PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten is lagging far behind other Caribbean nations in terms of EU-support. The government has failed to take the steps necessary to establish, with the European Community, the cooperation programs provided for under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA). As a result, the territorial funding of €7 million ($7.7 million) for the period 2014-2020 has not yet been signed off. St. Maarten is one of two Caribbean island territories still working on a program to meet sustainable development goals centered on the people. The other nation that is not yet ready for funding under the 11th EDF is…
Author: The Publisher
~ Emil Lee reacts to news about search of MP Emmanuel House ~ PHILIPSBURG — This morning suspects C.T.E. and M.A.R. were arrested by the National Detectives of Sint Maarten. One of the suspects is Member of Parliament, Christophe Emmanuel, who is a former Minister of VROMI in 2017. The other suspect was Chief of Staff of the VROMI Cabinet during the same governing period. After a lengthy investigation the two were arrested on suspicion of abuse of function and forgery or complicity in such acts, during their tenure at VROMI. The suspects are accused of unlawfully long leasing government…
WILLEMSTAD – Dr. Emsley Tromp can count on 344.135 US Dollars in compensation for legal expenditures. The Court of Justice has ordered that Curaçao has to pay the former President of the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) this amount in damages. Tromp has twice been acquitted of tax fraud. During his trials Tromp was represented by Niels van der Laan, partner of law firm De Roos & Pen in the Netherlands, and Mirto Murray of Murray Attorneys at Law in Curaçao. He paid his legal counselors around 244.000 and 78.000 US Dollars respectively. Several experts were called…
PHILIPSBURG — The Government of St. Maarten and that of St. Martin has joined together to establish a Doppler weather radar (station) on the South side of the island. Head of the Meteorological Department, Walter Isaac, said that the primary objective of this project is to provide additional weather information daily but in particular during the Hurricane season to the island and the immediate neighboring island territories. The Met Department can then receive more detailed information on the intensity, position, movement, direction and speed of immediate weather systems in the area. This information is then passed down to the Emergency…
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…
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…
