St. Maarten residents march for early elections

SATURDAY, 18 MAY 2013

~ Action continues Monday at Parliament Building ~

PHILIPSBURG–”Enough is enough, the change starts with us,” a group of residents chanted repeatedly as they marched to Philipsburg on Friday to denounce corruption, promote the rights of citizens to vote and to press for early elections.

The group of about 200 marchers, who were visibly frustrated with the current political situation, is pushing for early elections.

The action will continue on Monday, at 10:00am, at the Parliament House on Back Street. Rene “Koto” Wilson, one of the coordinators, said that the march will continue every day until early elections are called.

The procession started small when it left the starting point at Le Grand Marché, but grew to about 200 by the time it arrived at the Government Administration Building where some persons had been waiting.

With the St. Maarten flag being held in front of the procession, marchers, some of them holding up placards, chanted as they wound their way along Bush Road, Walter Nisbeth Road and to the Government Building.

Radio personality Mercedes “Electra” Wyatt, was on a loudspeaker guiding marchers with chants. “New elections,” “Know your rights,” and “Democracy Democracy,” were some of the things marchers said.

The placards reflected their sentiments. Some of them bore messages for Members of Parliament (MPs) and Ministers. “No gunslingers, no musical chairs, no two-seat Prime Minister, Laville has to go, time for early elections,” read one of the placards. “If you don’t vote, you lose your right to complain,” read another. “Honourable Romain Laville, are you for the people of St. Maarten?” another asked. A similar one was directed to Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin.

A number of the marchers took the loudspeaker and aired their grievances while outside the Government Administration Building. At one point one of the marchers urged Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams to “come out” of the building and face the people.

“Prime Minister how many more signatures do you need, how many more people do you need to see. We need early elections,” one person said on the loudspeaker. A few ministers entered and exited the building while protestors were outside.

Wilson, who wore a T-Shirt which read “We the electorate control the government” thanked the people who came out as they had shown interest. He said some persons were afraid to march out of fear of being victimized. He said the demonstration will continue until early election is called. “This is just the beginning,” he said.

He said too that the Dutch Prosecutor will have to be called in to finalise the many open investigations against public officials. Several MPs and political figures were outside the government administration building while protestors were there. The coordinators of the march urged the public to come out in numbers for the continuation of the action on Monday, at 10:00am, at Parliament House on Back Street. The public was also urged to continue signing the petition, which will be presented to the President of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel next week.

Source: The Daily Herald

No confidence motion against four ministers passed by new coalition on St. Maarten

TUESDAY, 14 MAY 2013

~ Legality of meeting called into question ~

PHILIPSBURG–The “new coalition” pushed forward with a meeting of parliament on Monday morning and passed a motion of no confidence against four ministers of the current National Alliance (NA)-led coalition with independent Member of Parliament (MP) Romain Laville chairing the meeting. This meeting took place after President of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel postponed the meeting until Friday due to some Members of Parliament heading to Curaçao for the funeral of Curaçao MP Helmin Wiels.

The continuation of the meeting was not without hiccups as there were several issues with the broadcast of the meeting and the availability of a general secretary of parliament to record the minutes.

The country is now in a state of further limbo as the public waits to see whether Ministers William Marlin, Roland Tuitt, Silveria Jacobs and Romeo Pantophlet have to immediately vacate their office based on the motion or if the meeting can be considered null and void by Governor Eugene Holiday.

The new coalition, comprising the eight MPs of United People’s (UP) party, Democratic Party (DP) and Laville, consider the motion as duly passed and that all procedures were followed when they opted to continue with the meeting after the postponement notice was sent out.

Laville said after declaring the motion passed that he “would have loved” to have the matter dealt with “in a professional and democratic manner” and that the country did not find itself in a similar position as happened in Curaçao the latter part of last year. However, a similar situation has occurred here.

However, Samuel (NA), who followed the proceedings from the public area, considers the meeting “a gathering” and not in accordance with the procedures of the Rules of Order. He plans to seek an audience with the governor on the way forward (see related story).

The no confidence motion was presented by MP Roy Marlin (DP) and accepted “unanimously” by Parliament as no individual voting took place. Marlin said it was the constitutional right of the MPs to pass no confidence motions. The call for early elections is not justified, because the Constitution states that Parliament represents the people and there is no crisis as a majority has already decided to form a new government, he said.

MP Sylvia Meyers (UP) also echoed Marlin’s sentiments as did MP Jules James (UP) before the motion was passed.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, James added that the NA and independent MP Frans Richardson want “to circumvent democracy” by their move to have the meeting postponed until Friday.

With the motion passed, the governor has to follow the instruction from Parliament, James said, pointing out that if the governor has challenges he doesn’t have to look far for examples of similar occurrences and there are examples from Curaçao and The Netherlands.

NA is “playing for time” and “acting like crabs,” James said. They should “be men and face” the loss of the majority like UP did in May 2012.

Upon learning that the meeting was postponed until Friday, the new coalition MPs gathered in the General Assembly Hall of Parliament House to work out a strategy to move forward. Laville assumed his role as deputy president of Parliament and attempted to get one of the general secretaries to come to the hall to record the meeting. His request was met with refusal, Laville stated when the meeting got underway.

Laville proposed the appointment of Edwin Gumbs, a former member of a provincial council in The Netherlands, to act as a recorder for the meeting in the absence of a general secretary of Parliament. That proposal was approved by the MPs.

The next hurdle to the meeting was getting the audio recorded and for it to be broadcast live on St. Maarten Cable TV.

Sound technician Alvin Prescod was told by several MPs from the new coalition to broadcast the meeting, while he was instructed by Samuel not to continue broadcasting, because the meeting was postponed. Prescod continued the recording for some time before he left the sound booth. This resulted in the television broadcast only showing Laville in the seat of the president of Parliament and the voices of the various MPs being heard as they took turns to speak. The meeting was also carried live on Pearl Radio 98.1FM.

Explaining why the new coalition was pushing forward with the meeting, Laville said there was no reason for the second agenda point of the motions not to go ahead because the MPs who requested the meeting and the first agenda point wanted a postponement until Friday. He said when the meeting was postponed the second agenda point was not taken into consideration. A discussion to this effect was held with Samuel in a “presidium meeting.” However, Samuel says no such meeting took place.

“I am saddened that we have come to a situation on St. Maarten where democracy doesn’t have a day in its own court,” Laville said, adding that the majority of Parliament was being hampered in their attempts to get this meeting. It is “extremely unfortunate” that the meeting was plagued by “sabotage,” he said referring to the broadcast and recording.

At the end of the meeting, he said, “We live in a democracy” and based on that the meeting took place “whether or not there is more sabotage.”

A sizable gathering of people gathered in the public seats to follow the proceedings, including UP leader Theo Heyliger who has not been to the Parliament Building for a meeting since May 2012, when his then governing coalition lost its majority in Parliament.

Source: The Daily Herald

Controversial parliament meeting sends five ministers home

POSTED: 05/14/13

St. Maarten – In a controversial parliament meeting the new majority of UP, DP and Independent MP Romain Laville passed a motion of no confidence against Ministers William Marlin, Roland Tuitt, Roland Duncan, Silveria Jacobs and Romeo Pantophlet. Parliament President Drs. Rodolphe Samuel considers the meeting invalid and said he will take his concerns to Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday.

The controversy began already last week when the new majority requested a meeting to be held on Friday. Samuel asked for a clarification, and as a result no convocation for the Friday-meeting went out. Then, the new majority sent another letter on Friday, asking Samuel to add their agenda-point to a meeting requested to be held yesterday by National Alliance members Frans Richardson, George Pantophlet and Louie Laveist. While Samuel honored that request, the three NA-MPs sent another letter on Sunday, asking to postpone yesterday’s meeting because they were traveling to Curacao to attend the funeral of Helmin Wiels.

However, yesterday morning Frans Richardson and NA-MPs Hyacinth Richardson and Dr. Lloyd Richardson were all spotted in the parliament building, while Richardson announced a press conference for later in the afternoon.

Samuel was present in the parliament building, as was second general secretary Vandijk Bell. Samuel refused to preside over the meeting the new majority wanted to convene, and he ordered Bell not to cooperate. The parliament then met under the presidency of Romain Laville and appointed Ed Gumbs as its secretary.

Samuel attempted to prevent a broadcast of the meeting, but MP Leroy de Weever apparently convinced the operators of the equipment to do otherwise.

In the audience attending the meeting were DP-President Michael Ferrier, UP-leader Theo Heyliger, Prime Minister Wescot-Williams’ son Andy, environmentalist Rueben Thompson (holding up a sign that read “New elections”) and MP Sylvia Meyers-Olivacce’s husband Toochie.

The motion tabled in the meeting refers to the governing declaration UP, DP and Laville signed on May 6 and sent to Prime Minister Wescot-Williams and Governor Holiday. “The signatories to this declaration have declared that the Council of Ministers no longer enjoys the majority support of parliament,” the motion states, adding that this situation requires of ministers to immediately surrender their offices.

Laville, in his role of acting president of parliament, overruled Samuel’s decision not to hold the meeting.”The majority of parliament decides,” he said. “In the absence of the secretary who refused to be in the meeting we have put in place Ed Gumbs. Any objections?”

When no objections were put forth, Gumbs was accepted as the parliament’s secretary.

Laville said that he was ‘saddened” about the situation.

DP faction leader Roy Marlin said that elections are only called for if Members of Parliament are unable to form a majority.”If the majority decides that a government is formed and it falls again tomorrow- that is within our constitutional rights,” he said.

Before giving the floor to UP-interim faction leader Sylvia Meyers, Laville remarked that it is “extremely unfortunate that sabotage takes place to prevent us from having this meeting. We live in a democracy. Whether or not there is sabotage, democracy must rule.”

MP Meyers-Olivacce referred briefly to articles in the constitution to underline that the course of action taken by the majority is the correct one. UP-MP Jules James spoke of experiencing growing pains.”

Parliament passed the motion unanimously.

Afterwards, MP Jules James came to the press room to make a statement in which he labeled the ritual dance with the parliament meetings as a political move. “Appointed ministers sending home elected representatives, this cannot happen,” he said. “The governor must honor this motion. There is no need for elections. Don’t think that the UP did not have the same sentiments last year. But there is a time and place for elections. The system should not be circumvented. The National Alliance is only playing for time. William Marlin and the others know very well how it works. Now they are hiding and acting like crabs.”

Parliament President Samuel said later yesterday morning that he had handled all correspondence about the meetings last week by the book. “I deal with all correspondence the same way. It is extremely unfortunate to read somewhere that I handled some letters more swiftly than others.”

Samuel has strong doubts about the validity of yesterday’s parliament meeting. “It is unusual that this meeting took place,” he said. “There was no convocation and the president and the secretary were in the building. This does not have my blessing. It was wrong. If you are responsible you do not do this. The reason why this took place? I don’t know.”

Samuel said that he was going to call the governor to inform him about the situation. “I do not believe we can do this,” he said, referring to the meeting the eight MPs held. “This was not a meeting of parliament. There are rules and they have to be respected.”

Source: Today Newspaper St. Maarten

Samuel: Coalition ‘gathering’ not a meeting of Parliament

TUESDAY, 14 MAY 2013

PHILIPSBURG–“Something unusual” is how President of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel described the “new coalition” moving ahead with a meeting and sacking four ministers on Monday after he had postponed it until Friday. He intends to seek an audience with Governor Eugene Holiday about the procedure followed as he considers Monday’s proceedings “a gathering” and “not a valid” meeting of Parliament.

The session “does not have my blessings” and was “terribly wrong” in the way the matter played out, he told the press after the session concluded. “This is not what you do with a parliament. If you are responsible as a parliament, you don’t do this.”

Speaking to the press after the session concluded, Samuel pointed out that he and Deputy General Secretary of Parliament Van Dyke Bell had been present all day in Parliament House, yet the new coalition of parliamentarians from United People’s (UP) party, Democratic Party (DP) and independent Member of Parliament (MP) Romain Laville had opted to go ahead with a meeting with Laville chairing in the capacity of Deputy President of Parliament.

Samuel challenged the legality of Laville chairing the meeting while he was present in Parliament House.

He further pointed out that the session had no general secretary to record the meeting. However, before proceeding with the agenda points, the new coalition appointed Edwin Gumbs, a former provincial legislator in The Netherlands, as recorder for the meeting.

The meeting was carried out without a convocation being sent to MPs, Samuel said.

He also does not recognise Gumbs as a recorder for the meeting as he is not a staff member of Parliament.

Samuel also said because the “gathering” was not a meeting of Parliament it should not have been broadcast live. He considered the new coalition’s instruction to Parliament’s sound technician Alvin Prescod, to record and broadcast the meeting, bullying.

The new coalition conducted the meeting not as a new session, but as the convening of the meeting Samuel had postponed until Friday, stating that a majority of the MPs were present thus the meeting could continue.

Samuel said he had “no idea” how the new coalition had decided on the process in the way they had, especially after he had postponed the meeting on the request of National Alliance (NA) MPs. “Whatever took place in the hall is to the responsibility of those who did it.”

Samuel said he had answered every letter submitted by the new coalition as well as from the National Alliance (NA) and independent MP Frans Richardson on time and according to the Rules of Order. He took offence to an article in this newspaper that stated he had not set a date for the meeting requested by the new coalition.

While Samuel was referring to answering letters, the article specifically started that no convocation for the meeting requested by the new coalition on May 7 was sent out, unlike his immediate setting of the meeting on the political developments as requested by NA and Richardson. This fact that the request for an urgent meeting of Parliament to deal with the no confidence motion was not honoured was pointed out in a letter from the coalition to Samuel dated May 9.

That letter referred to “… the fact that the undersigned parties requested that the meeting be kept on Friday, May 10, 2013, and that no convocation for the meeting was received up to Thursday, May 9, 2013, in the evening. We hereby request you to have our request dated May 7, 2013, added as an agenda point to the meeting convened for Monday, May 13, 2013.” That letter was signed by DP MPs Leroy de Weever and Roy Marlin and UP MPs Gracita Arrindell and Johan Leonard.

Samuel added the point from the new coalition as the second agenda point for Monday’s meeting and informed MPs of Friday afternoon.

In his press conference, Samuel referred to the new coalition’s first letter of May 6 as one that just pointed out the five ministers who no longer had majority support in Parliament, thus it was not a basis for calling a meeting. He communicated this to the new coalition and asked for clarification.

That clarification from the new coalition came in the letter of May 9 that explained that the first letter of May 6 (booked in on May 7) only establishes that five ministers no longer enjoy majority support from Parliament. The second letter dated May 7 was the request for the urgent meeting.

Source: The Daily Herald

Frans: No time for ‘musical chairs,’ wants new elections

TUESDAY, 14 MAY 2013

~ Calls on people to voice opinion ‘loud and clear’ ~

PHILIPSBURG–”This is no time for playing musical chairs with politicians who do not know how to put you first in their government’s programme,” independent Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson told the press on Monday, May 13, as he called for the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of an early general election “to restore confidence in government.”

“If we are to remain true to our constitution, the will of the people must never be taken for granted and it is the people who should have the final word. As such, a fresh election is the answer to resolving the present impasse and returning government to normalcy,” Richardson said.

He called on the people of the country to voice their opinion “loud and clear” regarding the situation facing government. He also supports a petition circulating in the community calling for new elections. “We must call for new elections.”

He said there were no indications that functions had not been going right in the coalition prior to last week’s political shakeup that saw fellow coalition members Democratic Party (DP) and independent Member of Parliament Romain Laville pull their support from the current government led by National Alliance (NA). DP and Laville have formed a new coalition with the United People’s (UP) party.

Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams (DP) never said there was a lack of cohesion within the Council of Ministers or a lack of professionalism as claimed by DP parliamentarians as their reason for breaking from the coalition, Richardson said. Issues over the planned Justice Park were not enough to break the coalition. “Those are flimsy excuses [from DP – Ed.],” he said.

Richardson said Laville never had indicated that he had any problem with the Council of Ministers or any particular minister. In fact, Laville’s many requests for bus and taxi licences for “his people” were honoured by Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Romeo Pantophlet, as was his push for the Tempo Turns Seven event, he added. Laville “got more” than any other member of the coalition.

