PHILIPSBURG – Prime Minister William Marlin announced on Wednesday that he steps down as leader of the National Alliance. Minister Silveria Jacobs (Education, Culture, Youth and Sport) will lead the party in the campaign towards the January 8, 2018 elections. The change of the guard at the National Alliance became apparent for the first time in 2014, when Jacobs became the biggest vote-getter for the party, holding a comfortable lead over the party-leader Marlin. In 2016, Jacobs outvoted Marlin again, this time by a slim margin of just three votes. “This is the opportune time for a new leader,” Marlin…
Author: The Publisher
Dear Editor, On November 3rd 2017, His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday signed the national decree declaring that early elections would take place on January 8th, 2018. This was a very rash decision, seeing that the decree was signed within 24 hours, without taking into consideration the current situation that exists in the country following hurricane Irma. Hundreds of families are roofless, homeless, jobless and displaced. People on the island are still in survival mode and election is the last thing on their minds. Moreover, the institutions used to facilitate elections, such as the Electoral Council, the Central Voting Bureau and…
Elections or no elections, the campaign has started already in full swing and Emil Lee is once again the one everyone is taking potshots at. This time from the NA camp. Last year, we called this The Emil Lee Effect. It got him elected. Will there be elections in January? It all depends if we have real leaders here in St. Maarten. Being a leader means that when everything goes wrong, you have to take all the responsibility. When everything goes right, you have to give away all the credit. Last week, we heard a lot of the blame being…
Campaign raises more than $50,000 for staff in St. Maarten affected by recent hurricanes LITTLE BAY — Divi Little Bay Beach Resort staff along with a local union representative gathered Monday, November 6, to receive checks from GoFundMe campaign donations. Set up to assist employees in rebuilding their lives on St. Maarten following devastating hurricanes, the GoFundMe campaign has now raised more than $50,000. $49,025 of the donated funds — the amount in the campaign at the time checks were cut — were equally distributed amongst staff, with the exception of upper management, who chose to opt out. “We thank…
Philipsburg — The President of Parliament, Sarah Wescot-Williams has requested the Government of St. Maarten to submit to the Parliament the draft Integrity Chamber ordinance and all documentation pertaining to this matter as well as the documentation pertaining to the agreement on border control. These two subjects are at the center of the dispute between the Government of St. Maarten and the Dutch Government as far as aid from the Kingdom of the Netherlands is concerned. The documents are necessary for the Parliament to follow up on its motions regarding the integrity chamber and border control. The President of Parliament…
Analysis from Antilliaans Dagblad The honeymoon is over: the initial blind love of Curacao for Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE) has cooled off and made place for a more rational, business-like approach of this partner for the next couple of decades. This can be concluded from a press release in which the Rhuggenaath-cabinet indicates that it has taken several decisions regarding the Isla-refinery dossier and GZE. While this way the dream shatters for some like a proverbial bubble, it makes more sense to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground. The future of Curacao is at stake and one cannot…
Commentary / Antilliaans Dagblad One cannot reproach the Netherlands for the fact that politicians in St. Maarten are making a mess of things. But knowing that the Parliament in Philipsburg is hopelessly divided, that an eventual interim-cabinet will have the slimmest margin of support and that it is questionable whether elections will result in more political stability, one ought to be able to expect more decisive action from the ‘mother country’ to offer the civilian victims of Hurricane Irma perspective for a rapid begin of the reconstruction of the devastated country. It is commendable that politicians in The Hague first…
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert As an introduction, I could give you one of the many definitions of a ThinkTank, a Brain-Box or what Brainstorming is. I’ll spare you the futile semantics and just come to point of what is needed from my perspective. The Caribbean needs ‘Think & Do Tanks’ that are characterized by ‘Leadership of Thought’. My vision of a ‘Think & Do Tank’ is not a committee of some kind or other. It is an interdisciplinary communication process for in-depth consideration of issues and challenges, which relevance reaches beyond individual persons, governments, businesses, operations, associations, and time frames. …
PHILIPSBURG – The government had 55.8 million guilders in liquid reserves – 35.7 million in its current account and 20.1 million in deposits, Finance Minister Richard Gibson Sr. said yesterday during a meeting of parliament’s central committee. At the Central Bank there are remaining investment funds dating back to 2014 to the tune of 11.2 million, 21.7 million in capital investment funds for 2017 and 27.4 million that are remaining from the division of assets of the former Netherlands Antilles. The total reserves at the Central Bank add up to 60.3 million; combined with the current account and the deposits,…
GREAT BAY – Minister Emil Lee (Public Health, Social Development and Labor) has suggested in a press statement that the actual costs of some of the cleanup activities that took place after Hurricane Irma were ‘double the original estimate.” He also noted that some of the documentation that was submitted with invoices showed “discrepancies.” If that is the case, the minister said in his press statement, “wouldn’t it be reasonable to ask questions about it?” Lee said that asking those questions is not the same as “objecting to paying for work done.” Lee’s press statement comes after accusation by Prime…
