PHILIPSBURG – “The difficulties in getting a simple memorandum of understanding executed about cooperation between the hospitals on the Dutch and the French side of the island “highlights some of the challenges of cooperation between the two countries,” Minister Emil Lee (Public Health) said at Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing. The minister met with representatives of the ARS – Agence Régional de Santé – and its regional director for St. Barths, Saint Martin and Guadeloupe Valérie Denux to discuss the agreement. “It was a positive meeting with an assurance from the new director to take the results of our…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance sentenced Kareem Munaf Prince on Wednesday for an attempt to rape his former girlfriend on August 21 of last year, stealing a Wifibox from her home and threatening her with death. The 21-year old defendant has mental health issues and he was not in court; he is currently in his native Guyana and his attorney Safira Ibrahim could not say when he would come back to the island. The court sentenced Prince to 365 days of imprisonment, with 259 days suspended and 3 years of probation. Prince spent the unconditional part of the…
PHILIPSBURG – The Ministry of Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) does not spend a word on the situation at the dump in the draft 2018 budget. Under a heading that addresses the quality of life, the ministry only mentions plans for the development of a waste-to-energy plant, developing and implementing a recycling program and promoting sustainable energy. Furthermore, in a list of risks, the ministry notes that the management contract for the landfill has to be “timely extended or tendered again” while Minister Emil Lee said in February that the contract with the management company actually was…
PHILIPSBURG – The disastrous situation at the landfill and the persistent fires that have put many citizens on edge has drawn the attention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. “We are looking at the situation at the dump,” public prosecutor Jeroen Steenbrink said on Tuesday. However, a decision about a possible course of action has not been taken yet. One of the options the prosecutor’s office has at its disposal is to conduct a civil inquiry into the management of the dump. Steenbrink said that it is too early to confirm that this is what his office will do. The prosecutor’s…
THE HAGUE – The chairman of the Humanitas Foundation, Gijsbert van Herk, apologized last week in an email for his statements about Antillean employees of the Rotterdam-based nursing home De Leeuwenhoek, Natasja Gibbs reports on Caribisch Netwerk. Things went wrong when Van Herk made an attempt to repair the nursing home’s negative image last week in an interview with Trouw by emphasizing the multicultural character of the institution. “If we look at De Leeuwenhoek from the point of view of a Dutch nurse from Maastricht you conclude that the things that are happening there are not allowed. But if you…
PHILIPSBURG – MP Theo Heyliger, leader of the United Democrats, was right when he observed in a meeting of Parliament in February that the government gets what it is paying for with the management contract for the landfill. “There were two bids,” Heyliger said at the time. “One for 5 million and one for half that amount. The lowest bid won.” The draft budget 2018 that will be handled in Parliament on Thursday confirms Heyliger’s observation in the chapter about the Ministry of Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI): “The current contract-amount is insufficient to guarantee safe management…
By Hilbert Haar In June 2008 I wrote an article under the headline “Landfill remains until the end of 2010.” It appeared in the now defunct Today newspaper. In the meantime we know better. The landfill is not going anywhere for a very long time and residents and visitors will just have to put up with all the negative consequences. This is a brief review of the landfill’s recent history. These days, complaints about yet another fire at the dump usually erupt on Facebook, but in 2008 residents filed a civil lawsuit against the government, while Pride Foundation President Jadira…
PHILIPSBURG – The government organization currently employs 1,822 civil servants, but all departments struggle with staff shortages it appears from an overview in the draft 2018 budget. If all positions the civil service requires were filled, the government would have 2,525 people on the payroll. In other words, the civil service is formally 27.8 percent understaffed. It is not likely that all these positions are going to be filled any time soon because already the payroll takes up close to 40 percent of the country’s budget. The seven ministries and the high councils of state have budgeted 124 vacancies for…
PHILIPSBURG – As a follow-up to the digital letter of appreciation sent to Dutch Ministers Ingrid van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Science and Arie Slob of Primary and Secondary Education and Media, Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Jorien Wuite paid a visit to the Dutch Representative of the Netherlands based in St. Maarten Chris Johnson on April 18th and presented him the official original copy of the letter as well as an overview of all donations received from the Dutch Ministry after hurricane Irma and a listing as to where those items were disseminated. Also presented to…
PHILIPSBURG – The accumulated deficits on the national budget increase to a total of 486.2 million guilders in 2020. The government projects that 2021 will be the first year when the budget shows a slim surplus again of 4.1 million guilders. This appears from the revised draft 2018 budget. Parliament will discuss the budget in a meeting on Thursday. The draft budget does not contain any new initiatives, nor does it specify new cost-cutting and revenue-generating measures. The government projects expenses for 2018 at 500,545,550 guilders; revenue falls short with 303,436,964 guilders. The investment budget for this year is 28.8…