MP Roy Marlin (DP) also was able to have his requests honoured by the NA-led coalition, in particular the issuance of a letter of intent for the establishing of a stock exchange in the country by “his people,” Richardson said.

“By disrupting government with a very narrow majority of one member in Parliament, the UP/DP coalition is gambling with your trust by once again going down a path of uncertainty and political instability.”

The DP parliamentarians “lied” when they stated that they had not been consulted on motions tabled during the budget debate in April, he said. Richardson said he had shared his motions with the DP members, but they merely had read them and had no additions.

He pointed out that he “wholeheartedly” had supported the formation of the NA-led coalition in May 2012 because he had been convinced that the previous UP/DP government had “continuously failed” to address the many serious issues plaguing the community.

“Much to the dismay of many, after governing the country with the NA-led coalition, we are now being asked by members of the same UP/DP coalition to refrain from maintaining the support of the NA-led coalition,” he said.

Richardson is “strongly of the opinion” that the UP/DP coalition “was never interested in serving the needs of our people.” Just when the NA-led coalition was “beginning to put meaningful policies in place” to restore confidence in the economy, moves were made to break the coalition.

“They are doing so under their false pretence that the NA-led coalition lacked cohesion and professionalism. This is, of course, another one of their unsubstantiated excuses to justify their personal motives and lawless agendas. … I cannot, under any circumstance, support such excuses or condone such irresponsible and reckless action.

“Our young democracy can no longer support or maintain politicians who are hell-bent to continue ignoring our people’s needs for the narrow self-interests of their favoured few. If members of the UP/DP coalition want to be honest with you, the electorate, they should come clean and tell you why they want to be in control of the remaining months of this government’s term,” Richardson said.

He said he was “committed to doing everything possible to enable you to live a better life in St. Maarten, while ensuring that St. Maarten remains an ideal place to invest in. Working for you, the people, is my only priority.”

Richardson chided DP parliamentarians for not suggesting solutions, as he had done, for the still-to-be-completed “new” government administration building on Pond Island, a project that falls in the portfolio of Wescot-Williams. They also did not look into the issue at the Post Office, another responsibility of Wescot-Williams.

The people have been waiting for electoral reform for three years, but all that is happening is “lip talk … and if it is not lip talk, it is zumba,” he said, referring to the Prime Minister’s weekly zumba sessions at the Government Building.

Commenting on the new coalition holding a Parliament meeting on Monday despite its being postponed by Chairman of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel, Richardson said they were creating new procedures and if they wanted their agenda point to be dealt with, the new coalition should have requested their own meeting and avoided requesting that their agenda point be added to one called by MPs of the incumbent NA-led coalition. “It was very disgraceful to see what transpired.”

Source: The Daily Herald

Dutch minister Plasterk wants screening of St. Maarten ministers

MONDAY, 13 MAY 2013

THE HAGUE–Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk is in favour of subjecting the candidate ministers in the next St. Maarten Government to a strict screening process.

Plasterk said in an interview with The Daily Herald on Saturday, that he is aware that appointing new ministers was not an issue of the Dutch Government as this is an internal affair of St. Maarten, but he does hope that Philipsburg will follow Curaçao’s example to appoint only properly screened ministers.

The strict screening of the members of the professional, temporary cabinet of Curaçao has resulted in a good team that has the right intentions, said Plasterk, who credited the murdered Leader of the Pueblo Soberano (PS) and Parliamentarian Helmin Wiels for this move.

The professional cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Daniel Hodge, has taken bold steps to solve the financial crisis of government and to revive the local economy. This has generated much confidence abroad as well as in The Netherlands, and has resulted in a renewal of trust in Curaçao’s economy and finances, said Plasterk.

“You can see that things are improving in Curaçao. I sincerely hope that St. Maarten will follow this example. It would be good for the country,” said the minister, who has been in contact with St. Maarten Governor Eugene Holiday. “It is a complicated situation. The Governor is well aware of that,” he said.

Plasterk is worried about the political situation in St. Maarten where the government has fallen for a second time since the island territory attained country status in October 2010. This would be the third government to be appointed.

The National Alliance and Democratic Party government no longer has the majority in the Parliament of St. Maarten after the DP Parliamentarians and independent Member of Parliament (MP) Romaine Laville withdrew their support. The DP and the United People’s (UP) Party want to form a new government with the support of Laville.

Recent developments, including the alleged bribe of MP Patrick Illidge in the Bada Bing scandal have cast a shadow on the integrity of St. Maarten politicians. Subjecting future members of government to a strict screening ensures that a person is fit to govern, which also improves people’s trust in politicians.

Asked why the strict screening of members of the Council of Ministers was important, Plasterk said: “No country can do without a government that serves the general interest. Members of government should serve no other interest than that of the country.”

Sarah Wecot-Williams: ‘Will do what I have to do as Prime Minister’

MONDAY, 13 MAY 2013

PHILIPSBURG–”I will do what I have to do as Prime Minister” if or when the four ministers, who are pushing for the dissolution of parliament to avoid a motion of no confidence against them, decide to invoke the necessary article of the Constitution, said Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams in her weekly radio programme “One-on-One with the Prime Minister” on Friday.

“What I will do in any case when a proposal is tabled, no matter what that proposal is, and that is to make sure that it is ready, advised upon and has the legal context before it is put to Council for debate in order for a decision to be taken on it.”

Her comments stem from the effects of the political shakeup last Sunday that left the NA-led government without a majority in Parliament. Despite this, the majority in the Council of Ministers, who are now without support in Parliament, are pushing for new elections.

Right now, she said people have started to wonder about what is going to happen, what will happen to ongoing projects, complaints or contacts with a particular ministry or ministries. “It must be clear that these types of issues and circumstances have an impact on government. But, it must also be clear that government will continue and ministers will continue to work until they are replaced.”

The “best thing” in situations like these, is that there is clarity as soon as possible, “because the lack thereof significantly slows things down. The best thing for everyone at this moment, and something which I would like to emphasize, is that decisions are taken quickly, and that we move forward as quickly as possible in the interest of the people,” she said.

Wescot-Williams said a similar shift in power has occurred in the past week as happened almost a year ago that put the NA-led government in place. “We must remember that the fundamentals of our democracy are that Parliament of St. Maarten is the supreme body and that the last word rests with them. . . . The fact remains that the political reality is that a majority of Parliament, whether you agree with the actors involved or not, or whether you agree with the actors involved in 2012 or not, no longer supports the government and certain ministers. Once this happens, the processes as outlined in the law need to be allowed to take their course.”

When Parliament decides through the majority that they have no confidence in the ministers, those ministers are required by law to immediately make their positions available. “When this happens, the dismissals will have to be done by a decree of Government and new ministers will be appointed also by Decree of Government. Of course, incoming ministers will be screened in accordance with the law, to ensure that they are fit to be ministers,” stated the PM.

The governor is actually the head of government as the representative of the king. However, he has no political responsibility. When decisions are taken or a decree is sent to him for signature, the governor cannot reject it. However, the governor does have the authority to see if a decree or decision taken by ministers or the Council of Ministers is within the legal framework. If he believes the decree is in conflict with a law or in the general interest of the kingdom, he has the possibility to seek an annulment of that decision.

Parliament meeting today on political developments

MONDAY, 13 MAY 2013

PHILIPSBURG–The political development of the past week will be the topic of discussion in Parliament when a plenary session, requested by National Alliance (NA) Members of Parliament (MPs) George Pantophlet and Louie Laveist, together with independent MP Frans Richardson is convened at 10:00am today, Monday, in Parliament House.

It is expected that the eight MPs of the “new coalition” of United People’s (UP) party, Democratic Party and independent MP Romain Laville may attempt to get an agenda point to table motions of no confidence against five ministers added to the meeting. The new coalition representing the parliamentary majority requested an “urgent” meeting on Tuesday, to President of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel but to date that meeting has not been called.

The two NA Parliamentarians and Richardson requested their meeting on Monday, and a date was immediately set by Samuel, unlike the meeting requested by the new coalition.

NA Leader/Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin had said on Friday, that the three ministers serving on behalf of NA – Finance Minister Roland Tuitt, Education Minister Silveria Jacobs and himself – and Tourism Minister Romeo Pantophlet serving on behalf of Richardson and Laville, will not be resigning; instead, they want new elections.

The new coalition wants to pass motions of no confidence against those four ministers as well as Justice Minister Roland Duncan; however, Duncan is expected to be removed from the motions because he tendered his resignation on Friday afternoon in a fax to Governor Eugene Holiday.

No motion is to be tabled against Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Health and Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever.

The session is open to the public and will also be live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel120, and Pearl Radio FM 98.1. live audio via Internet will be on www.pearlfmradio.com and www.sxmparliament.org.

St. Maarten budget 2013 still not ratified

POSTED: 05/10/13

St. Maarten – More than two weeks after the 2013 Budget was approved by a majority in the parliament, it is yet to be written into law.  The national ordinance that should have followed the legislative approval of the policy document could be stalled as St. Maarten wades through the political muddle in the aftermath of the fall of the governing coalition that crafted and approved the financial instrument.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams said that as far as she was aware the 2013 budget had not been signed off on by the Governor drs. Eugene Holiday.  She said that she was unsure as to whether the document has even reached the cabinet of the governor.

The passage of the budget would have cleared the way for St. Maarten to access a 150 million guilders bond through the Central Bank for capital projects. However with the fall of the National Alliance/Democratic Party/Independent 3 government, priorities may be shifted.

Several motions passed during the budget debate, also called for the implementation of several projects that would resulted in additional spending, bring the Budget into an unbalance.

“You can’t take a decision or execute a motion without being able to look at the consequences. In terms of its execution government has to be very keen in terms of what the possibilities are. The Parliament is free to express its feelings in motions and proposals,” the prime minister said on Wednesday.

The Budget in its present form stands at 457,874,400 guilders.

CFT: No mistakes in semi-annual report on St. Maarten

THURSDAY, 18 APRIL 2013

PHILIPSBURG–The Committee for Financial Supervision CFT says there were no mistakes in its semi-annual report.

CFT was responding to recent newspaper reports quoting Finance Minister Roland Tuitt, who said CFT’s most recent semi-annual report contained a misinterpretation of facts.

CFT said it considered it important to set the record straight. The Committee for Financial Supervision submits a written report of its activities to the Kingdom Council of Ministers twice a year. This report, the so-called semi-annual report, is forwarded to the governments and parliaments of the respective countries, CFT said.

On March 28, local newspapers reported on comments made by Tuitt, who said CFT was “wrong” when it stated in its report that no audited financial statement for St. Maarten had been presented to Parliament to account for the use of tax money since October 10, 2010. Tuitt said reports had been made by the General Audit Chamber and he was going to check whether those reports had been sent to Parliament for review and approval.

However, CFT said that on page 15 of the semi-annual report it was stated that it had received the draft financial statements for the extended year 2010/2011 on October 31; thus the draft financial statements over the period starting on October 10, 2010, until December 31, 2011.

On the same page it is mentioned that the SOAB and the General Audit Chamber would report about these draft financial statements not earlier than 2013. Up until now this reaction has not been received. It is furthermore stated on page 22 that the financial statements are only available in draft and have not yet been adopted by Parliament.

The General Audit Chamber submitted its report on the financial statements of the former island territory of St. Maarten to Parliament on December 7. This concerns financial statements over the period up to October 10, 2010, and not over the period after October 10, 2010.

This report, CFT said, was shown to the media during a press conference of the Minister of Finance and was published on the Website of the General Audit Chamber. The financial statements from October 10, 2010, to December 31, 2011, have not been submitted to the General Audit Chamber as yet.

For the sake of completeness, the Committee said in a release of March 25, that “up ’til now none of the two countries have an audited annual report to present to Parliament to account for the use of tax money since October 10, 2010.”

“This statement is correct. No audited financial statement was presented to the Parliament of the period since October 10, 2010. For the Committee for Financial Supervision it is of great value that financial statements are timely drawn up and that accountability is given to Parliament, reason why this subject was explicitly brought forward in the semi-annual report,” CFT said in its release.

“The CFT cannot but conclude that the facts given in the semi-annual report are correct. To avoid errors, it is a good practice that the CFT confers with the Ministry of Finance before it submits its semi-annual report to the Kingdom Council of Ministers. The Ministry, however, did not detect any factual inaccuracies during the two weeks that it had to provide comments on the draft semi-annual report.”

Budget 2013 approved by St. Maarten parliament

THURSDAY, 18 APRIL 2013

~ Several environmental related motions passed ~

 PHILIPSBURG–The 2013 budget was passed by Parliament after 3:00am Thursday with votes of the ten members of National Alliance (NA)/Democratic Party (DP)/Independent three coalition. The four members of the United People’s (UP) party were in the meeting, but were not present when it was time to vote on the budget.

MP Leroy de Weever (DP), who had said he had issues with the budget, in particular the intention to raise revenue by increasing the turnover tax on alcohol and tobacco products, voted for the budget. He said he had been assured by Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams (DP) and Finance Minister Roland Tuitt (NA) that everything possible would be done to mitigate any shortfall in tax collection, so he voted for the budget.

The budget stands at NAf. 457,874,400, some NAf. 25,324,800 more than the approved 2012 budget. In the coming days, government will approach the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten to float a NAf. 150 million bond to allow several capital projects to be carried out, including completion of the ring road and purchase of Emilio Wilson Estate.

UP Parliamentarian Dr. Ruth Douglass was not present for the meeting.

The budget deliberations started in the Central Committee last week Monday and continued until early Thursday morning as MPs voted on 16 motions.

All six of independent MP Romain Laville’s motions were passed by Parliament although coalition partner DP parliamentarians were not present for all. UP was not present for 15 of the motions. UP was present for its motions on the establishment of a special victims unit, on allocation of money from the Crime Funds for Second Chance Foundation, and to bring relief from high GEBE bills.

Several of the motions passed unanimously as no MP asked for individual voting.

DP supported the motion to amend the Civil Code to allow employees to transfer to a new company if the one for which they worked was bought out or acquired. This would allow the employees to retain their benefits and jobs.

The motion to require a mandatory employee/employer pension plan was supported unanimously.

DP did not support the motion for free education for all primary school pupils. Individual voting was requested by DP and afterward its two MPs Roy Marlin and Leroy de Weever left the chamber. De Weever had indicated earlier that some motions would cost money that was not available.

The motion for the development of a beach protection law was passed unanimously.

The motion to establish a feeding programme for all schoolchildren was passed unanimously.

A motion supporting the planned Justice Park was adopted with eight votes for and one against from MP Marlin (DP).

Independent MP Frans Richardson’s motion urging government to complete the new government administration building and to construct Block D for the tax department and a parking garage was passed unanimously.

MP Richardson’s motion to introduce heritage education in schools and for hospitality workers was passed unanimously.

The motion instructing government to obtain the designs for the planned cricket stadium, football field and softball field and to find funds for the project was passed with eight votes for and one against from MP Roy Marlin. Motivating his vote, Marlin said the motion would have consequences on the budget and will cause an issue with the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT.

MP Richardson’s motion to obtain unrestricted access to Fort Amsterdam was adopted by all 10 coalition MPs.

The motion to protect Mullet Pond was passed by the eight votes of the five NA parliamentarians and three independent parliamentarians.

MP Richardson’s motion to make budget amendments to allocate funds from the current budget for Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) was adopted unanimously.

MP Frans Richardson’s motion to regulate election campaign materials, campaigning outside polling stations, prevent vote buying and not allow cameras and cell phones in polling stations was passed unanimously.

Independent MP Patrick Illidge’s motions to allocate NAf. 50,000 from the crime fund to support Second Change Foundation to support youngsters who have had a brush with the law was passed by 13 votes. MP Jules James (UP) was not present for the vote.

Illidge’s motion to provide 10-20 per cent relief of the GEBE bill for less fortunate and senior citizens was passed by 13 votes. MP Jules James was not present for the vote.

The UP motion to reallocate monies from the Voluntary Corps St. Maarten for the establishment of a special victims unit was not passed. Only the four UP members and De Weever (DP) voted for motion.

