PHILIPSBURG — The Parliament spends hundreds of thousands of guilders each year on its membership of Parlatino without showing any tangible results. This appears from an audit of the General Audit Chamber into the effectiveness of the Parlatino-membership. The annual Parlatino membership fee totals 702,000 guilders ($392,179) and parliamentarians spent more than 2.1 million guilders ($1,173,184) a year on travel and accommodation to attend meetings of this organization. The Audit Chamber surveyed parliamentarians about the effectiveness of the Parlatino-membership. Seven out of fifteen MPs responded. Six out of these seven agree to setting criteria for specific flight classes and for…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — The General Audit Chamber’s audit into public sector travel contains a handful of recommendations aimed at improving accountability. Among them is the establishment of a national decree containing general measures (Lbham) about accommodation expenses and travel insurance for civil servants. The Chamber furthermore recommends to make economy class the standard for traveling, to split the per diem into travel and lodging and meals and incidentals and to require the return of unspent per diem. In 2022, the year covered by the audit, government and parliament spent 1.24 million guilders ($692,737) on travel and accommodation. This was an increase…
By Hilbert Haar Nothing surprises me anymore about politics in St. Maarten so the coalition-agreement the URSM signed with the DP, NOW and PFP did not come like a bat out of hell either. The four parties have eight seats and therefore a parliamentary majority. I have no argument with that. But when I think about the process, I think that there is something very wrong. Why? Under normal circumstances, the winner of the elections, in this case the National Alliance (NA), gets to propose the appointment of an informateur to the Governor. This character is something like a scout,…
PHILIPSBURG — Four number one candidates were outvoted by other candidates during Thursday’s parliamentary elections. Ludmila de Weever bested Melissa Gumbs on the Party for Progress list with 576 to 462 votes; Egbert Doran got the better of party leader Silveria Jacobs on the National Alliance list with 539 to 469 votes. The UP-list saw the political demise of party leader Rolando Brison who stayed with 256 votes far behind Omar Ottley (775), Akeem Arrindell (355) and Fernando Lacroes (312). Unites St. Maarten party leader and number one candidate Pamela Gordon-Carty was bested by Gromyko Wilson with 193 votes and…
PHILIPSBURG — The National Alliance (NA) sailed to a comfortable win in the parliamentary elections on Thursday by winning 3,468 of the 14,490 votes; good for 23.9 percent. The NA left the United People’s party (UP) far behind; the green party won 2,837 votes (19.6 percent), a difference of 631 votes. Newcomer Unified Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM) led by Luc Mercelina did surprisingly well by claiming third place with 2,020 votes. The Democratic Party (DP) followed with 1,976 votes and the Party for Progress with 1,721. Christophe Emmanuel’s party NOW took sixth place with 1,488 votes. The United St.…
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Met de naderende verkiezingen heeft een prominente politieke partij een voorstel naar voren gebracht in haar manifesto dat aandacht behoeft. Het voorstel pleit voor voorkeursbehandeling bij baantoewijzingen, met name voor personen die in St. Maarten zijn geboren, voor verschillende functies, waaronder rechters en aanklagers. Hoewel dit gebaar bij velen sympathie kan opwekken, staat het inherent haaks op onze Grondwet. Onze Grondwet staat centraal als fundament waarop onze wetten en maatschappelijke normen zijn gebouwd. Het schrijft expliciet gelijke behandeling voor alle individuen binnen St. Maarten voor, ongeacht hun afkomst of geboorteplaats. Discriminatie op basis van geboorte of afstamming is uitdrukkelijk verboden…
Dear voters, As the imminent election approaches on January 11, the choice facing our nation is critical. It’s not merely a matter of selecting names on a ballot; it’s about defining the path our country will tread for the foreseeable future. My name is Terrance Rey, and I implore each voter to consider their choice wisely and with a focus on the future. In the cacophony of political promises and rhetoric, it’s easy to become disillusioned. The blame game prevails, with fingers pointing to the past, dragging down the hopes of new entrants like myself. I acknowledge the prevailing skepticism,…
Newcomer on the National Alliance list is candidate number 21, Terrance Rey, publisher of StMaartenNews.com. Rey ran in the 2020 elections as candidate number 12 on the Christian Party, SMCP list. From 2010 until May 2012, Rey served as Policy Advisor in the Parliament of St. Maarten and from June 2012 he has served as the Deputy Secretary of the Progress Committee St. Maarten overseeing the plans of approach for, among others, the Ministry of Justice. This year, 2024, Rey is celebrating 30 years in the travel business and over 20 years in the aviation industry as a travel agent,…
