PHILIPSBURG/THE HAGUE — During a reception party hosted by the St. Maarten House in The Hague, Governor Eugene Holiday gave the following speech under the theme “Building partnerships of cooperation for socio-economic susttainability”. ### BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS OF COOPERATION FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY by H.E. drs. Eugene B. Holiday Governor of Sint Maarten Domo Electica, The Hague, March 26, 2019 Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good evening, I bring you warm greetings from Sint Maarten. It is truly good to see and welcome all of you for this reception. And particularly, to see several persons and representatives of organizations who, over…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Guyanese Nationals will no longer need to have their documents stamped with the Apostille to ensure that it is authentic. This was brought to the attention of the Guyanese diaspora through a recent publication which was issued by the Guyana government. According to the publication on August 16, 2018, the Permanent Bureau was informed that the Cooperative Republic of Guyana had deposited its instrument of accession to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961, abolishing the legislation for foreign documents (Apostille Convention) on July 19, 2018. With the accession of Guyana, the Apostille Convention now has 116 contracting…
PHILIPSBURG – On March 22nd, the newly formed workgroup on electoral reform met for the first time led by Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin. As outlined in the Governing Program “Building a Sustainable Sint Maarten”, any reform on election procedures can be viewed as political but we must consider that there is a fundamental public lack of trust. We believe that both constitutional and electoral reform can contribute to the restoration of trust. While it is clear that Sint Maarten enjoys free and fair elections, an increasing concern is that there is still a need to educate the community of…
PHILIPSBURG — National Alliance MP Ardwell Irion queried Education Minister Wycliffe Smith on Monday about a seemingly reasonable issue: why had the ministry not done anything with a motion Parliament passed on November 9 of 2018, asking to address bullying in schools? The motion in question asked the minister of education to present a safe school plan within sixty days and to give Parliament an update on the progress of this plan within thirty days. The plan had to include elements of parental support, positive peer pressure, parental responsibility, school safety plans, a school transportation policy, a rehabilitation program catered…
SINT MAARTEN (POINT BLANCHE) – Repair works at the Point Blanche Prison is steadily progressing with the security installations presently taking place. Caribbean Engineering & Consultancy Company (CECC), Chubb and Ecotax are assisting the Ministry of Justice with the repair works of the security installations at the Point Blanche Prison. The Point Blanche Prison was severely destroyed by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017, which left the facilities with many structural damages, which is currently being repaired along with the security system. Chubb and Ecotax will be working on the following security installations: Fire Alarm System, Intercom System, CCTV…
GREAT BAY — The St. Maarten Insurance Association (SMIA) have elected a new board following their recent elections last week. The incoming board is now headed by President Eric Ellis, Managing Director of NAGICO Insurances; Secretary Cynthia Rotsburg, Branch Manager of Caribbean Alliance and Treasurer Robert De Vries. According to the incoming president, the objective and the responsibility of the SMIA is the promotion of the general interest of the insurance business and its members on St. Maarten. Ellis, who is no stranger to the board of SMIA, is one of the co-founding members, a past Chairman and he also…
PHILIPSBURG — The opposition benches remained empty on Monday morning when parliament was supposed to examine the credentials of substitute MP Jules James. Due to a lack of quorum, the meeting could not take place. It seems that a new political storm is brewing, just when suspended MP Theo Heyliger announced in a rather cryptic message that he steps down as leader of the United Democrats. Heyliger remains in pretrial detention in Bonaire. In a letter to UD board member Marinka Gumbs, dated March 21, Heyliger stated that he resigns immediately as leader of the party. The letter was signed…
~ Driver of a car steps out with knife in back ~ MARIGOT — At present, Gendarmes have the intersection of Rue de la Republique and Boulevard de France closed off and the surrounding premises secured as they conduct investigations into an apparent stabbing. A driver of a car stopped at the intersection and stepped out of the car with a knife in his back. A diner having breakfast at L’Express immediately called an ambulance for the driver and he was driven away to the hospital. Police from the Gendarmerie came and immediately secured the area. It is possible that…
PHIIPSBURG — Governor Drs. Eugene Holiday was within his rights when he refused Dutch citizenship to the former President of the Collectivité de Saint Martin, Louis Constant Fleming, it appears from a ruling by the Court in First Instance earlier this month. The reason for the refusal is that Fleming failed to state in his so-called option-declaration that he settled a case with the public prosecutor on the French side for a conditional fine of €10,000 ($11,300 at the current rate of exchange) in 2017. Soualigapost.com reported last year about Fleming’s out of court settlement. In 2009, Semsamar – a…
PHILIPSBURG — Gamblers who put their money on number games whereby the numbers are drawn with bingo balls could have a problem on their hands. Minister Stuart Johnson (Tourism and Economic Affairs) told the Central Committee of Parliament last week that the bingo balls lottery companies in St. Maarten use for their draws have not been calibrated since 2009. For players this potentially means that their already slim chances of hitting a jackpot are even further diminished if lottery operators have tampered with the weight of the bingo balls. An infamous example of how this works stems from the so-called…