Moties hebben gevolgen voor krappe begroting

ZATERDAG, 20 APRIL 2013

PHILIPSBURG — Zeven van de vijftien moties die donderdag door het parlement werden aangenomen tijdens de behandeling en goedkeuring van de toch al krappe begroting, hebben financiële gevolgen daarvoor.

Boven aan de lijst staat de bouw van een cricketstadion, waarvoor fondsen gevonden moeten worden. Ook de constructie van twee kantoorgebouwen voor de overheid, die dit jaar nog moet beginnen, zal op de begroting drukken.

Verder werd een motie aangenomen voor bescherming van het milieu door de Caribbean EPIC Foundation, die een jaarlijkse subsidie van 359.000 gulden nodig heeft. Deze moties en de benodigde financiën zullen ongetwijfeld ook voor gefronste wenkbrauwen zorgen bij het College financieel toezicht (Cft). Dat heeft de begroting voor 2013 voorlopig goedgekeurd, maar moet nu kijken of die voldoet aan de gestelde criteria van het financieel toezicht.

In drie moties wordt de opdracht gegeven om financiële ruimte te maken dan wel fondsen te vinden voor de aanleg van een cricket-, voetbal- en softbalveld en de twee gebouwen voor de overheid. De moties werden ingediend door de onafhankelijke Statenleden Frans Richardson, Romain Laville en Patrick Illidge, die de NA/DP-coalitie steunen.

De motie voor gratis onderwijs haalde het met een minimale meerderheid van 8 stemmen maar werd niet door de DP-fractie gesteund omdat de kosten hiervoor nog niet bekend zijn. Dat geldt ook voor de motie voor het schoolmaaltijden-programma die unaniem werd aangenomen.

Hiervoor moet volgens het parlement samengewerkt worden met restaurants en groothandels. Laville suggereerde dat hiervoor producten gebruikt kunnen worden die vlak voor het einde van de houdbaarheidsdatum zitten, zodat deze niet weggegooid hoeven te worden door de groothandels en supermarkten.

De geplande 100 miljoen gulden voor het Justitieplan werd ook goedgekeurd. Illidge stelde daarbij voor om 50.000 gulden vrij te maken uit het Criminaliteitsfonds voor de Second Chance Foundation voor rehabilitatie en integratie van jongeren die uit de gevangenis komen.

St. Maarten Budget 2013 debate continues, parliamentarians ready to table several motions

WEDNESDAY, 17 APRIL 2013

PHILIPSBURG–Members of Parliament (MPs) continued the plenary session on the draft 2013 budget by posing a number of questions to the Council of Ministers and indicating their intentions to table a number of motions aimed at accomplishing more revenue for government, protection of the environment, a number of social issues and integrity in government.

The meeting will resume today, Wednesday, at 10:00am in Parliament House with ministers answering questions posed by MPs. Once the questions are answered the debate will move into the second round when the motions will be formally tabled and voted on.

Making his presentation, United People’s (UP) party MP Johan Leonard inquired whether Finance Minister Roland Tuitt shares the same opinion as the Social Economic Council SER about the precariousness of the monetary system with Curaçao. He also wanted an update on the monies collected by the Central Bank in taxes on money sent abroad, the number of people hired through employability programmes, efforts to create jobs for the young people and preparations for hurricane season. He disclosed that UP will be presenting a motion related to integrity in government.

Independent MP Frans Richardson requested that Tuitt explain the difference in perspective from being a board member of the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT and being finance minister. He indicated a need for a summit on unemployment and a true survey on young adult unemployment.

He also signalled his intention to table a number of motions related to Fort Amsterdam, national heritage, protection of Mullet Pond and making a change to the electoral regulations to have all campaign materials removed two days prior to elections. He also wants the “carnival” outside the polling stations to stop so people could vote in peace.

Independent MP Patrick Illidge said creative ways need to be found to raise money to cover services to the people. “We will need to create employment,” he noted, adding that medical tourism can be explored. He urged government to start a trading company to help the people and “stop running after the small man” to get taxes and fees. He was concerned about the increased tax on alcohol and tobacco products “that we are known for” as well as the rapid birth of babies that will have an impact on its social services.

National Alliance (NA) MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson said a child of two-and-a-half years should be walking and it is the same with a new country. He was happy that there was no assistance from the Dutch government, this was necessary “so we can walk independent.”

He believes that the drag racing strip and cricket stadium can do “a whole lot in the off season.” His stance is the country can do with less alcohol and tobacco as they damage society. The country has “a very lucrative” opportunity to be a sub-hub for the region.

MP Gracita Arrindell (UP) wants an update on the work of the committee dealing with the assets and liabilities of the former Netherlands Antilles. The speedy conclusion of the committee’s work would mean more money for government. She remains concerned about strategies to fill the revenue gaps if the budget goals are not met. She questioned if discussions are still ongoing with wholesalers about the increase in Turnover Tax (ToT), whether this means a revised budget figure may later be presented to Parliament for approval. She supported Tuitt’s attempts to get the promised debt relief owed to the country by the Dutch. “If we need to band together to get the money, so be it.”

Arrindell plans to table a motion for an amendment to the budget and allocate funds from underused funds to help combat domestic and relational violence.

She questioned the reinstating of the “concubine” agreement by Justice Minister Roland Duncan and queried his continued comments about the necessity of the Coast Guard.

Democratic Party (DP) MP Roy Marlin backed Duncan’s position that St. Maarten is paying for the Coast Guard, but most of the patrols and efforts are taking place around Saba and St. Eustatius. “What are we paying for?” He also said that Dutch MPs Bosman and Ronald van Raak don’t run St. Maarten and should limit their comments about the governing of the country.

He repeated his call for a fee on pre-paid phones as a means of income for government and asked about the amount of land that will encompass the Emilio Wilson Estate purchase and what part will development be allowed on. He was also concerned about government’s ability to collect the budgeted NAf. 26 million from increased ToT and queried how much is expected to be raised when the residence permit fee law is passed by parliament.

Marlin said that the boards of directors and managing directors of government owned companies need to stop acting as if they are the owners of the companies instead of government. He said it is probably time for an operational audit to be carried out at the companies as was done over a decade ago.

Plenary session on draft 2013 budget starts in St. Maarten parliament

TUESDAY, 16 APRIL 2013

PHILIPSBURG–The draft 2013 budget has entered the final stage before Parliament takes a vote on whether to approve it. The plenary session of Parliament began on Monday afternoon with the seven members of the Council of Ministers making presentations on the work of their ministries, plans and programmes for the rest of the year.

The debate went on until after 9:00pm with only United People’s (UP) party interim fraction leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Meyers-Olivacce making her statement and posing questions to ministers on issues raised in their presentations and on their portfolios in general. The debate continues today, Tuesday, at 9:00am, with more questions from MPs and answers from ministers.

The meeting was postponed until today after Democratic Party (DP) MP Roy Marlin requested a vote on whether the meeting should continue at the later hour, as the MPs, ministers and civil servants had been busy since early in the morning. The majority of MPs voted to stop the meeting for the night.

Parliament hopes to wrap up the debate and have the budget tabled for a vote of approval at least before the week comes to a close.

MP Meyers-Olivacce stated at the start of the meeting that her party had protested the closure of the Central Committee meeting early Saturday. Fellow UP Parliamentarian Jules James said UP would take the matter further, as had been stated in the party’s letter to President of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel.

Much of the information from the ministers at the beginning of the plenary session also had been put forward in the Central Committee meetings that occupied MPs for the whole of last week.

Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams stated in her presentation that other countries worldwide were “grappling” with having their budgets approved on time, so St. Maarten’s struggles were not unique. She said government was very much aware that the budget was late getting to Parliament, but it should be noted that the budget had come to Parliament having passed the scrutiny and lived up to the requirements of the kingdom laws on temporary financial supervision.

The lateness of the budget and the fact that it was made public prior to the deliberations in the Central Committee of Parliament have caused some complications. The availability of the budget online means that members of the public could and did take the opportunity to read the budget and make suggestions to government. However, due to the lateness, it is somewhat difficult to take the suggestions into consideration, she noted.

Wescot-Williams commended MPs Frans Richardson (independent) and Johan Leonard (United People’s party) for submitting their draft legislation to ban the importation, distribution and sale of single-use plastic bags. She called on the public to develop “an appreciation for cleanliness” and to be cognisant of the amount of money paid by government to keep the country clean.

Finance Minister Roland Tuitt outlined the basics of the draft budget that stands at NAf. 457,874,400, some NAf. 25,324,800 more than the 2012 approved budget. Government took no loans in 2012. For this year, the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten will be approached to float a bond of some NAf. 150 million to cover capital projects.

Once the budget is passed by Parliament, a budget booklet will be produced by the Finance Ministry, Tuitt said, as a way for the community to be better informed “about how their money will be used.”

He said keeping the balance in government’s finances “needs constant review” and buffering against external shocks to the economy where possible.

Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure William Marlin outlined several projects in his ministry, including the completion of the Dutch Quarter main road, with work slated to start during the summer months and be concluded by December 15. He will sign off soon on the advice to connect the St. Peters main road to the main sewage line on L.B. Scott Road.

Marlin also highlighted challenges faced by St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation with tenants adding rooms to rented houses, larger families living in houses designed for families of no more than four people and tenants who are delinquent with their rent.

He also revealed plans for a solar farm in Philipsburg and the possibility of replacing fossil fuel generators at the Cay Bay power plant with ones that are more environmentally friendly.

Justice Minister Roland Duncan again underscored his issues with the Coast Guard and the constraints his ministry faces with budget cuts. He said the Justice system continued to do its job in spite of many challenges.

Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Silveria Jacobs outlined her ministry’s budget per department and highlighted several projects, including a week of celebrations leading up to St. Maarten/St. Martin Day (November 11), work to get Fort Amsterdam on the World Heritage List and support for the country’s students at home and abroad.

Public Health, Social Development and Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever also outlined his ministry’s work and plans. He pointed out that customer service definitely had improved after emphasis was placed on training and upgrading. His ministry received the lion’s share of the budget increase. The bulk of the money will go to taking care of the most vulnerable groups in the community.

Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunication Minister Romeo Pantophlet told Parliament his ministry would continue to make St. Maarten a year-round destination and niche market. He plans to finalise e-zone establishment, maritime registry, bring the airport back up to category one and establish a civil aviation registry.

St. Maarten government to seek NAf. 150 million bond once budget 2013 is approved

MONDAY, 15 APRIL 2013

~ Budget debate continues today ~

PHILIPSBURG–Once the draft 2013 budget is approved by Parliament, the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten has been approached to float a bond of some NAf. 150 million to cover government’s capital expenses. The public plenary session of Parliament on the budget starts today, Monday, at 10:00am in Parliament House.

Among the projects that bond will be used to execute or complete are the ring road around Great Salt Pond and Link Six roadway. The projects are slated to start as soon as the bond is floated and some will be completed in 2014.

The Central Committee reviewed and debated the draft budget throughout last week with Members of Parliament making suggestions to better the budget and requesting documents to aid in gaining further insight.

Government hopes to get the budget passed this week to comply with the Kingdom Law on Temporary Financial Supervision for Curaçao and St. Maarten. The law, among other criteria, requires the country to have a balanced budget. Government is currently operating on the budgetary figures of 2012.

The draft budget totals NAf. 457,874,400, some NAf. 25,324,800 more compared to the 2012 approved budget. The draft budget does not contain any new policies, due to financial constraints, Finance Minister Roland Tuitt told parliament last week.

St. Maarten parliamentarians want clarity on effect of cuts in justice budget

POSTED: 04/10/13

St. Maarten – Cuts to the Ministry of Justice’s budget for 2013 continue to be a cause of growing concern and several Members of Parliament are questioning the government’s approach to spending for on the justice department. While all ministries received cuts to satisfy the Cft’s provision for the balanced 2013 draft budget, the 0.8 percent decrease in the Justice Ministry’s coffers have apparently caused quite some alarm. In 2012, that Ministry was allocated 67,440.40 guilders while this year 66, 919.10 guilders is on the books.

The Ministry has lost a little over 521 thousand guilders and there is a great deal of uncertainty about the ambitions plans that that Ministry crafted for itself as well as its compliance with the Plans of Approach agreement. Throughout the two day first round of deliberations on the draft budget, searching questions have been asked on which particular areas will be most affected by the slimming of justice money. Justice Minister Roland Duncan is set to respond today as the Central Committee meeting continues from 1:00 pm.

Yesterday United People’s Party Member of Parliament Gracita Arrindell asked the Justice Minister to identify which cuts would seriously comprise the safety and security of the nation. She indicated that just over 500 thousand guilders was allocated to the Voluntary Korps of St. Maarten (VKS) in the previous fiscal year while that institution only utilized 325 thousand guilders. Arrindell questioned the rationale behind giving the VKS such a large sum when St. Maarten Police Force had to undergo budget cuts and still desperately needs finances.

“The difference of almost 200 thousand guilders (is seen) while the regular police organizations needs funds,” Arrindell said.

She questioned whether the government had taken into account the increase of relational and domestic violence that the police have had to deal with and wondered whether the possibility existed for a social worker, psychologist or psychiatrist to be employed by the police force. Arrindell’s reasoning was that the remaining money left over by the VKS could be rechanneled to the police force.

She further requested explanation on how much money is still in the crime fund, how much of it has been used so far and what will future priority areas for the fund’s usage, since it was not mentioned in the budget.

Border Management System

St. Maarten is still awaiting an update on its fair share of the Border Management System, Arrindell stated and since no mention was made in the budget of the purchase of an immigration and border control system that Duncan had previously said could cost as much as $150 thousand, Arrindell asked how the system would then be secured.

“How are we going to secure the safety of our citizens if this item is not a priority on the list? It is not reflected in the elucidation of this budget.”

Arrindell asked whether the minister was open to securing funds from his counterparts in the Netherlands to purchase the BMS. She suggested that because of pride the minister may further delay the implementation of the system by not reaching out to the Dutch.

“It is good to have pride but it is better to have common sense in terms of safe guarding our people.”

St. Maarten’s disconnection from the border management system whose data was stored in Curacao on  November 24, means that the borders are porous until the government installs a system that can track and store all arrivals and departures through the various ports of entry.

Minister Duncan feels that all of the blame should be laid squarely at the door of the Kingdom government for allowing Kingdom partner Curacao to proceed with the disconnection.

Arrindell suggested that Duncan continue to engage the Kingdom government.

“If there are funds because of agreements within the Kingdom that are rightfully due to the people of St. Maarten; then we cannot shut the door,” Arrindell said.

St. Maarten draft budget 2013 sent to Governor Holiday

POSTED: 03/21/13

St. Maarten – Finance Minister Roland Tuitt sent the draft 2013 budget to Governor drs. Eugène Holiday Tuesday afternoon and from there it will be submitted to the parliament. Last week the Minister said at the press briefing that he would submit the budget to parliament on Friday. The minister told this newspaper yesterday that there were some technical details to be resolved, but that the draft is complete now.

St. Maarten parlementarian Patrick Illidge seen on tape apparently accepting bribe

FRIDAY, 08 MARCH 2013

PHILIPSBURG–Independent Member of Parliament Patrick Illidge has been captured in a video, apparently accepting a bribe from local adult entertainment club operator Jaap van den Heuvel.

In the video Illidge also derides Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin with multiple words of profanity, and mentions the names of “Udo” in relation to immigration, “Frederick” in relation to economic affairs and “the Minister” and “Roland” in various instances.

The video, which is clear in sound and picture, is dated September 30, 2012, and was delivered to the office of The Daily Herald recently. It shows Van den Heuvel engaged in a discussion about extension of permits for exotic dancers, as well as securing relocation documentation for his business through Illidge.

The following is the majority of the discussion verbatim. Parts were translated from Dutch, as Van den Heuvel spoke Dutch to Illidge during their conversation. The video was recorded by a surveillance camera in what appears to be Van den Heuvel’s office.

(Illidge) “The Minister, he was trying to meet with you before, but it’s tight.”

(Van den Heuvel) “What things we need now”

(Illidge) “From Roland do you have that? And give me something with your business number like where you’re registered by the chamber or something.”

