PHILIPSBURG — Rising food prices pose a huge problem for many families on the island and the government is feverishly looking for alternatives. Recently, Minister Ottley (Economic Affairs and Tourism, as well as Public Health) announced that he is researching options to lease land for agricultural purposes in other countries, like Suriname. Whether that will do anything to bring food prices down, remains to be seen. In the meantime, parliamentarian Chanel Brownbill (United St. Maarten party) has jumped on the food prices bandwagon with a press release that does little more than stating that there is a problem. Nevertheless, the…
Author: The Publisher
Julio R. Romney Political Analyst With one-third (5 out of 15) Members of Parliament having declared themselves as “Independent Members of Parliament”, this clearly undermines the fabric of our statutory Election System of Proportional Representation and endangered the application of proportional representation. It presents a danger for several reasons. Chapter 4 of the Constitution clearly states that the composition of Parliament shall be based on proportional representation within the limits to be laid down by national ordinance. This means that the make-up of Parliament is required to reflect or “represent the entire populace of Sint Maarten”, elected by proportional representation.…
PHILIPSBURG — Who owns Sun Resorts and, by extension, Mullet Bay? That question was the cornerstone of a dispute in court between Hushang Ansary and the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten. Mullet Bay is an asset of insurance company ENNIA; since 2018 the insurer is under management by the Central Bank. Hushang Ansary acquired Ennia in 2006 and it did not take long before Mullet Bay started playing a major role in the financial wellbeing of the insurance company. Ansary, the majority shareholder and director of Sun Resorts, transferred shares Sun Resort held in Mullet Bay to Ennia.…
~ Two new MP’s support the coalition~ PHILIPSBURG — In a joint statement issued by the leadership of the National Alliance (NA) and United People’s (UP) Party it has been confirmed, that it was a success; a proactive measure to ensure stability within the governing coalition. This was mentioned many weeks ago when they began exploring options to broaden the coalition. “After many discussions regarding support for the sitting government, we hereby inform the public that the government, coalition, and by extension its governing accord in its present form, despite the announcements of independence by sitting coalition members, has the…
~ Two new MP’s support the coalition~ PHILIPSBURG — In a joint statement issued by the leadership of the National Alliance (NA) and United People’s (UP) Party it has been confirmed, that it was a success; a proactive measure to ensure stability within the governing coalition. This was mentioned many weeks ago when they began exploring options to broaden the coalition. “After many discussions regarding support for the sitting government, we hereby inform the public that the government, coalition, and by extension its governing accord in its present form, despite the announcements of independence by sitting coalition members, has the…
~ Two new MP’s support the coalition~ PHILIPSBURG — In a joint statement issued by the leadership of the National Alliance (NA) and United People’s (UP) Party it has been confirmed, that it was a success; a proactive measure to ensure stability within the governing coalition. This was mentioned many weeks ago when they began exploring options to broaden the coalition. “After many discussions regarding support for the sitting government, we hereby inform the public that the government, coalition, and by extension its governing accord in its present form, despite the announcements of independence by sitting coalition members, has the…
PHILIPSBURG — MP Angelique Romou on Wednesday issued a press statement in time for the commemoration of International Literacy Day on Thursday, September 8th, 2022, announcing the launch of her “Reading is LIT! with MP Romou” reading program. MP Romou said “As we know, Thursday September 8th, 2022 is International Literacy Day and in honor of this spectacular day, I have launched the “Reading is LIT! with MP Romou” reading program. This initiative is not only for the entire month of September, but it continues well throughout the 2022/2023 school year. MP Romou will be dedicating her free time, every…
~ Gives special recognition to SZV, ATS, and SMDF ~ PHILIPSBURG — The Minister of Finance, Mr. Ardwell Irion, recently presented the teams of Social & Health Insurances (SZV) and Audit Team St. Maarten (ATS) with special recognition for their collaboration in the execution of the Business Payroll Support (SSRP) program of 2020-2021. The St. Maarten Development Foundation (SMDF) also received special recognition from Minister Irion for executing the Employee Income Support Program, which falls under the umbrella of SSRP. “I am genuinely proud of the efforts put forth by the employees of SZV and ATS, as the workers who…
Dear Editor, Democracy is defined as: ‘a system of government by the whole population or eligible members of a state or country, typically through elected representatives.’ Most countries execute democracy via representatives because it would be very difficult for the entire population to run the day to day activities of the country. To allow Democracy to function, most countries use an electoral system to elect the representatives. These representatives are elected for a specific length of time and in a specific system. No country has a perfect system as can be seen in the United States as Trump almost blew…
PHILIPSBURG — Aurora InfoTech submitted a report to utilities company GEBE about the circumstances that led to the Blackbyte ransomware attack on the company on March 17. Its findings are at times staggering. “One needs only to look at the cabling at the rear of the equipment racks in the IT-room to better understand the network’s lack of management and upkeep,” the report states. That’s a nice way of saying that GEBE’s network was in a shambles in the run-up to the ransomware attack. Aurora’s 48-page report reveals the weaknesses of GEBE’s IT-systems and provides a detailed insight into the…
