PHILIPSBURG — Justice Minister Anna Richardson provided smooth answers about the plight of employees at her department during question hour in parliament last week Thursday but a review of the ongoing saga about the function books shows that the process to arrive at a solution is taking forever. A letter to the editor from a disgruntled justice-employee offers some historic perspective. On December 30, 2022, by now more than three months ago, the ministry published a press release stating that the governor had asked for a total sum calculation prior to signing off on legislation that regulates the legal position…
Author: The Publisher
~ We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice, not in love with publicity but in love with humanity ~ Martin Luther King Jr. Dear Editor, On 30th December 2022, the Ministry of Justice published the press release: Governor requires total sum calculation prior to signing legal position regulation. This release has two critical statements, and I quote, “With the approved Ministry of Justice Function Book of December 2021, the draft Legal Position Regulation for the Police of Sint Maarten currently pending approval and signature from His Excellency Governor Ajamu Baly, and the start of the placement process of…
By Cdr. Bud Slabbaert Just imagine. A small island, or a short runway, or just a resort with ample open space. Out of the blue sky comes an airplane and lands right there, like a helicopter, and brings forty passengers. You will think that this is not just imagination, but rather hallucination pure. It would be a dreamer’s island hopper. You may call her a dreamer, yet Freshta Farzam is taking an all or nothing approach to future mobility. Who is ‘her’? Freshta is the CEO and Founder of LYTE Aviation based in Germany and the UK, that may turn…
PHILIPSBURG — The industrial action by police officers, described by their attorney Cor Merx as go-slow has been a long time in the making. Merx stated in a brief message posted on Youtube that the action that began on April 4, will continue. “We sent a letter to the Minister of Justice on February 18, expressing our grievances,” Merx said. Those grievances relate to placement letters, payment arrears and the difference in payment for immigration officers and regular police officers. “It is a pity that we never got an answer from the minister,” Merx said. “Instead, the minister announced a…
PHILIPSBURG — It is possible to sell the same plot of land to different buyers but when push comes to shove there will only be one real owner: the one who managed to get the deed properly registered at the Cadastre before any of the other buyers. There are many misunderstandings about land-ownership in St. Maarten. One of them is that a buyer becomes toe legal owner once the purchase agreement had been completed at a notary office. This is incorrect. After the formalities at the notary are completed, the notary has to properly register the deed at the Cadastre.…
SXM AIRPORT — A large section of the first Passenger Boarding Bridge (PBB) at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) has been installed, and the assembly of the connecting tunnel to aircraft is in preparation. The prognosis is that four new enclosed, elevated passageways which extend from the airport terminal gates to airplanes can be taken into use in July 2023. In 2017, the jet bridges were damaged during Hurricane Irma and had to be demolished. Management of PJIA expects the current passenger boarding process and overall passenger experience to be greatly enhanced with the four jet bridges. The new situation…
PHILIPSBURG — Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (VSA) Omar Ottley aims to introduce a 25-dollar fee for each person arriving in St. Maarten. On the 2023 Government budget the “arrival tax” mentioned by the minister is listed as Tourist Tax, with an estimated revenue of NAf 10 million by the end of December. “Currently St. Maarten doesn’t have an arrival fee,” Minister Ottley said during the recent budget debate in Parliament, acknowledging that a new levy requires modification of the current tax system. “The details still have to be worked out,” the minister stated. Presented with the…
“No additional laws are required to collect taxes related to Airbnb, those taxes can be collected under the current tax system,” said Finance Minister Ardwell Irion during the 2023 budget debate in Parliament, last week. New on the budget is projected income from tax on Airbnb stay to the tune of NAf 5 million. There are an estimated 440 units on Dutch St. Maarten listed on Airbnb and Vacation Rentals by Owners (VRBO), two online marketplaces for lodging and homestay rentals. Minister Irion said he is following the advice of the Board of Financial Supervision CFT to have a projected…
~ “With a well-functioning Cadastre it is impossible to establish long lease twice on the same parcel of land.” ~ PHILIPSBURG — Minister Egbert Doran (Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure – VROMI) has issued a piece of land in Hope Estate in long lease for the construction of social housing, while a company called High Tech Development has held the same plot in long lease since 2012. MP Raeyhon Peterson, a member of parliament for the Party for Progress and a former acting head of Domain Affairs said during the budget debate in Parliament that he remembers the…
~ John A. Richardson on the challenges that being a senior brings ~ Mr. Editor, Please allow me some space in your well read newspaper to share my observations with the general public, your readers. One of the first things I remember from school was when it comes to math, there is an order of operations. Just like everything there is a sequence to doing and implementing things. We can choose to deviate from the order, we will always get results but those results will never be as good as when the proper sequence is followed. In other words consistency…
