From our Correspondent ANGUILLA — A wave of frustration and anger have swept through Anguilla as about 200 residents joined forces in a peaceful protest outside the premises of Republic Bank (Anguilla) Limited, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. The protest, organized by a group of Anguillians and residents, aimed to address the financial losses suffered by customers due to unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts. Led by Mrs. Melisha Maccow-Niles, Tara Carter, and Anoushka Romney, the protesters gathered to express their grievances and demand accountability from the bank. The group, which represents a fraction of affected customers, delivered a formal communication…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar My publisher Terrance Rey posed the question whether we can be both a socialist and a capitalist country. Interesting question. American politicians tend to use socialism as a derogatory term, accusing their government of handing out taxpayers money like there is no tomorrow. But who is paying those damn politicians? Exactly, the tax payers. So it is fair to say that they live in a closed – quite comfortable – socialist society of their own. And they are happy with it; otherwise they would go and do something useful. Yet, the rest of the world considers the…
PHILIPSBURG — No more meetings of parliament without a quorum; assistance from the police to remove belligerent parliamentarians from a meeting and undesired visitors from the parliament building; and rules for virtual meetings when circumstances require this. These are the most significant changes to the rules of order for parliament. The new rules went into effect per May 1. The previous rules of order made it possible to hold a meeting without the required quorum. When after two meetings without a quorum, the third meeting also failed to have a quorum the meeting could then continue. No more: under the…
PHILIPSBURG — In light of recent developments regarding the vetting process for incoming Members of Parliament, the opposition members in Parliament representing the United People’s Party (UP) and the National Alliance (NA) have formally submitted a letter to the President of Parliament, the Honourable Sarah Wescot-Williams, urgently requesting that the vetting of the documents for incoming MPs not be further delayed and that it be handled by Friday this week. The honourable Omar E.C. Ottley and the honourable Silveria Jacobs, faction leaders two largest political parties issued a joint press release on Tuesday afternoon in which they clarified the stance of the…
PHILIPSBURG — New Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT), Grisha Heyliger-Martin, has pointed out that one of her priorities will include the Marketplace. Speaking shortly after being sworn-in by Governor Ajamu on Friday, Heyliger-Marten said, “One of the key areas we definitely have to work on is improving our product.” “We have allowed town to degenerate into what some now call a ‘ghetto.’ That is not who we are. We have to reverse that image. Let’s face it, town needs a facelift,” said Minister Heyliger-Martin. “There is an urgent need for the beautification of Philipsburg, including the…
PHILIPSBURG — The board of the Unified Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM) expresses profound disappointment with the handling of the credentials of incoming Members of Parliament (MP) in recent parliament proceedings. While recognizing the inherent nature of opposition politics, the URSM underscores that the conduct of political affairs must not compromise the efficient execution of the people’s business. Under Article 45 of the Constitution, Parliament is comprised of 15 members, a legal framework that mandates the filling of vacant seats within the body. As the law states, when a parliamentarian assumes a ministerial role, their seat is filled by another…
PHILIPSBURG – Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina and Minister of VSA and Acting Minister of VROMI Veronica Jansen-Webster made a tour of the GEBE power plant, amid rising concerns about power cuts and problems with billing. Minister Jansen-Webster- who worked in the past as Chief Operations Officer at GEBE – said in an interview that the government is looking at ways to help GEBE. Prime Minister Mercelina emphasized in the same broadcast his focus on sustainability, not only in terms of the provision of power and water to the community but also in the field of healthcare. “Under the given…
PHILIPSBURG — Today’s continuation of a public meeting of Parliament to vet the credentials of incoming members of Parliament Viren Kotai (DP) and Richinel Brug (URSM) failed to achieve quorum after Thursday’s first attempt also failed. Roll call proved that the meeting of Parliament with a significant presence of both coalition and opposition members no longer had a quorum as the opposition members walked out after MP Egbert Jurendy Doran triggered the call for a roll call. Critical to the failure to make a quorum today is the absence of MP Ludmila De Weever of the PFP party and the…
PHILIPSBURG– In today’s public meeting of Parliament, Member of Parliament and Leader of the UPP faction Omar E. C. Ottley raised serious concerns about the ability of the current coalition government to govern effectively. As it stands, the current coalition does not have the support of majority of Parliament since Thursday last week. The chaos witnessed during the recent meeting today underscores a deeper issue within the government’s ability to govern effectively. Last week, this crucial meeting to approve the credentials of two soon-to-be MPs could not proceed due to a lack of quorum by the current “majority” of the…
PHILIPSBURG — After a period of relative silence, the National Alliance faction in the Parliament of St. Maarten issued a press release on the evening of Monday, May 6, 2024. The press statement reads as follows: “St. Maarten’s political landscape is at an impasse as the 2×4 coalition is faced with a crisis of confidence, raising questions about its capacity to govern effectively. Recent events have highlighted significant divides within the coalition, with key coalition members demonstrating a lack of trust in their own coalition. The situation unfolded last week when Members of the NOW party and a Member of…
