Philipsburg — Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher on Tuesday stressed that the economic recovery and development of St. Maarten must be sustainable and based on collaborative initiatives and policies between the public and private sector. “We also have to be daring and step out of comfort zones that do not work for us anymore,” she said. She said if a better, stronger, smarter and more sustainable St. Maarten is to arise out of the devastation of Hurricane Irma, focus must be placed on several key areas. She said the Department of Economy, Transportation and Telecommunication (ETT) under…
Author: The Publisher
Over the holidays, several local artists (headed by Nick Henrietta aka Magic) organized a Christmas school tour entitled the “We Give Back” Christmas tour. Local artists such as King Kembe, King James, Kenyo, King Rumer and DJ Siwroo visited several high schools on the island and performed during their annual Christmas shows. The “We Give Back” Christmas tour was done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport as part of the #SXMSTRONG Christmas events.
Pond Island – On Monday, January 8th, Endorsement Day, four parties were required to garner 142 signatures in order to have their political party registered for the upcoming February 26th elections. The final count indicated that the SDM obtained 194 signatures, SMCP 189 signatures, P.P.A. 86 signatures and the United Democrats 268 signatures. Below is a news clip by StMaartenNews.com with interviews with UD leader Theo Heyliger and SDM leader Benjamin Ortega on the question how it feels to be back in this position again.
Philipsburg — The Office of the Civil Registry of St. Maarten is the subject of much criticism, due to its new policy of providing services via appointment only. The phone and email service that is supposed to facilitate the “by-appointment-only” policy is alleged to be way below par. It would help greatly if the motivation for this management decision and an overview of the numbers and data involved would be provided. For example: How many requests for appointment have been made? How many requests have been honored? What was the subject of these requests ( ID, passport, etc. )? How…
Philipsburg — The first national decree promulgating the dissolution of parliament was dated November 3, 2017, LB-17/0575) with the first convening of the new parliament on January 31, 2018. By decree of November 12th, one day before nomination day (kandidaatstelling), this decree was amended to establish the day of election on February 26th. However, in the amended decree ( LB-17/0619), the first convening of the new parliament is now set for April 2nd 2018, in gross violation of article 59 of the Constitution of St. Maarten. The 3 month period, prescribed by the constitution has been exceeded with nearly 2…
Dear Editor, “Please hold the line while we try to connect you, the person you are calling, knows you are waiting”, except that in this case, the person probably doesn’t care or is it that the calls are not being picked up because only one person or one phone is responsible for handling the many issues associated with the census office? Isn’t this the latest song in town especially when you try to reach the Census Office and you have done that several times? I recently went by the government building to complain about my inability to reach the telephone…
GREAT BAY – The endorsement of the list of candidates took place – as per article 23 of the Electoral Ordinance – today, January 8th 2018 as of 9am thru 4pm. Of the six political parties that submitted a list of candidates, only four were required to be endorsed. The National Alliance and the United St. Maarten Party were exempted from this requirement, as they received one or more seats during the previous Parliamentary election. In this regard, reference is made to paragraph 4 of the aforementioned article, the Central Voting Bureau said on Monday. As per paragraph 1 of…
PHILIPSBURG – Endorsement Day at the former Census Office on Soualiga Boulevard was a subdued event on Monday. After all the hustle and bustle that marked Endorsement Day in 2016, the almost deserted area in front of the Census Office suggested mid-morning that many people have lost their interest in politics, politicians and especially in elections. Earlier on the day there was some activity when the United Democrats came to town. Party leader Theo Heyliger and his second in command Sarah Wescot-Williams were among them and the UD-list easily surpassed the threshold of 142 signatures a party needs to qualify…
PHILIPSBURG – The mutual Dutch-St. Maarten agreement about strengthening border control in St. Maarten remains in place for two years, until January 1, 2020. This appears from the text of the agreement that was published last Friday in the National Gazette. The agreement took effect one day later, on Saturday January 6. The Netherlands and St. Maarten have agreed to deploy officers from the Royal Marechaussee and officers from the Dutch Customs Department in an effort to get a grip on the flow of people, goods and money. The Royal Marechaussee is responsible for the control on people coming to…
By Hilbert Haar The mutual agreement between the Netherlands and St. Maarten that regulates the strengthening of border control through the deployment of Dutch officers from the Royal Marechaussee and the Customs Department officially states that St. Maarten’s Minister of Justice remains responsible for the policy and the execution of border control. It sounds good and may give some people the cozy feeling that St. Maarten remains in control of its own affairs. But further down in the agreement we found the composition of a Progress Committee that will monitor the project. That committee is dominated by representatives from the…