(Van den Heuvel) “Registration from where? Chamber of Commerce?”

(Illidge) “Yes, a copy of that. And your other licence, which you have from before, and then the one from Roland.”

(Van den Heuvel) “Yes, the licence from 2006. I have another question, don’t forget the relocation address. We had this when we were at Maho, but can you put in that the business can close at 5:00am? You never know what they will say about when all businesses have to close.”

(Illidge) “Well, what time you want to close.”

(Van den Heuvel) “Well, because it was never transferred from Maho, so we couldn’t do anything, but they can get annoying.”

(Illidge) “Well then I’ll have to tell the Minister that. You see that’s why we wanted to meet with you so you could tell him, but anyway.”

At this point in the video, Van den Heuvel reaches for what appears to be keys to an office safe nearby.

(Van den Heuvel) “Now don’t scream right away, but at this moment I only have 15. We’re almost there, it’s almost arranged, only 30 left. You know what it is, we just had a very f***kin’ quiet month. I can’t take too much out. If I take too much out, then it will be obvious. Understand what I mean? I have added my whole salary from September and October with this.”

At this point Van den Heuvel hands Illidge money from the safe. Van den Heuvel then walks over to his desk, opens the desk drawer and produces more stacks of money, which he lays out on his desk in front of Illidge. Illidge takes the money and puts it on the chair between his legs.

(Illidge) “I told you from day one, I don’t think you trusted us. We definitely get that thing with the immigration. When you were away Krijn told me you wanted to extend one of your girls.”

(Van den Heuvel) “Sometimes girls are very good. The set that we just took on can stay until the end of February. It would be nice to have a week or two extra because of the Heineken Regatta.”

(Illidge) “But I can work with Udo, that’s what I tell you. Udo is a good guy.”

(Van den Heuvel) “So he will understand us?”

(Illidge) “Yes, listen, when I go and just say bap…listen, Udo, when he came here they didn’t want him. I talk to Roland and let Roland explain to him everything. We sat in a meeting the three of us and (inaudible) say Roland go ahead.”

(Van den Heuvel) “What is it with the f***ing Marlin? I only heard it, Patrick, I don’t know anything about it, I’m just saying it, that’s why I’m coming to you with it. … Patrick only for the money, Patrick this and whatever.”

(Illidge) We had a big standoff because he is about bullsh*t. We need to move on with the Government Administration Building, it was awful.”

(Van den Heuvel) The man doesn’t like white people.

(Illidge) Listen, f**k him! We control the government. I don’t mess with him, I just told him the time, ‘Listen, just do what the f**k you gotta do.’ They don’t like to stand for nothing. I don’t f**k around with him neither, listen what he says. I don’t give a f**k. I do what I have to do.

The conversation then turns back to the documents from the Chamber of Commerce.

(Van den Heuvel) “Listen, these copies what do I have to do with them tomorrow?”

(Illidge) “You have them for me now?”

(Van den Heuvel) “No, I’ll regulate them tomorrow had a very busy weekend.”

(Illidge) “When can I pick them up?”

(Van den Heuvel) “I will bring them to you if you want, I’m coming to town.”

(Illidge) “Call me. When you reach call me. Then I go to the girl, because he appointed a lady to work along with me on this.”

Illidge and Van den Heuvel then speak about a sewing centre project that Illidge wants to bring to St. Maarten that will cater to the production of school uniforms. After that exchange, Van den Heuvel invites Illidge for a drink.

At that point Illidge stands up with the money in his hand, saying “We have to put this shit away, though,” referring to the money he is holding. To which Van den Heuvel replies, “Just put it in your pocket.”

Illidge complies, empties his pockets of keys and other items, puts the money in his pocket and walks out with Van den Heuvel. Just before exiting the office Illidge asks Van den Heuvel if he “shares out” the fake Bada Bing dollar bills on his desk. Earlier in the video Illidge had examined the stack of bills on the desk. Van den Heuvel responds: “No only at the Heineken Regatta.” And the video ends there.

Budget 2013 to be submitted to St. Maarten parliament next week

THURSDAY, 07 MARCH 2013

PHILIPSBURG–The draft 2013 budget should be submitted to Parliament next week once the Finance Ministry completes “the final touches” on the follow-up report, Finance Minister Roland Tuitt said Wednesday.

His goal is for the draft budget to “physically reach Parliament next week.”

Tuitt, who is back from a recent trip to the Netherlands where he discussed the budget with kingdom officials, said he reiterated on the trip that St. Maarten does not have a big liquidity problem as the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT had indicated.

“Government has nothing to hide,” Tuitt said, outlining that the country has some NAf 46 million in reserves and will put another NAf 38 million in the coffers once a loan request is worked out and approved. That NAf 38 million was used in the past two years to finance capital projects.

The loan funds will also be used to pay off some government creditors, a move that will “put money into the local economy.”

“We are still reasonably solid,” the minister said.

Government is also still pursuing the remainder of the debt relief funds promised by the Kingdom Government to help give St. Maarten a healthy start as a country within the Dutch Kingdom. That money was never given and from Tuitt’s point of view the goal of the debt relief “was not attained.”

The 2010 kingdom budget had an allocation of some NAf. 120 million for St. Maarten’s debt relief. Only NAf. 63 million was paid out from that amount to cover the country’s debt to the General Pension Fund of the Netherlands Antilles APNA. The rest was held back, due to claims that St. Maarten was late submitting its bills for vetting.

The Dutch Government says the remainder of the money is not sitting in a bank account, Tuitt said.

Government is preparing to take the Dutch Government to court over the debt relief funds.

Flight controls to start as French, Dutch execute Franco-Dutch Treaty on St. Maarten/St. Martin

SATURDAY, 23 FEBRUARY 2013

~ Committee meets to iron out details ~

PHILIPSBURG–French and Dutch immigration officials will start joint controls on risk and other flights entering SXM Airport (Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA)) in St. Maarten and L’Espérance Airport in French St. Martin as part of the execution of the Franco-Dutch Treaty, Justice Minister Roland Duncan announced at a press conference on Friday.

A committee comprising Dutch and French immigration officials met for the first time on Friday to iron out in detail how the joint controls would be executed, among other issues.

Duncan told reporters that the meeting as well as the enforcement of the Franco-Dutch Treaty was “historical” given that the treaty had been ratified so long ago.

He said the intention was for joint controls to be executed. While this was originally intended for risk flights, the committee will determine which flights will be subjected to controls. The idea is for members of Police aux Frontières (PAF) to be stationed at SXM while members of the St. Maarten Immigration will be at L’Espérance Airport in French St. Martin.

Duncan said provisions had already been made to accommodate the PAF at SXM. Further steps will be made to provide them with an office, he noted. Flights will be checked “under the rules of the treaty,” he said, explaining that matters such as travel document authenticity and whether persons were authorised to enter the country based on the immigration laws would also be checked during controls.

The committee will determine how often it will meet. However, when meetings are held in Dutch St. Maarten, they will be chaired by Solicitor General Taco Stein.

Stein said the committee was to determine in its meeting yesterday what flights should be categorised as risk flights and decide how many PAF or local immigration officers would control flights based on factors such as the number of persons on board the flight.

Duncan said there would be controls at the harbours eventually. Members of the committee are Director of Immigration in St. Maarten Udo Aron; St. Maarten’s Solicitor General Taco Stein; Ajamu Baly of Duncan’s office; Commandant of Police aux Frontières (PAF) Raphaël Harle, French St. Martin Senior Public Prosecutor Flavien Noailles and Judy Honore of the French St. Martin Immigration.

The Franco-Dutch treaty is an accord between the Kingdom of The Netherlands and France intended to improve border controls at the two airports in Dutch St. Maarten and French St. Martin.

The treaty was signed on May 17, 1994, in Paris, and originals are drawn up in French as well as Dutch. Ratification proved difficult in The Netherlands. Advice from the Estates of the Netherlands Antilles, which said the treaty would have negative effects on Dutch St. Maarten’s tourism industry, initially blocked ratification. There also had been objections to the committee’s authority.

The Parliament of the Kingdom of The Netherlands decided in 1999 to postpone ratification until Dutch St. Maarten made its position clear. The treaty was eventually ratified in 2006.

‘Positive’ advice from CFT on 2013 St. Maarten budget

THURSDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2013

PHILIPSBURG–The draft 2013 budget received a “positive advice” from the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT, Finance Minister Roland Tuitt announced on Wednesday.

The response from CFT stating its satisfaction that the budget was balanced was received by the minister while he was attending the weekly Council of Ministers Press Conference.

A follow-up report on the draft budget will be prepared by government. That, together with the draft, will be sent to the Advisory Council. The budget will then be sent on to Parliament for deliberations in the Central Committee followed by the plenary session.

The budget stands at NAf. 457 million after some NAf. 25 million had to be cut on advice of CFT.
The draft budget will be before Parliament for approval sometime in March. Tuitt had originally hoped that this budget would have been presented much earlier than that of 2012.

Minister Tuitt: St. Maarten will need its own CFT

SATURDAY, 26 JANUARY 2013

PHILIPSBURG–With the five-year evaluation of the functioning of the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT slated to take place next year, Finance Minister Roland Tuitt is already setting the stage and the mindset that the country will need its own CFT-like operation.

Tuitt told the Central Committee of Parliament on Friday that if the CFT is deemed not necessary after the evaluation, because the country is up to par with its financial management, in order to keep on the right path financial supervision will have to continue.

That supervision will come not in the form of a body like the current CFT, but via review by the government’s internal financial management, Government Accountants Bureau SOAB, and ultimately the General Audit Chamber, he explained.
He informed Members of Parliament (MPs) that the draft 2013 budget is in the final stages of preparation and government is working to cut the budget by some NAf. 25 million as recommended by CFT. The proposal for the cutback was also outlined to MPs by CFT on Thursday. The minister hopes the budget will be adjusted to meet the approval of CFT and the Advisory Council in the coming two weeks so it can be tabled in Parliament in February.

“I don’t agree with CFT to cut the budget, but we will do it,” Tuitt said, explaining that government is seeking to spend money that should have been spent all along.

The proposal to increase the Turnover Tax (ToT) on alcohol and tobacco products to raise revenues for the budget will “not affect the livelihood of the common man. We thought it through,” Tuitt said, in answering a question for Democratic Party (DP) MP Roy Marlin. It will basically be “a tax on unhealthy lifestyles.”

The increases will not affect the country’s duty-free status, the minister said, allaying concerns from National Alliance (NA) MP Louie Laveist. He pointed out that cigarettes cost about US $2 here while in the United States a pack costs about US $10 and in the euro zone, eight euros. That pricing structure allows for more taxes to be levied on tobacco items, but not on alcohol because of competition from the French side.
The 2011 annual accounts should be finalised next month and work will start on the 2012 accounts so they are ready within the period stipulated by law. “We should make it within the period if we get no unforeseen circumstances,” Tuitt said. The 2010 annual accounts should already be with Parliament as it has been audited by SOAB and the General Audit Chamber.

The minister is also working on creating “a real treasury” for the country that will help out with budget preparation, government investment policy, cash flow projection and overall planning review for the annual and multiannual budgets. The present treasury department is “not doing the work of a treasury.”

Dealing with United People’s (UP) party MP Jules James’ question about government seeking a bond from the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten, the minister explained that once the budget is approved, a request for approval to acquire a loan via a bond will be submitted to CFT. The bond funds will be used to shore up the country’s reserves and carry out capital projects such as purchasing Emilio Wilson Estate for preservation.

Government has several court cases pending with creditors. If judgements are against government, the bills will be submitted to the Dutch Government to clear via the promised debt relief. Tuitt said government would use a letter from former Dutch Minister of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations Piet Hein Donner to access the money.
Government will also seek to speed up the process of dividing assets and liabilities of the former Netherlands Antilles to put a halt to Curaçao “plundering” assets belonging to St. Maarten, the minister said in response to a query from MP Gracita Arrindell (UP) about the progress of the division.

Tuitt was in Parliament for the continuation of a session that had started late October 2012. He had requested the meeting to give Members of Parliament (MPs) a status report on the country’s financial situation. The meeting was adjourned until further notice after the minister answered the questions from the first round. This was to accommodate another meeting on his schedule.

The meeting almost came to a halt before the minister had completed answering the questions, as only the NA and UP fractions were present in the General Assembly Hall; at least three fractions need to be represented for Central Committee meetings to proceed. MP Gracita Arrindell (UP) raised the issue and requested President of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel to do a roll call. However, before this could be carried out MP Louie Laveist (NA) asked for an adjournment. When the meeting resumed, independent MP Patrick Illidge was present, so the meeting continued.

Parliament upset that St. Maarten shut out from border system

SATURDAY, 26 JANUARY 2013

PHILIPSBURG–A Dutch civil servant used his position to shut St. Maarten out of the Dutch Caribbean Border Management System as a consequence of Justice Minister Roland Duncan’s stance against St. Maarten’s immigration data being managed in Curaçao, Parliament was told by the minister.

The picture of the Dutch Government’s disregard for St. Maarten’s position as an autonomous country within the kingdom painted by Duncan during Friday’s meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament left Members of Parliament (MPs) quite annoyed and adamant on getting answers from the Dutch Government.

A fervent call also was made for the civil servant Klaas de Jong to be dealt with severely for his actions, even if they were sanctioned by the Dutch Government.

Duncan said the Dutch Government had “scrapped” some NAf. 1.3 million in funding via its funding agency USONA for integrity training of Justice officers, as “a little punishment” for his refusal to sign the agreement for the joint system.
The meeting was requested by the United People’s (UP) party based on concerns that St. Maarten’s borders had been left unattended and open by the recent severing of the information-sharing and -processing service developed under the former Netherlands Antilles, with upgrades pending to cater to countries Curaçao and St. Maarten, and Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

The minister made it clear that St. Maarten’s security at this point was “better, stronger and more effective and better manned than it has even been in the Netherlands Antilles.” This is especially true now, as the border control system “never functioned properly.”

There is no vacuum in the system, he said, answering questions from MP Gracita Arrindell (UP). The shutting down of the link with the other islands has not stopped St. Maarten’s immigration, border control, police and other sectors of the Justice system from functioning. “Yes, it has been a blow. It has affected the Police Force in its job.”

However, the cut-off has not crippled operations, because the Justice Ministry purchased a passport-scanning system from the Government of Germany for some NAf. 84,000 to enable continued processing of people entering and leaving the country. Work on a complete system for the country to link all Justice departments is ongoing.

“We fought long to be a country … not to have someone run our system by remote control. … The [unsigned, ed.] agreement will compromise our security,” Duncan said, adding that the cut-off was tantamount to “blackmail” and could be deemed “colonialist” behaviour.

Dutch St. Maarten has functional cooperation in border control with St. Barths, French St. Martin and Anguilla. The French government in particular is not prepared to have its data shared with any third party.

National Alliance (NA) MP Louie Laveist said he was offended by the way St. Maarten was being treated in this situation. The country needs to stop being looked down on as “a bastard child” and being treated differently “because I don’t have coolie hair like my brother.” He added that the United States and England would not have left their citizens in an unsafe situation.

MP George Pantophlet (NA) said that after hearing about how the country was being treated, he was happy Duncan had sought other avenues to protect and take care of it.

MP Silvia Meyers-Olivacce (UP) said, “It’s time we demand respect in our own country. … Let’s start putting our heads together as Parliament to deal with the situation. The situation is deeper than we think.”

MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson (NA) also was “appalled” by the circumstances under which the country had been cut off from a system of which it is a co-owner. “This is beyond appalling.” He said it appeared as though St. Maarten had been put in a state of “do what I want and say what I want” by the Dutch Government. “There is no form of safety guaranteed within the kingdom and this for a country considered a bastion of justice.”

MPs were in agreement that the matter of the border management system and the treatment of the country needed to be addressed in a collective and direct manner.

The session with Duncan will resume in the near future, at which time he will deal with crime statistics and regulation of security companies.

