PHILIPSBURG — Justice Bob Wit passed away aged 71, the Caribbean Court of Justice stated in a press release dated January 6. Wit served at the court since its establishment in 2005 until he retired in December 2023 for health reasons. Wit was also the first President of St. Maarten’s Constitutional Court. The President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Justice Adrian Saunders expressed his sorrow at the news of Wit’s passing. “It is a sad day for the court. Justice Wit and I worked together since 2005 when we formed part of the inaugural bench. He was the lone…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — The four parties that have signed a coalition agreement – URSM, DP, PFP and NOW – will present no later than February 3 a document in which they align their respective manifestos. Before taking office, the four parties will also present a clear and detailed governing program. This appears from the agreement the four parties signed just two days after the elections, on January 13. To find common ground and to address potential pain points, the coalition partners intend to hire an as yet unidentified third party. The coalition agreement gives the position of prime minister and the…
By Hilbert Haar If you thought that the government and its elected officials are careful when they are spending your tax-dollars I invite you to think again, because these people are a lot, but not careful. The General Audit Chamber took a look at how politicians are spending money on travel, accommodation and undisclosed stuff and they also looked at how useful St. Maarten’s membership of Parlatino is. That politicians have to travel on occasion is not the issue here. The question is: do they have to travel first class, the most expensive option when it comes to buying airline…
PHILIPSBURG — The Parliament spends hundreds of thousands of guilders each year on its membership of Parlatino without showing any tangible results. This appears from an audit of the General Audit Chamber into the effectiveness of the Parlatino-membership. The annual Parlatino membership fee totals 702,000 guilders ($392,179) and parliamentarians spent more than 2.1 million guilders ($1,173,184) a year on travel and accommodation to attend meetings of this organization. The Audit Chamber surveyed parliamentarians about the effectiveness of the Parlatino-membership. Seven out of fifteen MPs responded. Six out of these seven agree to setting criteria for specific flight classes and for…
PHILIPSBURG — The General Audit Chamber’s audit into public sector travel contains a handful of recommendations aimed at improving accountability. Among them is the establishment of a national decree containing general measures (Lbham) about accommodation expenses and travel insurance for civil servants. The Chamber furthermore recommends to make economy class the standard for traveling, to split the per diem into travel and lodging and meals and incidentals and to require the return of unspent per diem. In 2022, the year covered by the audit, government and parliament spent 1.24 million guilders ($692,737) on travel and accommodation. This was an increase…
By Hilbert Haar Nothing surprises me anymore about politics in St. Maarten so the coalition-agreement the URSM signed with the DP, NOW and PFP did not come like a bat out of hell either. The four parties have eight seats and therefore a parliamentary majority. I have no argument with that. But when I think about the process, I think that there is something very wrong. Why? Under normal circumstances, the winner of the elections, in this case the National Alliance (NA), gets to propose the appointment of an informateur to the Governor. This character is something like a scout,…
PHILIPSBURG — Four number one candidates were outvoted by other candidates during Thursday’s parliamentary elections. Ludmila de Weever bested Melissa Gumbs on the Party for Progress list with 576 to 462 votes; Egbert Doran got the better of party leader Silveria Jacobs on the National Alliance list with 539 to 469 votes. The UP-list saw the political demise of party leader Rolando Brison who stayed with 256 votes far behind Omar Ottley (775), Akeem Arrindell (355) and Fernando Lacroes (312). Unites St. Maarten party leader and number one candidate Pamela Gordon-Carty was bested by Gromyko Wilson with 193 votes and…
PHILIPSBURG — The National Alliance (NA) sailed to a comfortable win in the parliamentary elections on Thursday by winning 3,468 of the 14,490 votes; good for 23.9 percent. The NA left the United People’s party (UP) far behind; the green party won 2,837 votes (19.6 percent), a difference of 631 votes. Newcomer Unified Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM) led by Luc Mercelina did surprisingly well by claiming third place with 2,020 votes. The Democratic Party (DP) followed with 1,976 votes and the Party for Progress with 1,721. Christophe Emmanuel’s party NOW took sixth place with 1,488 votes. The United St.…
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