PHILIPSBURG — During an urgent meeting of Parliament on Wednesday, May 29, 2019, regarding the management structure of the detention facilities on St. Maarten, minister Wycliffe Smith deputizing for the minister of Justice, Cornelius De Weever, gave a short presentation outlining the current formation at the prison. This urgent meeting of Parliament was requested by members of Parliament Tamara E. Leonard, Sidarth M. Bijlani and Jules C. James on May 24, 2019, and registered by incoming document IS/1059/2018-2019. The agenda points for this urgent meeting regarded two topics, namely the management structure of the detention facilities on St. Maarten and the…
Author: The Publisher
AIRPORT — The 4th annual Caribbean Aviation Meetup conference will be held June 11-13 on St. Maarten/St. Martin The conference is hosted by St. Maarten/St. Martin and supported by a number of major local and international industry companies. Two years ago, the event was successfully held on St. Maarten before the island was hit by the hurricanes. The Caribbean Aviation Meetup conference, CARIBAVIA, is a results and solutions oriented communication platform for stakeholders of airlift which are the aviation and tourism industries. The topics of the 30 sessions will vary from “Friendly Skies; Liberalizing Airlift in the Caribbean” to “Regional…
PHILIPSBURG – Between 2004 and 2014 United Democrats politician Theo Heyliger allegedly accepted bribes worth more than $5.5 million (9.9 million guilders) from Windward Roads, dredging company Devcon and Volker Stevin – the company that built the causeway across the Simpson Bay Lagoon. This appears from the indictment against Heyliger that became public on Monday. In exchange for the bribes, Heyliger granted the companies lucrative government contracts. Between January 1, 2004 and March 31, 2014, Windward Roads gave Heyliger $1,847,625, plus $850,000 in cash, $40,000 via a bank transfer and a share in the sale of a piece of land…
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert In about two weeks I’m chairing the 4th annual Caribbean Aviation Meetup conference on St.Maarten/St.Martin. I’m often asked for advice by speakers. Here we go…. Many conferences suffer from boring presentations. Killer presentations are absolutely rare. Higher standards should be set. Those higher standards may be quite different than what you think. Get back to basics, be straight forward and use simplicity! Leonardo da Vinci once said: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Include unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories. Make the audience look up to you by expressing what you have in your heart and mind…
GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – Member of Parliament (MP) L.F.E. Mercelina, during a private visit to the Netherlands to attend a medical symposium, made use of the opportunity to pay a visit to the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary on the Bezuidenhoutseweg in The Hague. After a brief tour of the premises, the MP sat with both the Minister and Deputy Minister where he was informed about the different plans, processes and the activities at the Cabinet in The Hague. After being informed of the above, the MP in an invited comment stated that he sees the added value…
Hilbert Haar is on point with his opinion piece about the question whether members of Parliament have a hidden agenda when it comes to solving the problem of our mounting garbage dump. The question we have is why aren’t other waste management solutions being considered, tested or tried? A SER advice focuses on waste minimization (reduce), re-use and recycling. This is in cooperation with the French side. Despite several proposals for test projects for recycling initiatives, the support for the Envirogreen’s proposed waste-to-energy facility seems to be as vicious as it is passionate. To some it seems a bit scary…
By Hilbert Haar Last week I witnessed something odd. The parliamentary committee for Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure – commonly referred to as the VROMI-committee (PHUPEI doesn’t read that well) – hosted a meeting with Envirogreen Energy Inc. about plans for the construction of a waste-to-energy plant on Pond Island.
By Cdr. Bud Slabbaert The older I get, the more I start asking why, and I start questioning all the answers. Maybe it’s a remnant of the child in me. When children are getting to the age of three, they start asking questions. It heralds a sudden upsurge in their intellectual development. The very youngest will simply accept that things are the way they are, like mother milk. Past a certain age the child with a greater degree of mental maturity will want to know why. You are an adult, where do you stand? Do you estimate that you have…
ST. MAARTEN/SABA—Children are vulnerable and need protection, at home, school and outside. As a community, we have to offer this protection. What are the risks that children run? How can we help them and which tools are available? And, how can we cooperate in this. The Task Force Intercountry Children’s Rights will offer tools for this during the three-day Our Children, Our Future Conference on St. Maarten and Saba which starts on Monday, May 20, with a reception. During the first two days of the conference on St. Maarten, on Tuesday May 21 and Wednesday May 22, youth care workers,…
PHILIPSBURG – Finance Minister Perry Geerlings criticized the Kingdom for interfering in St. Maarten’s affairs by attaching conditions to the provision of badly needed liquidity support but at the same time he made clear that that support is not forthcoming if members of parliament do not agree with a 10 percent salary cut.
