period of six months. The contract extension of the Managing Board of Directors will commence on November 1st 2019. Based on the resolution of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Kenrick Chittick will continue as Chief Executive Officer while Mrs. Iris Arrindell-Smith and Mrs. Veronica Jansen-Webster will remain as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer respectively. Additionally, the Council of Ministers has requested the Supervisory Board…
PHILIPSBURG — MP Sarah Wescot-Williams issued a press release stating that she is “utterly disappointed by the last minute postponement of the airport meeting.” The meeting in question regarded the continuation of an urgent plenary public meeting of Parliament that was to be held Monday, October 21, 2019, at 2pm with agenda point: State of affairs at the Princess Juliana International Airport. This meeting was originally requested by MP R. Brison, MP E.J. Doran, MP C.T. Emmanuel, MP W.V. Marlin and MP F.G. Richardson. This meeting has been postponed until further notice. “I was so looking forward to the parliament…
~ Two more sponsor letters signed for air-conditioning project Keep a Cool Head ~ PHILIPSBURG — The ‘Keep a cool head’ project, managed by Baker Tilly, providing solar-powered air-conditioning for MPC classrooms, is moving forward. Both NAGICO and the Ognim Happy Rescue foundation adopted an MPC classroom for US$ 5,000 last week, totalling the number of classrooms that obtained funding for solar-powered AC’s at five. Several MPC alumni work at both Nagico and Notary Mingo, which greatly influenced the companies’ decision to sponsor. ‘Kindly be informed that I am an alumnus from MPC but also Ms. Charlise Philips, Ms.…
PHILIPSBURG – Cruise port St. Maarten takes center stage as the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) convention in Puerto Rico opens on Monday with a splendid picture of the port by photographer Christine Garner on the cover of the FCCA Magazine. The magazine recaps the 55-year history of cruise port St. Maarten in a three-page article, noting how the port was inaugurated on June 3, 1964; how it received 105,000 cruise passengers in 1980 and hit the one million mark for the first time in 2002. “Today it is one of the top locations in the North East Caribbean, due…
PHILIPSBURG — The claims that Minister of TEATT, the honourable Stuart Johnson, issued a license for the establishment of a casino on Back Street in the former Super Plaza Building as Caretaker Minister, has been flatly refuted by Johnson as the license in question was issued since January 2019. Reports hat the casino license somehow contravened the rule of law as it pertains to the issuance of casino licenses, are also inaccurate. These claims have not taken into account the fact that the license was issued under several conditions including a restriction from the license holder creating access to the…
PHILIPSBURG — On Wednesday, October 16, staff of the Department of Domain Affairs sent a letter to the Minister of VROMI, Christopher Wever, protesting his decision to relieve Raeyhon Peterson of his responsibilities as Acting Department Head of Domain Affairs as of Monday, October 14, 2019. The letter, signed by two staff members of the Department of Domain Affairs, outlined how they were made aware of the minister’s decision via his memo dated Friday, October 11, 2019, regarding the responsibilities of the Acting Head of Domain Affairs. In the memo the minister stated his decision to relieve Peterson of his…
PHILIPSBURG – A large majority of the Dutch Second Chamber (107 out of 150 possible votes) supported the motion Van Dam on Tuesday – a decision that is bound to create confusion if not outrage about what could be interpreted as the next attempt by the Netherlands to take control in St. Maarten. Van Dam’s motion asks the government to enter into talks with the government in St. Maarten “about a separation of management and authority in the maintenance of the legal order, to see whether the Netherlands could play a stronger part in the management function for a period…
PHILIPSBURG — In a recent media publication President of Parliament, MP William Marlin, queried whether the Council of Ministers voted on former Prime Minister Leona Marlin representing the island as a “Private Citizen” at a function being held by the World Bank. Prime Minister Wycliffe Smith stated, “While I have not officially received any questions or request for information officially from the MP, I would like to quickly set the record clear so that information is factual and not misconstrued in any manner or as the MP stated, assumed in any fashion as well. According to the Minister of General…
By Hilbert Haar The motion of CDA parliamentarian Chris van Dam that calls for Dutch involvement in law enforcement on St. Maarten comes across as a fine example of Dutch meddling in our island’s affairs. That is won’t happen anyway does not matter: Van Dam has put the thought out there and a large majority of the Second Chamber blindly followed his lead. Declaring that I am for or against such a motion is rather pointless: it is what it is. The Second Chamber has supported it and State Secretary Knops is now faced with the consequences. Van Dam has…
