KRALENDIJK – After the Island Council of Bonaire approved the 22-page governing agreement with the Netherlands, State Secretary Raymond Knops and Lt. Governor Edison Rijna signed the document on behalf of both parties. The agreement is in place for the next four years and aims to strengthen the local administration and the civil service; it also makes funding available for projects that will benefit the island and its population. The agreement is a notch or two below the Dutch intervention in Statia, where the Island Council and the Executive Council were relieved of their duties and where kingdom representative Mike…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – The government signed an agreement with State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) on October 19 to “shortly introduce a series of measures to improve the state of the Pointe Blanche prison.” This appears from answers Knops provided to questions posed by GreenLeft parliamentarian Nevin Özütok. Knops’ answers show that St. Maarten has repeatedly failed to stick to agreements it made in the past with the Netherlands about the prison. “After Hurricane Irma, the Netherlands has provided assistance for the prison from the reconstruction funds. There were agreements attached to this assistance and during the past year I have…
~ Ministry to develop national spatial data infrastructure plan for St. Maarten ~ POND ISLAND — Last week, VROMI Minister Miklos Giterson, along with his Secretary General Louis Brown, attended the Latin America GeoSpatial Forum in Mexico City. The forum, which was held from November 6 to 8, 2018, saw representatives from over 40 countries gathered under the theme “GeoSpatial Information: Making a Difference for Millions”. The forum is the largest regional conference on geospatial information and technologies and it provided a platform to meet and network with regional leaders and experts from the geospatial domain, the minister explained during…
Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, 14 November, 2018 – The Algemeen Pensioenfonds Sint Maarten (APS) was represented at the 31st Annual St. Maarten’s Day Around the Island Relay Race. Team APS has participated for 3 consecutive years. APS encourages persons of all ages (young and old) to part-take in this exciting and fun event. It isn’t about winning a medal for Team APS, however, it is accomplishing a goal together as a team, fostering teamwork and supporting one another with every stride. Team APS looks forward to participating in the 32nd Annual St. Maarten’s Day Around the Island Relay Race.
PHILIPSBURG/ST. EUSTATIUS—The visit of the Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops is not expected to include a meet with the Leader of the Progressive Labor Party Clyde van Putten during his visit this weekend for the Statia Day celebrations. In an invited comment, Van Putten said that although he has learnt of the State Secretary’s visit to St. Eustatius for the island celebrations, he is not aware of any scheduled meeting with the Dutch State Secretary. “I am not aware of any meeting and have not been contacted by the Dutch State Secretary or his representative about any…
By Rhoda Arrindell, PhD One day in 1982, I wrote an essay entitled “Waarom St. Maarten onafhankelijk moet worden” for Mr. Bijnsdorp’s Dutch class. Though I hated the class (not because of the teacher, but because I hated writing essays in Dutch), I was proud of that essay and my performance. Not only was I pleased with my good mark, but, for the first time, I had written on a topic I felt passionate about. You see, I believed then at the age of 16, as I do now, that independence is the only way for the people of St.…
Philipsburg — Parliament held two continuation meetings regarding the repercussions of the verdict by the European Court of Human Rights in the Corallo case for the country St. Maarten and the Ministry of Justice of St. Maarten and regarding the Status of Tax Reform on St. Maarten. The meetings were a continuation of public meetings #7 and #8, the letter being initially held on Monday, November 5, 2018. On Monday, November 12, the meetings proved to be another interesting display of parliamentary tactics and procedural moves, resulting in MP Rolando Brison calling for a motion against the chair of Parliament.…
PHILIPSBURG — The late Natasha Schmidt who was brutally murdered by her brother-in-law in the Dutch Quarter district on October 29, 2018, will be laid to rest today Wednesday in the Cul-de-sac cemetery. The 36 year-old mother of seven children was apparently shot several times in Dutch Quarter and was found lying on the ground by the police patrol who rushed to the scene of the incident. She was transported to the St. Maarten Medical Center in a critical condition but later succumbed to her injuries and died. The suspect in the shooting turned himself in at the Philipsburg Police…
PHILIPSBURG – The situation at the St. Maarten Academy PSVE (Preparatory Secondary Vocational Education) remains volatile now that the board led by former Justice Minister Roland Duncan has refused to remove principal Lavern Nelson from her position. Minister Wycliffe Smith (Education) has stepped in and produced a report that takes the school board to task. The tension between principal, teachers and other staff is sky high. While Smith’s report does not shy away from identifying the place of teachers and staff in the hierarchy of the school organization, he puts most of the blame on the school board and its…
PHILIPSBURG – The board of the Foundation for Academic and Vocational Education (FAVE) has to pay 94,000 guilders gross ($52,514) to guidance counselor and job training coordinator Zeynep Sabahoglu for firing her without a valid reason. The board also failed to ask permission for the dismissal and it did not award Sabahoglu compensation. The guidance counselor initiated a lawsuit against the school board after her dismissal. FAVE came with its own lawsuit, demanding that the court dissolves the contract without awarding the counselor compensation. Sabahoglu won both procedures. Sabahoglu started working for FAVE on August 1, 2009, and she had…
