“We cannot drink champagne if we only have money for Coca Cola.” – Marcel Gumbs PHILIPSBURG — First MP Claudius Buncamper declared himself independent. Then Akeem Arrindell followed his example. Result: the United St. Maarten party (USp) lost its representation in Parliament. After Buncamper’s suspension that situation will soon be resolved, because his replacement will come from the USp-list In the meantime, Aging With Grace-program host Linda Richardson recently asked in a Facebook panel-broadcast what should be done about situations like this. StMaartenNews.com publisher Terrance Rey was the first one to react: “The USp has given us a practical definition…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Former Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and former Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards both expressed their support for vaccination against COVID during a Facebook-broadcast of Linda Richardson’s Aging with Grace-program. “I believe in science and I am pro vaccination,” Gumbs said, “I have tried to convince some friends and family-members to get vaccinated, but the anti-vax narrative has become stronger. One of my friends said he was not going to take the vaccine because he said he did not know what is in it. I said, do you know what is in the air we breathe? He answered: Well, God…
PHILIPSBURG — Leader of the United St. Maarten Party (USP) Pamela Gordon-Carty on Wednesday decried the amount of civil servants that are leaving government service and placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the National Alliance/UP coalition government. She said the government has created an atmosphere of hopelessness and victimization which is directly contributing to the exodus of public servants. “While I want to wish the entire population of country St. Maarten a prosperous and health filled new year beginnings, I would also want to express my dissatisfaction with what has been going on in plain sight right here.…
The Sitting Representatives of the People of Sint Maarten, the Government, Prime Minister, Council of Ministers, Political Parties, Politicians, aspiring Politicians and aspiring Representatives of the People of Sint Maarten, passionate advocates for good causes, visionaries, ambitious young people with vision, retired professionals and those having gained much experience along the paths of their careers, as well as Country development contributors of all kind, it is imperative that we all continuously live lifestyles of INTEGRITY in order to be good examples and role models to our children, teenagers, as well as young adults of our Country Sint Maarten. The writings…
Former Lt. Governor, former APS Chairman of the Board, former member of the Law Enforcement Council, Managing Director of Seven Seas and present member for St. Maarten on the Progress Committee, Franklyn Richards is a man, who when he speaks, we listen carefully. In Linda Richardson’s Facebook program Aging With Grace, Richards had a lot to say and what he said boiled down to the apparent lack of professionals to carry out a strong government administration in St. Maarten. Richards’ words can be considered highly critical of the current state of affairs, however, as a senior advisor to government, his…
PHILIPSBURG — Former Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards observed during a Facebook-broadcast of the Aging with Grace-program hosted by Linda Richardson that the government “really needs to strengthen itself in various areas.” Richards gave a personal overview of the current state of affairs, after first noting that having the longest sitting government brings about stability. However: “We have a lack of professionals to carry out a strong government administration.” He added that the government needs to look at a variety of subjects, like tax reform, economic reform, reform at the justice chain and, first and foremost, reform of the education system.…
PHILIPSBURG — The Court for Civil Servants Affairs confirms in a ruling dated January 17 that the dismissal of Louis Brown as the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) is justified. A national decree dated June 28, 2021, confirms Brown’s dismissal for neglect of duty. As far as we have been able to establish, this decree was up to now not published in the National Gazette. Brown’s dismissal came after he approved a settlement with the Alegria Resort about granting the right of long lease to a parcel of water of 13,525 square…
PHILIPSBURG — Visiting tourists will be charged with a health levy of $30 every time they visit St. Maarten if an initiative law proposed by Member of Parliament Rolando Brison (UP) becomes a reality. Brison announced his initiative in a press release last week, explaining that his National Ordinance Tourism Health Levy would add a mandatory basic accident insurance to the already existing requirement that tourists have health insurance. The draft law leaves administering this additional insurance to Social and Health Insurances SZV. “This will allow us to withhold part of the collected levy from the debt government owes to…
By Terrance Rey We are good in hiding things. Poverty is one of the things we are good in hiding. It is hidden so well that you would be inclined to blame the poverty itself for staying hidden so well. But that is an inherent part of poverty in St. Maarten. We are a proud people and we do not like to admit to anyone that things are financially tough with us. Not to anyone and certainly not to ourselves neither. I grew up hearing things like “Money don’t grow on trees,” “Money don’t grow on my back,” and “Do…
BEACON HILL — Residents of Beacon Hill paid $250,000 to pave Beacon Hill Road in 2007 and have since come up with other initiatives to improve accessibility and safety on the small peninsula. But today Pride of Beacon Hill residents’ association sees its efforts thwarted by Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment & Infrastructure VROMI Egbert Doran who denies a permit for the existing security entry hut in Beacon Hill while allowing commercial development in this residential-only neighborhood. The new year has barely begun and members of Pride of Beacon Hill (PBH) are already preparing the filing of objections…