St. Maarten minister Duncan again expounds on need for Justice Park

THURSDAY, 24 JANUARY 2013

~ MPs weigh in on need for project ~

PHILIPSBURG–Justice Minister Roland Duncan was in Parliament for a third time in the continuing discussion about the planned Justice Park in Cay Hill. He pointed out to Members of Parliament (MPs) that the former coalition as well as the present government understands the need for larger and improved justice facilities.
Duncan said the facilities, such as the youth detention centre that would separate young offenders from the general prison population, are required by the Constitution and its supporting laws. He also declared to MPs: “And don’t tell me they are not needed … I will keep pushing this project until I get a no.”

The need to further build up and house the growing justice chain was underscored by Duncan. He has had to rent several more buildings to house departments and staff. He also told MPs that if services are to be further improved, funds will be needed to cover cost, thus the need to increase fees charged for justice services such as police records and residence permits.

The justice minister has not yet gotten any formal indication from the Council of Ministers or Parliament that the Justice Park idea is not supported. However, several MPs said in Wednesday’s Central Committee meeting that they understand the need for the park, but cautioned that if justice related fees are increased good service is a must.

National Alliance (NA) MP Louie Laveist, who supports the project, said the implementation of a residence permit fee “should come with enhanced service.” He made a plea for Duncan to think about the financial burden the introduction of this permit fee would have on immigrants and asked whether an impact study was carried out. He noted that immigrants can’t be asked to foot the bill for the justice park if the ministry cannot provide improved service.

Laveist also called on the minister to look into the employment agencies that “rip” people off by charging hefty fees to help them to get their permits. He said he was “ashamed” of the length of time it takes to process permits.

Independent MP Patrick Illidge agreed with Laveist on the need for improved service. He said after visiting Pointe Blanche House of Detention on Tuesday morning the need for better prison facilities could not be clearer as well as the need for additional prison guards and other justice staff. “We have 60 prisoners to one guard. It is a problem.” He, like other MPs, commended Duncan for working to build up the justice chain with the little funds and manpower he has.
Illidge agrees that a fee should be levied for residence permits as “everything comes with a price. “The situation of local people being unable to find jobs must be addressed, especially when the number of applications for directors licences for foreigners continues to rise. “I need to give my people gainful employment.”

Independent MP Romain Laville stated his support for the project, calling it a “one stop shop” that would cater to the needs of the community. He read out several sections of the park dossier, presented by the minister, outlining benefits and said that anyone against the park would be “going against the people of the country.” His pointed out that the project would provide jobs in the construction phase and after in additional employment in the some 16 sectors of the Justice Ministry amounting to some 300 jobs.

“Give me one good reason why we don’t need correctional facilities … give me one good reason why the police don’t need a training place,” Laville said, adding that the development of the park would save government money in the long run by cutting back on the rents paid for the buildings housing various sectors.

MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson (NA) said more than the physical structure of the park, emphasis must be placed on the programme for inmates, especially those with substance abuse problems and health issues. He thanked the minister for looking into areas where non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on prisoner related matters can get funding to assist further. He said the some US $100 million price tag for the justice park seems “like a lot,” but when that is stacked besides the amount of money that flows through the country annually it is rather small.

Dr. Richardson added that to boost the economy further, he and several other MPs are working on ways to diversify the economy to make it less dependent on tourism. A proposal is to be tabled in Parliament in the near future.
MP George Pantophlet (NA), who also visited the Pointe Blanche prison as part of a parliament delegation, said he couldn’t understand why people still refer to it as a hotel as the situation does not mirror that name. “If we don’t make facilities available, we are looking at a serious problem.” He commended Duncan for always looking for solutions. He called on fathers to rethink their role and to be more active in helping to prevent their children from becoming involved with crime and aggressive behaviour.

United People’s (UP) party MP Johan Leonard responded to several jabs from some coalition MPs about his party’s enquiries about the justice park. He said UP is not against the park, but there needs to be more information about its financing and what debt it would create for the country.

Duncan answered that there would be no debt as government was not making the investment for the park and would be renting the buildings once completed for a period of some 32 years. After that time the buildings will be transferred to government for a symbolic sum. The fee from the residence permit fee will be used to cover the rental cost.
MP Gracita Arrindell (UP) enquired whether the rent for the justice park would be less than the sum being paid now in rent to house the justice chain. Duncan couldn’t say at this stage whether it would be more or less than what is paid now.
The MP also asked about the pending promotions for police officers. The minister said he was preparing to meet with the three unions representing the police on the matter.

St. Maarten parliamentarian Louie Laveist banned from office for three years

THURSDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2012

~ Convicted of bribery ~

PHILIPSBURG–Former commissioner and current National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Louie Laveist was sentenced Wednesday on two counts of bribery to six months suspended, with three years’ probation, payment of a NAf. 5,000 fine or 55 days in jail, and a three-year ban from holding office.

He was not present when the sentence was read at the Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon.

The Appeals Court found it legally and convincingly proven that the former commissioner of social affairs, labour and youth had accepted a bribe in connection with furnishing the new Government Administration Building in 2003, and had accepted a US $6,000 donation for work permits in 2007.

The Appeals Court stated that Laveist had put public order in jeopardy. “If officials can be bribed, other persons may also feel compelled to bribe a public official in his or her bid to obtain cooperation from government,” the Court said.
Bribery may lead to non-objective decisions, for instance, “in not making the best choice where the furnishing of the new [government administration, ed.] building is concerned, and permits may be issued to those who would not have been eligible. This hampers government in serving the public interest,” the Appeals Court said.

In sentencing, the Court took into account that Laveist had not been convicted of crimes previously, that he had expressed regret and had shown that he understood the impropriety of his actions. It was also taken in his favour that the case had affected his private life.

The embattled politician was acquitted of having forged minutes of Culture Club Foundation (CCF) that allegedly were used to defraud Antillean co-financing organisation AMFO of NAf. 22,750 in subsidy for the foundation’s “Moral Values” project and for the “Rally Around the Flag” project for the St. Maarten Day celebrations of November 11, 2004.
He also was acquitted of having been instrumental in the employment of an undocumented foreigner in his nephew’s barbershop in 2008.

The Appeals Court ruled in a retrial Wednesday, after Laveist had successfully appealed a previous conviction at the High Court in The Hague in October 2011.

However, Appeals Court Judges H.J. van Kooten, E.M. van der Bunt and F.J. Lourens meted out the same sentence, on similar charges, as their colleagues had done in February 2010.

Laveist started his rounds in the courts in April 2009, after the Court of First Instance sentenced him to a five-year ban from holding office, 18 months in prison, nine of which were suspended, with three years’ probation and a NAf. 5,000 fine.

The High Court had referred the case back for retrial and declared Laveist’s conviction null and void because the evidence leading to his conviction had not been included in the judgment.

Solicitor-General Taco Stein requested the Appeals Court during the October 3 hearing in the retrial to sentence the NA politician to eight months, four of which were to be suspended, with three years’ probation and a US $5,000 fine. The Prosecutor’s Office also requested that the Court of Appeals ban Laveist from office for three years.

The Appeals Court found it legally and convincingly proven that Laveist had accepted a $3,000 bribe from Bemal Enterprises when he and his assistant flew to Canada at that company’s expense to visit several factories producing office furniture.

According to Laveist, the trip was offered to him by his good friend and election campaign manager Alessio Bembo, Director of Bemal Enterprises, for “rest and recreation” after the intense 2003 election campaign.

It was also considered proven that the former commissioner had accepted a $6,000 donation on behalf of Culture Club Foundation in exchange for work permits in 2007. Eight sales representatives of Bargains Unlimited were granted work permits, despite an existing moratorium.

Laveist maintained he had not committed any crimes and had not accepted bribes. He told the court he regretted if he had made any mistakes, but said these had been due to his “naïveté” and his being an inexperienced “rookie” commissioner at the time.

He stated it had never been in his power to grant work permits, because this was not the authority of the commissioner of labour. “The Executive Council makes these decisions, based on recommendation of the Labour Department. There is absolutely no connection between that donation and work permits – none whatsoever,” Laveist said.
Laveist’s attorney Jason Rogers had pleaded for his client’s full acquittal for lack of evidence.

CFT gives St. Maarten one month for budget submission

THURSDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2012

PHILIPSBURG–Government has been given the requested one-month extension to the deadline for submission of draft 2013 budget by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT. The submission date is now October 1.

Finance Minister Roland Tuitt told press on Wednesday that he is still working off the some NAf. 100 million “deficit” with the ministries. The deficit is directly related to planned projects and wish lists of several of the seven ministries.
Tuitt and Finance Ministry personnel will meet with the ministers and relevant personnel of the ministries that need to cut their budgets in the coming week.

The draft budget will be forwarded to parliament after its submission to CFT. The hope is to have the budget approved and signed into law before the end of the year.

Government hopes to achieve a total operating expense of some NAf. 432.5 million, same as 2012. St. Maarten’s budget, based on kingdom regulations, is not allowed to have a deficit.

CFT had also granted a requested two-month extension on the submission of the 2011 financial statements. The new deadline is now October 31.

The CFT has requested the government explains what it considers its collective sector. Tuitt said a study was carried out by the Government’s Accountants Bureau (SOAB) on the collective sector. That report now has to be reviewed and approved by the Council of Ministers before it is passed on to CFT.

CFT uses the report as a basis to calculate the interest norm for the country.

CFT has also requested that government provides the financial statements of all government-owned companies. These will be provided by government in the near future.

13 SEPTEMBER 2012

AD 13.09.12 II

 
Indieningdatum St. Maarten begroting 2013 met een maand uitgesteld

DONDERDAG, 13 SEPTEMBER 2012

PHILIPSBURG — Het College financieel toezicht (Cft) is akkoord gegaan met het verzoek van de regering om de uiterlijke indieningsdatum van de conceptbegroting 2013 met een maand uit te stellen. De begroting moet nu voor 1 oktober ingediend zijn.

De minister van Financiën Roland Tuitt heeft de pers gisteren uitgelegd dat hij nog werkt aan de afslanking van de posten van de ministeries om het tekort van 100 miljoen te verminderen. Het tekort is direct verbonden aan geplande projecten en de wensen van de meeste ministeries.

Tuitt en het personeel van het ministerie van Financiën hebben een bijeenkomst met de andere ministers en relevante personeelsleden van de ministeries die in hun gewenste uitgaven moeten schrappen.

De conceptbegroting wordt naar de Staten verstuurd na ingediend te zijn bij de Cft. Men hoopt dat de begroting voor eind van het jaar kan worden goedgekeurd en als wet ondertekend.

De regering hoopt dat de totale overheidsuitgaven tot 432,5 miljoen gulden teruggebracht kunnen worden. Dit is hetzelfde bedrag dat in de begroting van 2012 werd opgevoerd voor uitgaven, gebaseerd op de koninkrijksbepalingen die geen tekort toelaten.

Ook voor de jaarrekeningen van 2011 is het Cft akkoord gegaan met uitstel van indiening. De financiële documenten moeten nu voor 31 oktober binnen zijn.

Het Cft heeft de regering verzocht uitleg te geven over haar interpretatie van haar collectieve sector. Volgens Tuitt had het Overheids Accountants Bureau (SOAB) een studie uitgevoerd naar de collectieve sector. Dit rapport moet nu weer doorgenomen worden en heeft de goedkeuring van de ministerraad nodig, voordat het doorgestuurd kan worden naar het Cft, die het rapport gebruikt als een uitgangspunt in de vaststelling van de rentevoet van het land. Het Cft had de regering ook verzocht erop toe te zien dat alle jaarrekeningen van alle overheidsbedrijven zouden worden overlegd. Deze financiële rapporten zullen door de regering in de nabije toekomst beschikbaar worden gesteld.

Governor St. Maarten outlines Government’s plans for ‘working for the people’

WEDNESDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER 2012

~ At start of new parliamentary year ~

PHILIPSBURG–The new parliamentary year was opened on Tuesday after Governor Eugene Holiday delivered his presentation of government’s plans and policies for 2012-2013. The outline highlighted a number of ongoing projects and new goals.

Included on government’s agenda are the completion of the new tax system and the launching of the tourism authority by 2013, establishment of the gaming control board, improving public health, preservation of culture and heritage, and fostering more involvement of residents in the building of their communities.

Speaking in the General Assembly Hall, Holiday said St. Maarten “has faced the challenges of a continued volatile global environment” in the past 23 months since attaining country status and that a global environment of weak growth, recurring high fuel cost and persistent financial fragility continued to put pressure on the overall financial and economic situation.

“It is under these unfavourable conditions that the government continues to take steps to consolidate the accomplishments of the 2010 constitutional reform and to build and shape our young country,” he said, adding that the current government had formulated its 2012-2014 Governing Programme, themed “Working for the People,” under these circumstances.

“A critical reality is the challenge of limited financial resources to fund the plans required to achieve the envisioned objectives – a reality as reflected in the corrective measures implemented to amend and balance the 2012 budget in July of this year,” the governor said.

These “realities” through government’s policy agenda have led to a shift in priorities in some instances, while government has given its support to ongoing initiatives in others, to avoid potential litigation and stagnation of other vital activities.

He said that notwithstanding the difficult external environment, the government was optimistic that the outlined path provided the basis for sustained and balanced national and socio-economic developments for the people.

Government will reach out to Parliament with legislative initiatives to execute its plans and realise objectives. ” … Government looks forward to your participation and your support in achieving the outlined vision for the coming period in the interest of the people of St. Maarten,” Holiday told Members of Parliament (MPs).

Following the governor’s speech, President of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel declared the legislative year open. The customary parade of uniformed groups was held after the close of the meeting with the governor, with Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams, her cabinet and invited guests looking on from Cyrus Wathey Square.

Culture preservation

Essential to government’s vision is “a cohesive national society” with culture as “a unifying factor.” Government will endeavour to promote knowledge and proper use of national symbols, to recognise and protect monuments, to build a national museum and national theatre for the performing arts, to establish archives of historical and cultural heritage, and to promote development and recognition of artists.

Government also will focus on further development of the Marine Park and designation of a terrestrial park with the formalisation of the imminent purchase of Emilio Wilson Estate. Non-governmental organisations will be charged with its management.

Government is digitalising the archives of its administration and of the Civil Registry. Further actions will be taken to set up a national archive and develop a policy on digitalising and archiving for other departments. “A digital archive also contributes to faster and more customer-friendly public services.”

The Comprehensive Integrity Policy will be delivered at the end of 2012, followed by the establishment of the Integrity Bureau as of January 1, 2013.

Education

In the area of education, Government will take steps to improve the level of St. Maarten’s knowledge of English and Dutch, to promote a culture of continuous learning through support and development of higher learning institutions to meet the needs of the job market, to foster entrepreneurship programmes within secondary and tertiary schools, and to provide opportunities for educational achievement for students with special needs, as well as guidance and support for their families.

Government considers sports to be “a fundamental part of cultivating a healthy body, mind and spirit.” Strengthening and developing of sports will ensure all residents have the opportunity to develop a fundamental foundation. Sports competitions – locally, regionally and internationally – will be fostered to allow for athletes to reach their highest potential.

Health and Social Affairs

Government is engaged in health care policy reforms to promote and protect the health, safety and general wellbeing of all St. Maarteners. These reforms include preparations for the phased introduction of a new health insurance system.

The National Health Insurance legislation, based on the philosophy of equal access to essential health services, will be presented for decision-making in 2012.

Government is preparing a new law to secure quality care to strengthen controls on the quality, registration and training requirements of medical professionals.

To secure the sustainability of the health care system and services, government intends to execute projects in nutrition and physical education, and to organise “Get-checked” and health observance days.

Government will “continue to take steps” to ensure that St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) meets the needs of a growing and changing St. Maarten demography, and expands its services to accommodate more medical specialties and support services.

Government intends to further the development of medical tourism as it builds its oversight capacity by placing emphasis on an effective Inspectorate of Public Health.

Government will aim to make social services more accessible, transparent, fair and sustainable, targeting vulnerable groups and those living in or on the brink of poverty. A council for the elderly and a human rights platform are to be established.

Government will introduce “a revised Financial Aid Ordinance” and pension reform will be prepared. The first phase will provide for adjustments in the Old Age Pension legislation AOV to increase the pension age to 62 and adjust benefits to pensioners.

