As flight connections between the islands of the former Netherlands Antilles become more cumbersome, many are scratching their heads about the next move. With Insel Air in bankruptcy protection chances are that one of the major airlines to serve the connection between St. Maarten and Curacao and Aruba will disappear. And then what? We figure that government departments will have to invest in video conferencing equipment. That will at least give them cheap options to stay in touch. But what about all the other inter-island travel? Without reasonable flight connections – asking for something perfect seems a bit much at…
Author: The Publisher
That the country’s financial management needs improvement is old news. But that the books are altered after the fact is something new. Apparently that happened in 2015 if we go by the letter from the Cft to the finance ministry. There are other violations too and one of them requires immediate attention. Ministries have been exceeding their budgets (in 2015) while there was no approval to do this from Parliament. The question is of course: how would parliamentarians become aware of such violations? They surely do not get a red alert the day after something like this happens. It is…
Dear Editor, The past week has given us many issues to reflect on or critically dissect to determine where we stand in the greater plan of it all. We have seen with quite some interest the letters back and forth between our prime minister and the minister of kingdom affairs. Each clinging to his point of departure on the protocol signed on the establishment of an Integrity Chamber. It would seem that though it is clearly pointed out that the agreed time has elapsed and we are taking measures to remedy the shortcomings exposed in the many studies and investigations…
GREAT BAY – United St. Maarten Party MP Chanel Brownbill was released from police custody on Saturday but he remains a suspect in the Emerald-investigation into tax fraud, forgery and money laundering. Four other suspects, policeman Akeem A. and two men identified as C.D. and K.L. have also been released. According to the office of the public prosecutor their detention is no longer necessary for the investigation. Remains suspect in money laundering case The Emerald-investigation began in April 2016 after newspaper reports appeared about questions in Parliament about a new contract between Checkmate Security and the port. On November 28…
MARIGOT – The enthusiasm for the territorial elections on the French side has never been impressive. In 2012, just 52.1 percent of the 17,892 voters went to the polls and yesterday the numbers looked even worse halfway through the day. When the pools closed at 6 p.m. those numbers became a reality: only 42.4 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. Just 8,601 voters cast a vote, meaning that the other 11,675 voters had better things to do. At 4 p.m., just 35 percent of the 20,276 voters (7,103 total) had bothered to cast their vote. With that score,…
Poverty, bad education and youth unemployment; those ingredients feed the breeding ground for drugs and gang related gun violence in Curacao. This observation, made by NOS-correspondent Dick Drayer after the shooting of four young men in Curacao on Saturday, is not even an eye opener. It is very much stating the obvious. Everybody knows that these are the elements that poison societies – not only in Curacao, but certainly also in St. Maarten and elsewhere. One would expect therefore that decision makers know this too and that they come up with adequate measures to turn the tide. For now, that…
The United St. Maarten party stands by its arrested MP Chanel Brownbill, the board says in a press statement. That is on a certain level commendable – you don’t drop your friends when they get into trouble. But on another level the statement confirms that not all is well with integrity in politics. In many other countries, politicians who get in trouble with the law do not wait until their guilt or innocence has been established. They step down before the sun goes down on the same day. The main reason they would give is that they are unable to…
GREAT BAY – The board of the United St. Maarten (US) party on Thursday said it stands by and supports its party member and Member of Parliament Chanel Brownbill (see photo) in the current ongoing investigation. Though the situation is one to be concerned about, the board also cautions against a rush to judgment as MP Brownbill still has rights under the law. “In such time we tend to forget how families are also affected, so we also stand in support of them in these troubling times. There is the need to allow the judicial process to take its full…
GREAT BAY – Minister Emil Lee (Labor) made clear once more yesterday that the government is serious about improving compliance in the business sector. Last week, the minister accompanied an inter-ministerial control team during a day-long operation that began at 8 a.m. and finished at 10 p.m. “It was a long day, the minister said, “but it was worth it.” Among the preliminary findings of these controls a few things stand out. “Many employees said that they did not have an ID on them,” Lee said. “Let me make clear that anyone over the age of twelve is obliged to…
GREAT BAY – The government has appointed former vice Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson (see photo) as a change manager at the Postal Services. “The Postal services inherited a staff of 34 from the Netherlands Antilles and it does not need all those people to operate,” Prime Minister William Marlin said yesterday. “It is doomed to bankruptcy if it does not generate enough funds to cover the costs of its operations.” Richardson is expected to make recommendations about the downsizing of the staff at the Postal Services. Many of them have 30 years or more in government…
