PHILIPSBURG — The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has published an article about the dispute between ENNIA’s majority shareholder Hushang Ansary and the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten under the title: A US billionaire took over a tropical island pension fund – then hundreds of millions of dollars went missing. Consortium-journalists interviewed Ansary for the article, but he did not give them anything. The journalists found that Ansary set up shell companies with the help of PwC Cyprus and that he oversaw a series of transactions that drained Ennia’s pension fund. The article describes Ansary as a…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Tomorrow, November 22, the Dutch electorate votes for a new parliament and by extension for a new government. Caribisch Netwerk analyzed the political manifestos of the participating parties and took a closer look at their plans for the Caribbean part of the kingdom. Eleven of the seventeen parties mention the three autonomous countries (Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten) in their programs; ten parties mention Caribbean Netherlands (Saba, Statia and Bonaire) and three parties have nothing to say about the Caribbean part of the kingdom. According to the polls, the parties that are expected to win most of the…
PHILIPSBURG — Climate change is going to be a serious problem for the Caribbean region and in particular for Saba, Statia and St. Maarten. Scientists of the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) conclude based on the latest IPCC-report of the United Nations that the climate will become hotter and drier, especially during the dry season. The three islands will also be confronted with heavier hurricanes. (IPPC stands for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). The KNMI-scientists conclude that there is already little rainfall between December and April, but that it will become even less during the next couple of decades. It…
THE HAGUE — The parliament of Aruba caused the seven-year delay in the establishment of the kingdom law that limits the authority of the Kingdom Council of Ministers, DossierKoninkijksrelaties.nl reports. Aruba’s parliament approved the legislation only this summer, seven years after the Dutch parliament gave it the green light. Former PvdA-parliamentarian Gerritjan van Oven submitted the initiative-law in 2000, but the Dutch government did not want to cooperate. In 2016, PvdA-MP Roelof van Laar resubmitted the slightly amended law and this time it was approved. Because the law is about amendments to the Kingdom Charter it also required approval from…
PHILIPSBURG — A kingdom law that amends two articles in the Kingdom Charter limits the authority of the Kingdom Council of Ministers to issue General Measures of Kingdom Governance (Algemene Maatregelen van Rijksbestuur or AMvRB). The law was an initiative of former parliamentarian Gerritjan van Oven who submitted it almost 23 years ago, on December 28, 2000. Van Oven wanted to take away the Kingdom Council of Ministers’ authority to force cooperation from the Caribbean countries via an AMvRB. The initiative seemed to be dead in the water for years, until Roelof van Laar (like Van Oven a faction member…
WILLEMSTAD — The debate about the right to same sex marriage in Curacao and Aruba is in full swing, after the Common Court of Justice ruled that banning such marriages violates the constitutional right to equal treatment. Curacao and Aruba contested this ruling at the Supreme Court in The Hague. Curacao’s attorney Chester Peterson labeled the contested court ruling as colonial. “Same sex marriage is something from the liberal western world and the predominantly Catholic population of Curacao is not ready for it,” he said. Peterson noted that Curacao does not stand alone: “On some islands homosexuality is even punishable.”…
By Terrance Rey The analysis of the 2020 elections in St. Maarten sheds light on a crucial aspect of electoral dynamics: the impact of the number of candidates on a party’s overall performance. The proposition suggests that entering elections with a full slate of candidates, in this case, 23, significantly influences the distribution of votes and potentially secures a broader base of support for political parties. The central argument is that while the top five candidates usually secure around 65 percent of the votes, the remaining 35 percent, obtained by candidates further down the list, can make a substantial difference.…
PHILIPSBURG — It is worthwhile to enter elections with a full list of 23 candidates. This appears from our analysis of the 2020-elections. Generally, the top five vote getters on a list are good for around 65 percent of the votes, but the remaining 35 percent can still make a big difference. Take for instance the United People’s party (UP). In 2020 the party won 3,238 votes and the top five candidates were good for 2,119 votes or 65.4 percent. The remaining 34.6 percent however, represented a massive 1,119 votes – and these are all votes bought home by candidates…
PHILIPSBURG — The International Monetary fund (IMF) observes in its 2022 Article IV Consultation that public investments levels in St. Maarten are too low compared to the Caribbean region. The average Caribbean investment level is 4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but up to 2016 St. Maarten invested just 1 percent. This year, St. Maarten plans to invest in the construction of a new prison, in improvement and construction of school buildings and in the expansion of the sewage system. “In spite of these plans, St. Maarten’s investment level stays behind the Caribbean average with 1 to 1.5 percent…
PHILIPSBURG — It’s official: parliamentary elections will take place on January 11, 2024, and parties will have to submit their lists of candidates on November 22. The government published the national decree that determines these dates in a special edition of the National Gazette on Wednesday. One thing remains unclear though and that is whether the electorate will vote for a parliament of 15 seats or for a parliament of 17 seats. Article 45 of the constitution states that the parliament consists of 15 members if the population is below 60,000. With a population between 60,000 and 70,000 parliament gets…