The foreign employment policy, the dismissal law, employment agencies and curbing the use of six-month contracts will be reviewed in the short term. A labour market information system to guide policy decisions and adjustments will be implemented.

Public Infrastructure

With the existing financial constraints and land scarcity, government hopes to achieve its housing programme through public–private partnerships. Focus also will be on the continued connections of buildings to sewage plants. The St. Peters area will be connected by year’s end and a sewage plant will be built for Cole Bay, Cay Bay and Billy Folly.

The execution of the Comprehensive Road Network Plan will be used to eliminate key traffic bottlenecks. Government is busy finalising zoning plans. This project aims to have all zoning plans covered by laws in 2014.

Government will establish an Energy Policy that will include the use of alternative energy and the introduction of “a net metering policy.”

Government is also in the process of working out plans to build a waste-to-energy facility.

Increase police

Government envisions the expansion of the Police Force to some 400 employees within the next few years, reorganising the Immigration Service by separating it from the police and taking steps to expand and improve detention facilities to meet the community’s and visitors’ demands for higher security and greater police visibility.

Government believes that residents ought to take responsibility for their neighbourhoods and through its neighbourhood development programme it will seek to strengthen community councils and assist them, with residents’ participation, to build vibrant districts.

The integrated neighbourhood development planning concept will aim to yield the provision of public services in different locations, operating as one department. Simpson Bay will be the pilot project for all other centres, including one in the new Government Building.

Economic development

Government will promote Princess Juliana International Airport as a hub and will develop niche tourism markets such as convention tourism, sports tourism and offshore educational and medical services. A “Statistical Dashboard” and the Changing Lanes project will be implemented and the Gaming Control Board will be established.

A St. Maarten Aquaponic Farm will be established in 2013 to diversify economic activity.

Pursuing the building-up of the local branch of the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten, soliciting broad advice on the currency choice, and the establishment of a stock exchange to give an impulse to St. Maarten as a financial centre are also on government’s agenda.

Regionally

To achieve a solid foreign strategy and service, an international relations commission will be instituted while government further strengthens its directorate of foreign relations.

“An important priority” of government is the stepping up of effective cooperation and partnering with the French side as underscored by ongoing joint passenger Immigration control at the airport and cross-border police cooperation.

Government attaches “great importance” to regional cooperation. It has taken up membership in at least one regional organisation and is considering others to help with institutional building, to facilitate transfer of knowledge and best practices and to serve domestic goals such as migration, social development, justice and diversification.

Government will dedicate more resources to further strengthening the coordination and management of ongoing and future European Union (EU) projects to benefit the community.

Tax system

Government is working on “a phased overhaul” of the tax system and a multi-annual financing plan that are to result in a simpler and more balanced system, with a stronger emphasis on indirect taxation. The first phase, planned for 2013, aims at providing direct financial relief and more spending power to persons earning a maximum of NAf. 5,000 per month.

A dividend policy for government-owned companies is being prepared which will take the companies’ investment strategies and debt ratios into consideration.

Government is working on making improvements to the budget process and the financial management.

St. Maarten parlementarians afford SMMC-director Scot another chance to meet with them

THURSDAY, 06 SEPTEMBER 2012

~ Or they will request parliamentary inquiry ~

PHILIPSBURG–Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Public Health has given St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) General Director Dr. George Scot another chance to meet with them on September 13 or they will request a parliamentary inquiry into its concerns at the medical institution.

Scot, who also holds the position of President of SMMC’s Board, did not show up for a meeting called by the Committee on Monday. Scot sent a letter to the committee, requesting, among other things, that an impartial person chair that particular meeting, said Committee chairman Leroy de Weever.

De Weever (Democratic Party) said this request was not possible as Parliament’s committees have a certain structure. “I don’t know how he can expect that. We have a system and that is how it is. He [Scot ed.] also wanted specific elaborations on things,” said de Weever.

In his letter Scot had also referred to the structure of SMMC in relation to whom the MPs had invited to the closed-door meeting, which de Weever said, was “semantics” on the part of Scot.

De Weever said the Committee had sent a letter to Scot inviting him to another meeting on September 13. The Committee will also send Scot another letter this week enquiring whether he planned to show up to the meeting on September 13. The Committee plans to meet separately with Scot and the Supervisory Council on this date. “We have given Scot a new date and if that does not happen then as Parliament we will request a parliamentary inquiry and I don’t think they want to go that way,” said De Weever adding that any “recklessness” or “shady stuff” occurring at SMMC will be revealed in such an inquiry.

Members of Parliament serving on the Permanent Committee for Public Health along with other interested MPs still met among themselves on Monday and discussed the letter sent by Scot among other things.

De Weever called for the urgent meeting in August to discuss the level of care and constant “rumours” about the quality of care being delivered by SMMC. His concerns and those of other MPs stemmed from the recent passing of Ruth Olivacce, the sister of United People’s (UP) party Fraction Leader MP Silvia Meyers-Olivacce, at SMMC as well as other concerns about the institution.

MPs met with the Association of Medical Specialists and MPs on Tuesday (see related story) regarding their concerns at SMMC.

THURSDAY, 06 SEPTEMBER 2012

PHILIPSBURG–Members of Parliament (MPs) serving on the Permanent Committee for Public Health will be recommending that St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) be managed by a three-member board, instead of one person as is currently the case.

The current President of SMMC’s Board is Dr. George Scot, who is also SMMC’s General Director. This was one of the suggestions that came out of a meeting among MPs and members of the Association of Medical Specialists on Tuesday.
“It is a must that the managing board of the hospital is expanded,” said Committee Chairman Leroy de Weever. “Right now it’s only one person.”

The initial suggestion was for the board to be expanded to two persons, but De Weever said stalemates can be encountered if decisions are to be made by only two persons. This can be eliminated with a three-person board. He said one of the board members can have a financial background, one a medical background and the other a managerial background.

De Weever said the meeting attended by medical specialists, surgeon Dr. Felix Holiday, pediatrician Pieter Offringa and Internist Theo Jolles, had been a professional and cordial one. Obstetrician/Gynecologist Randall Friday could not attend due to a medical emergency. A total of 11 MPs, including those of the Committee attended the meeting.
Another recommendation to be made to Health Minister Cornelius de Weever, is for the Medical Council to be activated. De Weever said the establishment of such a body is already on paper, but does not exist in practice. The council would function as an independent body and review the applications of medical specialists and other persons who want to work in the medical field here.

De Weever said he will also be notifying the specialists of any decisions the Committee will be taking in the future, since these will ultimately affect them. “We want to be in harmony with them. Our recommendation is that physicians should also have a little more say in the management aspect of the facility and my proposal is that a physician be appointed to the supervisory board of the hospital.”

De Weever said MPs made it clear that the meeting had been called to discuss concerns at the institution and that no one had any personal vendetta against anyone.

“We want to make it clear that there is no vendetta against anyone and no one is gunning for anyone. We wanted to assure them that we are going about this enquiry not just because of bad press, but we had pointed questions such as whether physicians had problems with the constant absence of the General Director [Dr. George Scot, ed.] and not having someone to go to if issues come up in his absence.

“There is a report from [Inspector General Earl ed.] Best and we wanted to see what SMMC is doing about it and we wanted to talk about the expansion and the reluctance of Scot to provide information to the people who are financing the expansion,” said De Weever. The Committee has also requested a copy of the report from Best.

De Weever said Social and Health Insurance SZV is one of the financiers of SMMC’s expansion, yet information is not forthcoming from Scot to SZV. “He does not want to provide creditors with information and this is hampering the execution of the expansion for the hospital. A building is a building, but what’s important is the staffing. You can have the most beautiful building in the world, but if you’re not doing enough for the staff, quality will be compromised and we wanted to know how we can help,” he said.

Minister De Weever requests St. Maarten Medical Center board to make positions available

~ But procedure unclear ~

MONDAY, 03 SEPTEMBER 2012

CAY HILL–Reports over the weekend indicated that Minister of Public Health Cornelius de Weever has asked the members of the St. Maarten Medical Center Foundation (SMMC) Supervisory Board to make their position available to government.

Such a request requires some clarification considering that the SMMC board is a private one and the articles of incorporation of the foundation affords government the opportunity to appoint only a single member.
This issue was debated before between government and the SMMC in a court of law during the Chairmanship of Glen Carty. Government at the time lost that court case with the judge ruling that government could not appoint the members to the board to run the hospital.

The Daily Herald understands the minister informed the Supervisory Board of his wishes during an emergency meeting he had called on Saturday evening. The meeting had been preceded by a separate Supervisory Board meeting earlier in the day at which Reuben Essed announced to the rest of the board that he would not take up his new position as a board member. Essed had only been appointed days before.

The minister has not made a public statement and could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but will have to explain on what grounds he took the decision to make such a request of the board.

Additionally, in a letter to the Corporate Governance Council (CGC) last week, De Weever indicated that the SMMC foundation recently appointed new members to its Supervisory Board “following the procedures as set forth in the articles of incorporation,” which is an apparent acknowledgement that all procedures were followed.
Article nine empowers the SMMC to make a binding nomination of the candidate they wish to have appointed. This “binding nomination” means that the minister would have to accept such nomination as long as the procedures, as per the articles of incorporation, were followed.

The same Article nine provides the minister with the possibility to appoint a candidate if the Supervisory Board of the SMMC failed to do so within a specified time, and this would require vetting by the CGC. The minister asked the CGC to render advice concerning the appointment of supervisory board members before he takes a final decision. The CGC has not responded to the minister’s request thus far.

As such, if the minister has requested the board members to make their positions available he has done so prior to receiving the advice from the CGC, which he requested. This would put the CGC in a position that it has lamented on previous occasions, to render advice on something that a minister has already affected by virtue of ministerial action.
SMMC announced last Wednesday that two new Supervisory Board members, Reuben Essed and Robert Jan James, have been appointed as of August 25, 2012.

According to the SMMC, the Supervisory Board members have decided to view the coming six months as a transition phase during which the positions within the Supervisory Board are divided as follows: Izzy Gerstenbluth Interim Chairman (medical) since March 2011; Reuben Essed Interim Vice Chairman (legal) since August 2012; Sixto Peters Member (financial) since October 2008; Edwin Benjamin Member (business/managerial expertise) since March 2012; Robert Jan James Member (expertise on re-organisation processes and management) since August 2012.
After the six month transition phase the members will decide on the definite constellation within the Supervisory Council.

Parliamentarians to meet SMMC, specialists this week

MONDAY, 03 SEPTEMBER 2012

PHILIPSBURG–Members of Parliament (MPs) serving on the Permanent Committee for Public Health will meet with the Supervisory Board of St. Maarten Medical Centre (SMMC) in a closed door session today, Monday starting at 2:00pm in Parliament House.

This meeting comes following a call for an urgent session issued by Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament Leroy de Weever about the level of care and constant “rumours” about type of care delivered by SMMC in August.
His concerns and that of other MPs stemmed from the recent passing of Ruth Olivacce, the sister of United Peoples’ (UP) party Fraction Leader MP Silvia Meyers-Olivacce, at SMMC.

A second meeting about the SMMC issue will be held with the Association of Medical Specialists and MPs on Tuesday starting at 4:00pm in Parliament House.

The two meetings were originally slated for last week but was postponed on request of the invited parties.
Ahead of the two sessions, the specialists association and SMMC General Director Dr. George Scot met on Friday about hospital matters and other pressing issues.

Central Bank presents annual report to Central Committee: St. Maarten’s economy contracted 1.5 percent last year

POSTED: 07/5/12

GREAT BAY – St. Maarten’s economy contracted by 1.5 percent in 2011, and inflation doubled to 4.6 percent, central bank President Dr. Emsley Tromp said in an address to parliament’s Central committee yesterday afternoon on the Central Bank’s 2011 annual report. In his report, Tromp notes that the higher inflation is due to higher international food and oil prices and to the increase in the turnover tax.

The economic downturn was reflected in decreased activities in the hotel and restaurant sector, in wholesale, retail and in stay over tourism. The latter category declined due to a decrease in timeshare capacity and in the number of incoming flights. Cruise tourism saw the numbers go up, but not as strongly as in 2010 and not in a way to mitigate the decreases in stay over.

The airport handled fewer passengers last year, and airport-related activities also declined. In the utilities sector electricity production decreased while water production increased. The financial services sector performed weakly, due to a decrease in the net income of local banks.

There was also a sliver of good news: the 2011 budget showed a 1.1 million guilders surplus, mainly due to the higher tariff for turnover tax. Revenue from wage taxes, transfer taxes and fuel excise also increased, while profit tax revenue declined.

The balance of payment of the monetary union (St. Maarten and Curacao) registered a deficit; net international reserves declined for the first time in eleven years. The average import-coverage decreased from 4 months to 3.7 months, still above the Central Bank’s target of 3 months.

The current account deficit increased last year, due to the end of the debt relief program.
Dr. Tromp was somber about the performance of Curacao and St. Maarten, close to two years after the countries became autonomous.

“After hardly two years and one completed budget cycle it appears that Curacao’s budget is not balanced, contrary to the projected surplus. This situation will probably continue if the weaknesses keep strengthening each other mutually. The availability of timely and reliable government data is not only essential for policy making but also for the investment climate. Unfortunately there now appears to be a big gap between the projections in the approved budget and the realization. This difference indicates a failing financial management system.”

Dr. Tromp said that Curacao needs to take measures as soon as possible to prevent that the government has to take unexpected compensating measures on a regular basis. This would create uncertainty and hamper economic growth. There is not a lot of space for higher taxes given the relatively high tax burden of 26 percent of gross domestic product.
The situation in St. Maarten is different. The tax burden is 23 percent of gross domestic product. But to broaden its income basis, St. Maarten needs to improve tax collection.

“A balanced budget can be maintained by improving the government’s cost efficiency,” he added.

The debt relief program gave the two countries a healthy financial starting position, but it was not the solution for the many social-economic problems. The ageing population causes higher costs for healthcare and old age pensions, especially in Curacao.

“The Social Insurance Bank in Curacao has indicated that if structural measures do not materialize in the short term, the fund for old age pensions will be exhausted by 2014,” Tromp noted.

St. Maarten and Curacao have to create a strong and stable environment that stimulates economic growth, the central Bank president said.

“The prospects for growth in 2012 remain weak due to the somber perspectives at our most important trade partners. The Central Bank has pointed out at several occasions that the investment climate is essential for St. Maarten and for Curacao.”

Tromp also stressed the importance of the education system. “It has to produce graduates that have the skills that are currently needed in the labor market.” Tromp lauded Curacao’s initiative to make education accessible to everyone.

“But it is a source of concern that no attention is given to the quality of the education.”
The 80/20-rule the parliament in Willemstad approved and that obliges companies to employ at least 80 percent locals on their staff met with criticism.

“That is not beneficial for these rigidities. Executing this measure without the necessary exemptions will make the labor market less flexible and weaken our competitive position.”
Tromp pleaded for an active social policy in both countries.
“Experiences in other countries have shown that this contributes to a permanent decrease of poverty. The governments must realize that initiatives to increase the tax burden to realize its policies can lead to a lower economic growth and to higher unemployment.”

Tromp said that the government in Curacao in particular has contributed to the current account deficit “by financing its budget deficit by eating into its bank balances.”
The Central Bank director noted that the small and open economies in St. Maarten and Curacao will always be confronted with higher imports due to higher oil and food prices.
“But protecting local prices against international price fluctuations will send the wrong signal to companies and consumers and lead to the incorrect allocation of resources. To achieve a structural improvement of the current account we have to take measures that improve our exports to counterbalance growing imports.”

One of the sectors Tromp has in mind is the financial services.
“This has always been an important pillar of Curacao’s economy in terms of high qualified employment and foreign currency revenue. The lobby organization for the international financial services sector, the government and the Central Bank need to join forces to create the conditions under which this sector is able to flourish once more.”
DP-MP Roy Marlin asked Tromp after his presentation whether the Central Bank was prepared to come with a proposal for this joint task force, and latter noted that he will approach Finance Minister Roland Tuitt with the idea.
Tromp said that the financial services sector was the number 1 pillar of the economy ten years ago and that it has now dropped to place six.

