The story about the struggle of the American University of Integrated Sciences (AUIS) is an eye opener that deserves attention on more than one level. The main question is of course – why is the ministry so difficult about all this? AUIS managing director Milo Pinckney says he has the answer: ‘incentives’ that disappear in the pockets of government officials with competitor AUC in the background. He has solicited an investigation under the American Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against DeVry, the owner of AUC. It is unclear if and when such an investigation will get underway but the sole fact…
Author: The Publisher
Read More
People with a reputation to hold up will think twice before they accept an invitation to become a minister if the current screening procedure does not change. That’s the sentiment we picked up from yesterday’s press conference of the United St. Maarten party. It is indeed time to examine the screening criteria, to tighten them were necessary and to adjust them where they become unfair. USp-leader Frans Richardson’s suggestion to limit the screening to a (at this moment unspecified) number of years into the past makes sense. Another idea – that candidate ministers only have to give up their business…
GREAT BAY – Cecil Nicholas, former president of the Usp, gave up his taxi-license when he was named a candidate for the position of Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication. Now he is without a taxi-license and he won’t become minister either because he failed the screening. Party-leader Frans Richardson said yesterday that efforts will be made to restore the license, but the bigger issue at a press conference at the USp-headquarters on L.B. Scott Road was the concept of the screening process. Richardson emphasized that Nicolas did not fail the screening because of a criminal issue or…
USp leader and Member of Parliament, Frans Richardson, during a press conference held today, Sunday, February 19th, at the party headquarters in Cul-de-Sac, emphatically denied rumors on social media that he is about to bring the government down and form a new coalition with the United People’s party. “I am not in any discussion to form another government,” he said. “I have no issue with the current coalition or with the minister of finance. My relationship with the minister could not be better than it is right now and the coalition is working just fine. We want to continue doing what the…
Dear Editor, The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) is not a supporter of what it terms “overly suggestive” chants that’s disguising as music recently and will ask the authorities to crack down on extreme sexually suggestive jamming by young people in particular. The foundation was reacting to a number of songs that are released for the Carnival season with sexual overtones aimed at influencing revelers to perform suggestive dances on the road. Popularly known as “daggering” (a female bent over in front of a man), the dance has gotten out of control the past years and the foundation feels…
Social and Health Insurance provider SZV is on the move and the organization is leaving no stone unturned to make sure that the population is aware of it. Better service – who would not want that? SZV has made already quite some progress but it is aware that there is still a long way to go. By 2020 SZV wants to be completely up to standards. An organization that has to deal with so many organizations and so many individual citizens -here and abroad – will get is share of criticism from time to time. Fair enough, and there is…
GREAT BAY — Several armed robberies were committed over the past couple of days with the highlight happening on Saturday morning in broad day light on Front Street where a jewelry store was robbed by four masked and armed men. Read more on that story online here… Earlier, on Thursday around 1 p.m. a man entered the Zong supermarket in Middle Region where he threatened the cashier with a machete. He robbed the store of an undisclosed amount of cash and fled on foot. The special Robbery unit is investigating the case. Then on Saturday evening, police nabbed two suspects…
GREAT BAY – Four masked and armed men robbed the dazzling gems jewelry store on Front Street on Saturday morning around 11.15 a.m. They arrived at the store in a blue Jeep with heavily tinted windows that carried an expired taxi license plate. The robbers stormed into the store, smashed showcases with hammers and grabbed a still unknown quantity of jewelry. They fled in their car in the direction of Sucker Garden. Several police patrols reacted to the report about the robbery and they started a search for the suspects and their car. The police is asking anyone with information…
The Parliament of “Country St. Maarten” convened a meeting on Thursday to debate the unilateral appointment by the Dutch of a quartermaster for the non-existing Integrity Chamber. To refresh your memory this Integrity Chamber exists no place else in this Kingdom and it is being imposed on us because the Dutch are hell bent on criminalizing the entire society without the inconvenience of due process or rather giving us our day in court. It is quite clear that the Dutch still exist in the past when they owned the islands and the people living there. The farce of autonomy is…
The conflict between the Harbor Holding Company and Dock Maarten is a prime example of the complexity of our laws. Dock Maarten holds the right of long lease to water parcels in Great Bay but as it turns out now, it is not free to do on these parcels what it wants. At least, that is for now the position the Court in First Instance has taken. The dispute is not over yet, as Dock Maarten has to provide the port with relevant information about its expansion plans. The company wants to make its marina fit for mega yachts and…
