~ Chairlady of Parliament cancels meeting with State Secretary Knops due to confirmed none attendance of a majority of factions ~ PHILIPSBURG — “In order to avoid any embarrassment in front of the State Secretary, due to a lack of quorum to hold the meeting, I have called off the meeting.” states Chairlady of Parliament, Sarah Wescot-Williams in a press release. The meeting with State Secretary Knops as requested by 3 members of parliament, was convened for Wednesday, September 25th at 10am. This meeting was scheduled as a central committee meeting and having a guest (State Secretary Knops) present, quorum…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — On Wednesday September 18th, the White and Yellow Cross Care Foundation (WYCCF) signed two new care agreements with the Social and Health Insurances (SZV), ensuring the continuity of quality healthcare services to the residents of Sint Maarten. The signing of these contracts was marked by both organizations as an important moment for all clients that they serve. The SZV manages the AVBZ fund, which is a fund that started in 1996 to cover hard to insure chronic care, based on the solidarity principle with contributions to this fund by employers and employees. Some examples of care covered by…
WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG — The Central Bank of Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS) announces new bond issues on behalf of the Government of the Country of Sint Maarten. On Friday, October 18, 2019, there will be two bond issues on behalf of the Country of Sint Maarten. The bonds will have a semi-annual coupon as follows: NAf 40,000,000 bond with duration of 30 years. Interest rate is based on the Dutch yield curve as of October 8, 2019. NAf 21,300,000 bond with duration of 25 years. Interest rate is based on the Dutch yield curve as of October 8, 2019. The yield…
~ Says time will tell ~ PHILIPSBURG — In response to the latest political developments, Member of Parliament Franklin Meyers, states: “I hope that the People of Sint Maarten now better understand why I declared myself independent two weeks ago. Other than what my political opponents now want to make you believe; I didn’t create the chaos, rather I took a stance from within the chaos that was created by a few.” Meyers continues: “at the time of declaring myself independent, the plans by others to form the next Government were already in full swing, character assassinations of our very…
PHILIPSBURG — “Late Monday afternoon I received a request for a meeting, signed by 9 members of parliament, to appoint the chairperson and 2 vice-chairpersons of parliament.” according to a press release issued on behalf the Chairlady of Parliament, MP Sarah Wescot-Williams. The release further states that “The MPs requested that these agenda points be added to the continuation of the public meeting no 35 on September 25th, which meeting deals with the status of Education and is an ongoing meeting.” The release goes on the conclude that “Given the urgency of the request/matter, I have scheduled a new public…
PHILIPBURG — The 2nd edition of the Free NAGICO Health & Fitness Fair will be held on Saturday October 5th, at the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex. NAGICO has announced that with over 20 vendors participating, the event will be twice the size of last year with double the fun sure to be had. “We are extremely excited this year as we have added a number of new health and fitness services to our program which we are positive the public will appreciate and enjoy,” a statement from NAGICO said. “The objective of this event remains to provide each member of…
~ Fire Dept./ODM/Ministry MECYS: Schools Closed on Tuesday. Coastal residents advised to be vigilant. Swimmers stay away from the beach. ~ GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports (Ministry MECYS) has decided to close all schools on Tuesday, September 24 as a precautionary measure. The aforementioned decision was taken due to the anticipated deterioration in weather conditions going into Tuesday. According to the Meteorological Department of Sint Maarten (MDS), even though Karen has been downgraded to a Tropical Depression, the system could still impact the country as it heads towards Puerto Rico, and…
The times they are a’changin and so is the political makeup of St. Maarten’s government. Once upon a time – and not all that long ago – appointments to key positions, be it as policy advisors or in executive roles – did not depend on what you knew but on whom you knew. In other words: cronyism and nepotism ruled in those days. Now we have young professionals in those positions who earned their spot based on their qualifications. That’s not only good for those youngsters, it also benefits the quality of the civil service and that of the supporting…
PHILIPSBURG — In a series of prerecorded messages sent to our news desk, Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams gave commentaries on the recent political developments and fired off a series of critical questions at the newly formed coalition headed by NA-leader Silveria Jacobs. In the first voice note Wescot-Williams explained why she submitted her resignation as Chairperson of Parliament. “I did this on Sunday evening, September the 22nd, after having learned that, firstly, a new coalition has been formed, but in addition to that, that the position of chairperson of Parliament, as part of those negotiations to come to a…
PHILIPSBURG — The Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP), represented by the party leader and Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Wycliffe Smith and Member of Parliament Claude Chacho Peterson issued a joint statement on the recent collapse of the Governing UD-SMCP coalition on Monday. In their statement, they made it clear that another snap election would not have been their choice. “The SMCP would have preferred to avoid going to the polls. However, given the reasons mentioned in the rest of this article, the SMCP is of the opinion that invoking article 59 is the only right thing to…