“The economy depends for 70 percent on tourism and that makes it vulnerable. It is necessary to diversify. Transportation and financial services are two of the sectors we have in mind for that.”

Increased tax collection fills hole in 2012 St. Maarten budget

THURSDAY, 05 JULY 2012

PHILIPSBURG-Increases in the amounts collected from several taxes have helped to plug the hole in the 2012 budget created by the removal of the NAf. 21 million in income tax from non-resident condo owners and the adding of the NAf. 17 million Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for civil servants.

Finance Minister Roland Tuitt explained on Wednesday that more than NAf. 2.6 million has been collected so far in gasoline excise tax, NAf. 5 million in wage tax, and NAf. 1 million by the Court of Justice.

Those increased amounts together with the already announced additional collected NAf. 17 million in Turnover Tax (ToT), will assist in keeping the budget at NAf. 432.5 million.

Also removed from the budget are NAf. 1 million each for Succession Tax as requested in a motion passed by Parliament; profit tax and transfer tax.

Another contributing factor to keeping the budget balanced, according to Tuitt, is the determination that the NAf. 7.1 million earmarked for the execution of the Plan of Approach for the Justice Minister can be reduced to NAf. 3.1 million. The figure relates to personnel expenses as does the COLA payout for a budget amendment is not needed for this shift.
With the combined changes, the 2012 “will remain balanced,” said Tuitt.

Additional questions from the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT about the pending budget amendments were answered by government on Tuesday. Tuitt is now looking to the approval of the changes by CFT and Parliament. It is possible that a session of parliament will be held during summer recess that starts this week. The budget amendments need to be approval by Parliament and the CFT for the COLA payout to be possible at the end of this month. The COLA was not originally budgeted for in the 2012 budget.

The total operating expenses for 2012 are budgeted at NAf. 432.5 million, an increase of NAf. 11.6 million or 2.8 per cent, compared to 2011. As required by law, the total operating income and expenses are balanced; the budget has no deficit and no surplus.

Rodolphe Samuel elected as new President of Parliament St. Maarten

SATURDAY, 30 JUNE 2012

~ Motion of no confidence passed against Gracita Arrindell ~

PHILIPSBURG–National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Rodolphe Samuel was voted in as the new President of Parliament on Friday afternoon. He will take up the post as of July 15, replacing outgoing President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell (United People’s party).

Samuel’s appointment followed the passing of a motion of no confidence against Arrindell by the NA/Democratic Party (DP)/Independent 3 coalition. The motion was passed by eight votes for and five against. UP parliamentarians voted against the motion.

The vote to appoint Samuel had the same ratio: eight votes for him and five blank votes. The voting is done by secret ballot and the blank ballots most probably were from the UP members.

Samuel thanked fellow MPs for their confidence in him. “I know the job is not an easy one. We say ‘we have to work’ and I love to work. … We are a young country. We have a lot to do.” He expressed hope for cooperation “when the time of cooperation comes.” He also thanked Arrindell for her service.

MP Johan “Janchi” Leonard (UP) told Samuel: “You have big shoes to fill.”

Following the vote for Samuel, Arrindell said: “I came, I saw and I worked.” She will chair at least two Parliament meetings next week before Parliament goes on recess until the first week of August.

Arrindell submitted her resignation from the post on Wednesday, effective September 1, the start of the new parliamentary year. Her motivation for that date had to do with completing the tasks for the 2011-2012 parliamentary year.

MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson (NA) thanked Arrindell for her service, as did several other MPs.

Independent MP Patrick Illidge commended her for the tireless nights she had setting up the country’s first Parliament.
MP Roy Marlin (DP), who presented the motion on behalf of the coalition, said he wanted it to be clear that the motion had to do with agreements the coalition had made and keeping those agreements. “This is not about the present chairperson. This is a coalition agreement that was made and should be kept.”

Marlin said he would be “a hypocrite to criticise” Arrindell after he had worked with her in the former UP/DP/Illidge coalition.

MP Louie Laveist (NA) concurred with Marlin that the change had “nothing to do with the chair [but] with the political reality.”

The motion stated: “That in order for a government to carry out its policies and considerations for the governing period, the government under normal democratic circumstances should at all times be supported by a majority of Parliament and this also includes the person that holds the function of the Chairperson of Parliament.”

The motion resolved “that the Chairperson of Parliament no longer enjoys the support of the majority of Parliament and that the Parliament in accordance with article 57 of the Constitution of St. Maarten will appoint per July 15, 2012, a new member to occupy the position of Chairperson of Parliament.”

MP Dr. Ruth Douglass (UP) stated that the transition from the current president to the new one should take place as per September despite the new coalition and transitions.

MP Silvia Meyers-Olivacce (UP) also protested against the “weird” changeover date because it would take effect during the recess. She added her preference to see Arrindell “step down in September. … In one way, I am saddened [but] we need you on this side to strengthen us as well. It will all work out for the better.”

Independent MP Frans Richardson said the July 15 date would give Samuel time to prepare for the new Parliamentary year.

MP Jules James (UP) called for the Rules of Order to be followed with a change of the presidency taking place at the beginning of the parliamentary year. He suggested that the coalition MPs “go back and look at the rules” instead of taking the approach of “might is right,” as NA leader and former MP William Marlin liked to say. He protested against the way the situation was playing out.

Absent with notice from Friday’s session were MPs Leroy de Weever (DP) and George Pantophlet (NA).

Also handled at the meeting was a list of incoming documents in Dutch, English and Spanish (from the Parliament of Latin America Parlatino). Independent MP Romain Laville said he found the use of three languages confusing and a decision had to be made on the language to use. Arrindell explained the use of three languages as the two official languages of the country and Spanish from Parlatino.

The decision lists of several past meetings also were approved.

Gracita Arrindell resigns as Parliament President St. Maarten

THURSDAY, 28 JUNE 2012

PHILIPSBURG–President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell (United People’s UP party) has submitted her resignation as President of Parliament, effective in September, when the new Parliamentary Year begins. She submitted her letter, addressed to fellow Members of Parliament (MPs) on Wednesday, with copies to Governor Eugene Holiday and the Council of Ministers.

Arrindell will also discuss her resignation letter in a meeting of the Presidium of Parliament at 9:00am today, Thursday expected to be attended by recently-elected Deputy President of Parliament MP Romain Laville (independent) and Second Deputy President of Parliament Leroy de Weever (DP).

In her letter, Arrindell cited the “recent political changes” as the reason “for making the position available” to Parliament. She also stated, “It was an honour to service Parliament in the capacity as President of Parliament.”
Arrindell has already discussed her decision to resign with Governor Holiday.

Her decision to make her resignation effective when the new Parliamentary Year starts has to do with her wanting to complete her task for the year. This would provide a “transition in a smooth way” from one parliament head to another, Arrindell told The Daily Herald. She is busy compiling the Parliamentary Year Report for the 2011/2012 year that will be presented during the first week of September.

The National Alliance (NA)/Democratic Party (DP)/Independent 3 coalition MPs had requested a meeting to elect a new president of parliament, tipped to be MP Rodolphe Samuel. That meeting is scheduled for Friday at 2:00pm in Parliament House.

Friday, based on the official schedule, should be the final day of parliamentary meetings before the annual summer recess.

Arrindell, who has held the post since St. Maarten became a country within the Dutch Kingdom on October 10, 2010, is the last member of the UP still in a top position after the UP/DP coalition collapsed in May.

Following the presidium meeting, Arrindell is expected to chair a Central Committee meeting on proposals to end abuse of short-term labour contracts based on a draft initiative law tabled by the National Alliance, and a discussion about the situation at the Pointe Blanche prison. The latter point was requested by UP.

Justice Minister Roland Duncan will be present for both agenda points.

Proposal to increase pension age pending on St. Maarten

FRIDAY, 15 JUNE 2012

PHILIPSBURG–A proposal to increase the mandatory pension age will be forwarded to Parliament for approval in under three months, Prime Minister/General Affairs Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams told the Central Committee of Parliament on Thursday. The current pension age is 60; she didn’t indicate what the new age would be.

The Council of Ministers is reviewing the pension age and pension amount received monthly by senior citizens. Both measures are aimed at ensuring that the General Pension Fund APS remains sustainable, considering the aging of the population.

A rough estimate of seniors registered in the Civil Registry as of Thursday, is 6,575. Government estimates that the number will grow to 7,304 by next year; to 10,692 by 2017 and 15,668 in a decade. Those figures will also form the part of the discussion on adequate health insurance coverage and access to health care.

“We need to discuss aging in St. Maarten,” Wescot-Williams said.

Government is analysing how to better provide services to the elderly. This is an area being addressed via the Integrated Neighbourhood Development Programme.

Wescot-Williams: Pension age and amount proposal in three months

POSTED: 06/15/12

St. Maarten – Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams has informed parliament that a proposal should be tabled within the next two to three months on raising the mandatory pension age. The Council of Ministers is currently dealing with this matter alongside a discussion on a proposal to increase the amount of the AOV pension. The point of departure for both adjustments will be ensuring that the pension fund remains sustainable.

One of the things the government is considering as part of crafting its proposal is the rough estimates it has on the amount of elderly people who live in St. Maarten. As of June 14 the government estimates that there are 6, 575 pensioners in St. Maarten. The government estimates the figure will climb to 7, 304 next year, to 10, 692 by 2017 and 15, 668.

“These are rough figures but they give us a signal for discussions on things like health insurance. We now have a trend to look at. The ratio between the working population and the elderly needs to be looked at. We need to discuss aging in St. Maarten,” Wescot-Williams said.

Government is also busy examining its service to the elderly and how to build a social safety net for the elderly and other vulnerable groups. One of the ways information is being gathered is through the implementation of the Integrated Neighborhood Development Program. Under this program people can visit community help desks to share their concerns about services and be pointed in the direction of where they can receive assistance if they need it. In terms of the elderly the government is also promoting the establishment of senior citizen lines at all departments where a service is offered.

Introduction of bail eyed as part of conditional release in new penal code St. Maarten

FRIDAY, 13 APRIL 2012

PHILIPSBURG–The introduction of bail as part of the conditional release of suspects to reduce flight risk has been suggested to parliament by Justice Minister Roland Duncan in “a note of change” submitted to Parliament as part of the review of the Penal Code.

The Central Committee of Parliament continued deliberations on the code Thursday. The modernization of the code has been pending since the days of the Netherlands Antilles. Parliament has been perusing the amendments to the code since mid 2011.

Explaining his reason for wanting to institute a bail system, Duncan told Members of Parliament (MPs) there is nothing to stop a suspect from fleeing off island or even to the French side when released. No treaty for the monitoring of suspects on conditional release is in place with the French side. For that reason also, several prisoners with French nationality or residence serving sentences in Pointe Blanche are not coming into consideration for early release, Duncan said.

With the bail system, a financial loss will be attached to the suspect/prisoner not turning up for hearing or community service. While tagging a financial loss will not solve the problem of suspects/prisoners fleeing the island, it would help the situation, the minister said.

Another note of change submitted for Parliament’s consideration is Duncan’s request to not make early release automatic by keeping the present system where early release is at the discretion of the minister on a case by case basis.

The revised Penal Code calls for automatic early release of all prisoners. Duncan pointed out that The Netherlands is seeking to implement the same system as is currently in place here. “If you do the crime, you have to do the time.”

The New Penal Code while “ambitious” has some draw backs because the Justice Ministry can’t “financially and physically” meet some requirements of several articles at this time, Duncan reiterated to MPs. These are related to Article 17, and requires that a judicial institution be established for treatment of mentally ill criminals and Article 83 for a youth supervision facility. Both institutions require special facilities and trained personnel.

Duncan recommended that the two articles be kept in the Penal Code and a note be added stating that these will be implemented at a later date. Aruba has kept in the two articles in its Penal Code with a similar note.

A plan is already in the works for the youth facility. This is connected to the acquisition of “The Box” in Cay Hill.

Duncan and his fellow Justice Ministers of Aruba and Curaçao have explored joint or shared services centred in Curaçao. This is not seen as a viable option for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius because of the distance between here and Curaçao and difference in culture.

Abortion

The revised code prohibits anyone from assisting in an abortion and euthanasia. Duncan, as has been stated before, wants to allow these two procedures with strict conditions to regulate an already occurring practice, especially related to abortions. A note of change to the code that will allow these procedures will be submitted by the minister.

“As a modern society, we need to do it,” Duncan said, adding that abortion is legal on the French side and women who need one can simply cross the border. He added that while he “recognises the religious and moral issues,” MPs need to deal with modernizing the law.

Abortions need to be allowed in special cases such as when there is a danger to the mother’s life, a pregnancy due to incest or rape, he noted. By allowing the procedure under strict conditions, the minister said the issue of abortions being performed very late into the pregnancy will also be addressed.

Several MPs called for the two subjects to be discussed behind closed doors before going to the public for input. They raised concerns about the proper monitoring of the women going for abortions, the need for counselling and putting a limit on the number of abortions a woman can have.

Illegals and tourists

The draft Penal Code also regulates that foreign prisoners who are in the country illegally with a sentence of five or more years must complete their sentence. Duncan said this would send a strong message to any criminal who believes that they can come into the country, commit crimes and get lenient sentences. “I recognise we have a cell problem, but I don’t want St. Maarten to become a revolving door [for criminals].” The Netherlands is also considering the same approach.

Dealing with the need to assign additional punishment for crimes against a tourist/visitor, Duncan said this is “a bona fide move to protect our economy. It is not an attempt to put tourists above anyone else.” He pointed out that there are already articles in the Criminal Code that prescribes extra punishment for crimes against the queen, governor, a parent who hits a child or an abusive spouse.

Cockfighting

On the issue of animal “sports” such as cockfighting, Duncan wants to see Parliament allow it with permits and proper rules. “We have to face the circumstances and deal with it” considering that cock fighting is legal on the French side.

The stance of outlawing cockfighting and other such sports by the animal welfare groups is “highly appreciated” by the minister. However, he added that they “must not only say no, no, no, but come up with guidelines to regulate it.” He urged MPs to see if there is a need to regulate animal sports or to keep it outlawed.

2012 budget approved by St. Maarten parliament after four days of deliberations

FRIDAY, 23 MARCH 2012

PHILIPSBURG–The country’s budget for 2012 was approved on Thursday night, bringing to a close four days of debate by Members of Parliament (MPs) and presentations by the Council of Ministers.

The debate was punctuated by the tabling of several motions instructing government to come up with solutions to several issues. The majority of the motions were adopted by Parliament.

The budget was approved by the nine votes of MPs supporting the United People’s (UP) party/Democratic Party (DP)/Illidge coalition. The five members of opposition National Alliance (NA) and independent MP Frans Richardson did not vote on the budget, opting to leave the General Assembly Hall before they were called on to vote.

The total operating expenses for 2012 are budgeted at NAf. 432.5 million, an increase of NAf. 11.6 million or 2.8 per cent compared to 2011. As required by law, the total operating income and expenses are balanced; the budget has no deficit and no surplus. The total NAf. 65.6 million in capital expenditures will be financed in part by government’s available cash (NAf. 23.8 million) and bonds to be issued (NAf. 37.3 million).

NA leader MP William Marlin said before leaving that he and his fellow NA members could “not find themselves in all aspects of the budget” although they were “in favour of many elements.” They also don’t believe it is truly balanced.

Marlin also rebutted statements from MP Leroy de Weever (DP) that NA was against the budget that would make it possible for government to purchase land from the James family after drawn-out negotiation, a plea made consistently throughout the Central Committee meeting and plenary session of Parliament on the budget.

Marlin said the budget was not about the James family and that NA also was not against subsidies for non-governmental organisations or even against salaries for MPs, which are contained in the budget.

De Weever called the NA’s and Frans Richardson’s stance against the budget “indicative of hypocrisy.”

MP Roy Marlin (DP) also criticised the NA and Richardson for walking out instead of supporting the budget. He said the budget was voted on first by chapters and then as a whole, and if NA truly wanted government to resolve the land purchase with the James family and was in favour of the subsidies, NA members should have voted on those chapters.

“I am not a coward,” MP Johan “Janchi” Leonard (UP) said as he voted for the budget. He said the MPs who had left without voting had demonstrated that they were “not capable of taking responsibility” and they should have stayed and told the people they represented they were against the budget.

His comment about cowardice stemmed from voting against a motion to protect Emilio Wilson Estate from development after being a part of the People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) whose manifesto called for protecting the estate.

After the meeting closed, President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell and General Secretary of Parliament Jozef Semeleer signed the letter to Governor Eugene Holiday informing him that the budget, which is presented in the form of a law, had been approved by Parliament. The budget law will take effect once Holiday signs it. The letter and the budget will be delivered to the Cabinet of the Governor today, Friday.

The budget still has to clear one more hurdle: scrutiny by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT. The committee has already given preliminary approval of the draft budget, although it has some concerns about government’s intention to raise some NAf. 21 million in back rental taxes owed by non-resident condo owners.

The Finance Ministry has provided a detailed plan of approach on exactly how it will execute this action and a timeline was included in the plan of approach, making it possible to oversee the project and determine ahead of time whether corrective measures were necessary, Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto had said earlier in the week.

Motions to remove land and inheritance taxes approved by St. Maarten parliament

FRIDAY, 23 MARCH 2012

~ No majority support for motions on pond, estate ~

PHILIPSBURG–Motions to remove the inheritance (succession) tax of one million guilders from the 2012 budget and to put the land tax collection on hold until new legislation is tabled within 60 days to eliminate it were adopted unanimously by Parliament on Thursday night, shortly before the budget itself received approval from a majority of the Members of Parliament (MPs).

The draft budget amendment that accompanied the inheritance tax motion and another to increase the subsidy to the Pony League were withdrawn by Democratic Party (DP) and United People’s (UP) party MPs together with independent MP Patrick Illidge after consultation with the Council of Ministers and it was explained that any amendment could obstruct approval of the budget at this stage.

An amendment would have meant that the budget would have to be reviewed again by the Advisory Council, despite the amendment being budget-neutral.

Another concession related to these two motions was that the shifting of funds within the budget to cover the shortfall created by the removal of the NAf. 1 million budgeted for inheritance tax collection and the increase of the Pony League subsidy would be left to the discretion of the Council of Ministers.

In the case of the Pony League, it was recommended that the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation subsidy be cut. However, Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Franklin Meyers suggested leaving that subsidy intact and instead reallocate money from the tourism budget for the Pony League and the Little League. An increase for the latter league had been suggested by National Alliance (NA) leader MP William Marlin in his presentation earlier in the day.

Meyers explained that NAf. 210,000 had been budgeted for the drafting of the timeshare ordinance, but this was no longer needed because the professor who drafted it had not charged for his work.

Also adopted unanimously were the motions tabled by MP Romain Laville (UP) on regulation of pawnshops and the request to government to start a study within 90 days on alternative energy, especially the use of LED lights. Justice Minister Roland Duncan had recommended that Parliament pass the pawnshop motion, adding that his ministry was ready to execute it by drafting legislation in consultation with the Ministry of Tourism and Economic Affairs.

Mullet Pond

Laville was the only member of the UP/DP/Illidge coalition to vote for the motion to protect Mullet Pond as tabled by independent MP Frans Richardson. The motion was rejected by Parliament because it only received seven of the 15 votes. The five NA members, Frans Richardson and Laville voted for the motion.

Laville said not all MPs were “cut from the same cloth” and that he supported the motion because it was for protecting the pond, a move that would allow him to “sleep good tonight.”

Justifying his vote, MP De Weever said the motion would “jeopardise the future development” of the country and do a “disservice” to the Ministry of Infrastructure VROMI which is busy with development and zoning plans. MP Roy Marlin expressed the same sentiments.

MP William Marlin (NA) said it was time to do what was good for the country and not let the people’s patrimony be further destroyed. Similarly, MPs George Pantophlet and Louie Laveist saw the need to protect the pond.

Emilio Wilson Estate

The motion to protect Emilio Wilson Estate from any development also did not receive majority support. MP Frans Richardson said former members of the People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) who were now UP MPs owed the people an apology, because the PPA manifesto had called for the purchase and protection of the estate by government.

MP Louie Laveist (NA) suggested that “a 50 cent fee” be levied on all slot machines, or a US $2 environmental fee for visitors be put in place to get money to pay off any loan government obtained to purchase the estate. Should those alternatives not be acceptable, the people would be willing to buy the estate by paying a “one or two cents gasoline excise fee.”

MP Laville said that although he believed the estate should be protected and “regretfully” voted against the motion, he was not fully clear on the scope of the planned recreational attraction or on the particulars of the estate. He said businesses and nature reserves coexisted in other parts of the world, citing Niagara Falls as an example.

MP Roy Marlin, who also voted against the motion, cited the commingling of business and reserve at Brimstone Hill in St. Kitts. He said that there was no money in the budget to buy the estate and that no MP had brought any solution throughout the debate.

MP De Weever said the motion was “full of complicated messages” and the way it was worded was asking Parliament to get into trouble. He said he could not understand why there was the constant reminder about the estate’s link to slavery and there should be a moving away from this.

MP George Pantophlet (NA) did not like the reference about forgetting about slavery and said asking people to forget about slavery was like asking the Jews to forget the Holocaust.

MP Hyacinth Richardson was against any development on the estate especially one that would benefit only tourists. He preferred that a state-of-art medical centre or recreational centre be built on the property.

Land tax

The motion tabled by independent MP Patrick Illidge to put the land tax on hold until legislation was tabled within 60 days to eliminate it also was approved unanimously.

There was some criticism from opposition National Alliance (NA) MPs that coalition MPs were conveniently in favour of motions that related to issues on which government still was working, such as the new tax system. This comment was in reference to the votes on Emilio Wilson Estate and Mullet Pond, which the coalition MPs said they could not support because government was working on zoning.

Plastic bags

Parliament also voted unanimously to implement a ban on single-use plastic bags. Two motions calling for this were presented by MPs Johan “Janchi” Leonard (UP) and independent MP Frans Richardson. The two later worked on merging the motions into one.

The approved motion gives government 120 days to draft an ordinance for Parliament to approve to ban the importation of the plastic bags and call on wholesalers and retailers to provide paper, reusable or biodegradable bags.

Ministers St. Maarten outline policies related to budget to MPs

TUESDAY, 20 MARCH 2012

~ Duncan aims to introduce fees for Justice services ~

PHILIPSBURG–The seven ministers have given Parliament an overview of their policies and plans for 2012 as these related to the draft 2012 budget that is before Members of Parliament (MPs) to approve.

The plenary session on the budget had a false start on Monday morning due to the lack of a quorum. That was speedily followed by the reconvening of the meeting in the afternoon by Deputy President of Parliament Leroy de Weever.

After some five hours of presentations, the meeting was adjourned until 10:00am today, Tuesday, when MPs will pose questions to the cabinet members on their policies, plans and how these fit within the budget. It is also expected that several MPs will table motions that will directly impact the budget in various ways, as the meeting progresses.

While a number of the policies outlined were repetitious based on past presentations by ministers, these somewhat fitted in with the opposition National Alliance (NA) request to have the cabinet give more substance to the budget.

Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunication Minister Franklin Meyers even asked Parliament to excuse him from making a presentation because it would be basically the same as the policy outline he gave to MPs in October 2011. De Weever said he had to continue with the presentation, as it was his “duty” to provide the information.

Meyers spoke about preparatory work to develop an investment package open to local and foreign investors as an economic booster. His ministry also is working on streamlining the business licence process and hopes to put a cap of six weeks on the process.

If no communication is received within that period, the licence will be considered as granted for straightforward businesses. For other, speciality businesses that would require the input of other departments, the processing time could be longer.

Meyers pointed out that as part of the revamping of the tax system, his ministry together with that of Finance was looking into reducing the profit tax to possibly between 15 and 18 per cent, compared to the some 34.5 per cent now levied.

He also outlined his vision to attract more high-end tourism business through branding of existing properties and encouraging the development of boutique hotels, as well as delving more into niche markets such as the honeymoon sector.

Meyers said the beach policy would be adjusted and pending Jet Ski licences for which two local youngsters had applied would be granted. He said it was not acceptable that there were moratoriums in areas where locals were involved while there was none for businesses such as jewellery stores, operated mostly by non-locals. He said it was time the people of St. Maarten were “part of the economic growth.”

Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto outlined the process used to develop the budget and the relevant laws that play a part in the compilation. As for policies, he also rehashed his vision of revising the tax system as a means of broadening the tax base, improving government’s finance management to the level of best practices and upgrading the tax authority, among other projects.

As the last of the ministers to address Parliament, Shigemoto said it was good to have listened to his colleagues go through what was in the budget in terms of policies and plans. He added that based on the way MPs had spoken in the Central Committee of Parliament’s handing of the budget, the public might have thought that it was “a horrible document.”

Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams highlighted the need to upgrade the civil service through an education plan about the way government functions that would extend to the public later. Wescot-Williams also outlined the establishment of an expanded national archive, further development of the National Gazette, and strengthening of the National Security Service, among other projects and policies.

She was critical of MPs for questioning the policies of the ministers and by extension the cabinet as a whole when the Governing Programme had been presented to Parliament since September 2011. “No one discussed the government programme,” she said.

Deputy Prime Minister/Infrastructure Minister Theo Heyliger based his presentation on the United People’ (UP) party/Democratic Party (DP)’s governing programme titled a “Foundation of Hope” and zoomed in on the need to improve the organisation of his ministry to kindle the community’s respect. He said the ministry had to contend with limited resources, human capacity and tools.

Pay for services

Justice Minister Roland Duncan pointed out again his intention to bring legislation to introduce a fee for residence permits. The ministry receives some 5,000 requests annually for renewal and new residence permits. At present, a processing fee is charged when a request for a new or renewed employment permit is logged.

Duncan also will seek to raise more money for his ministry by implementing fees for “Justice services” such as the new requests/renewals for gun permits and requests for police records and public gathering permits for events. No fee is levied for these services other than purchasing of a revenue stamp.

He also spoke about the need to acquire “The Box” in Cay Hill for use as a youth detention centre and criminal psychiatric facility, among other uses. It will also serve as the main kitchen for all the detention facilities. A proposal on “The Box” will be sent to Parliament soon for review.

He addressed the human resources shortage his ministry faces and efforts to correct this, as well as trying to access funding needed to carry out the recommendations in the Plans of Approach. He referred to the Immigration Department as “neglected” over the years and said he hopes to boost its capacity and workplace morale.

Expansion of the National Detectives unit and putting the framework in place to ensure the head has a replacement also are being looked at.

On substations and increasing police presence in the 10 districts, Duncan said he was in talks with various property owners to acquire land and spaces. He hopes to conclude talks with Port de Plaisance to use two old buildings on its property to house police officers temporarily, as construction of the substation to be built in that area is yet to be started.

Male teachers

Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Rhoda Arrindell outlined the strides she had made in her portfolios, taking time to address comments made by some opposition MPs on the tweaking of the Culture Policy, efforts to host the 2013 Kingdom Games and adequate funding for youth organisations.

Arrindell spoke of the possibility of extending school hours, attracting more male teachers to the classrooms, making sports a mandatory part of the curricula and emphasising graduating students being able to converse comfortably in English, Dutch, Spanish and French.

While working on a sports policy, a Sports and Recreation Foundation and a Youth Development Foundation are in the works. An Interim Sports Technical Committee is in place. The “Get off the Block, Get on the Bus” programme will be rewritten to meet pressing goals.

Man in the mirror

Public Health, Social Development and Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever prefaced his presentation with a video clip to the sound of Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.” The clip showed scenes not in St. Maarten of emaciated children, homelessness and poverty, among other social ills. It even had a brief clip of Adolf Hilter in his trademark military uniform complete with swastika.

De Weever said the clip was “to set the mood” and evoke the question whether a better St. Maarten was desired. He said his ministry was busy with a health information system to establish a baseline, to monitor policies and any outbreak.

He urged all residents to take control of their health and see physicians regularly. He also asked MPs to support medical policies. The development of a national disability fund and pension plan are being explored.

Giving insights into other policies, De Weever said the foreign work permit policy was under review, as well as the labour laws. Those laws are seen as key to “drastically reduce” youth unemployment.

False start

Monday’s meeting was slated to start at 10:00am. However, after a 30-minute wait, only seven MPs were signed in for the start of the session, one signature short of a quorum. President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell and fellow MP Johan “Janchi” Leonard were not present, as they were travelling back from Aruba.

Although National Alliance (NA) MPs William Marlin, George Pantophlet, Louie Laveist and Hyacinth Richardson as well as independent MP Frans Richardson were present in the General Assembly Hall and in their seats, they had not signed in for the meeting.

Following a roll call, Deputy President of Parliament Leroy de Weever said the session had to be reconvened within four times 24 hours based on the Rules of Order. He immediately set the second calling of the meeting for 2:00pm. It was pushed later to 3:00pm as NA members indicated that they wanted to attend a funeral.

When the meeting was opened for the second time, there was the required number of signatures for a quorum.

The only other procedural issue to come up as the afternoon progressed was MP Laveist asking for a roll call just when Shigemoto had started with his presentation. There were about four MPs in the hall at that time. As preparations for the roll call were made, MPs in the hall gestured to their colleagues to return to their seats. Some MPs made it back to their seats just as the general secretary called their names. Ten MPs were noted as present, so the session continued.

Law adopted on Special Investigative Authorities in St. Maarten

FRIDAY, 16 MARCH 2012

PHILIPSBURG–The Law on Special Investigative Authorities BOB was adopted by Parliament on Thursday afternoon after some fifteen months during which time there were “hearings” with Justice-related groups, Parliament sessions and questions to Justice Minister Roland Duncan.

The adoption of the law was not without controversy. Three Members of Parliament (MPs) had called for the handling to be put on hold for at least a month for “people to be consulted.”

Eight MPs voted for and four voted against the law that gives law enforcement the legal ability to utilise phone-tapping, systematic surveillance and infiltration, among other techniques, to pursue criminals. Three MPs, including National Alliance (NA) MP Hyacinth Richardson, were absent with notice.

Voting for the law were United People’s (UP) party MPs Romain Laville, Gracita Arrindell (President of Parliament), Dr. Ruth Douglass, Silvia Meyers-Olivacce, Jules James and Johan “Janchi” Leonard, Democratic Party (DP) MP Roy Marlin and independent MP Patrick Illidge.

National Alliance (NA) MPs William Marlin, Dr. Lloyd Richardson and George Pantophlet, and independent MP Frans Richardson voted against the law.

Motivating his vote, Lloyd Richardson said while he had concerns about the law, he believed it was a necessary evil. He “begged” for the adoption to be postponed for consultation with the people because he “would like to vote for it.”

MP Pantophlet concurred with Lloyd Richardson, saying that a month or two postponement to meet the people would be more acceptable.

Frans Richardson argued in motivating his vote: “We could have waited. … None of us has anything totally against the law.”

Roy Marlin he was surprised that after 14 months MPs were asking for time to go to the districts when the urgency to pass the law and the need for it to be in place should be well understood. As for abuse, “If we see the law is being abused, we [can] pull it in.”

Illidge reiterated his concerns about abuse of the law, but said it was a tool to combat crime. He decried NA members for being against the law. Earlier in the meeting he had shared a letter sent to him anonymously alleging misuse of access to private information by a telecommunication executive. This underscored his concerns about the law. (A copy of this letter also was sent anonymously to The Daily Herald twice via surface mail.)

After an adjournment for MPs to review the letter Duncan said he would forward it to the Prosecutor’s Office for investigation to determine whether there had been misconduct.

Similarly, MP Laville said it was the NA that had “bombarded” Justice Minister Roland Duncan with questions in Parliament when there was a spike in crime last year. The minister, he continued, had pointed out at that time the need for this law, as did law enforcement officials in their presentations to MPs. Laville said he would have understood the reluctance if the voting on the law came only a month or two after it had been presented, which was not the case.

MP Dr. Douglass called the law a great tool for law enforcement. She said St. Maarten was no longer the friendly island, but “a place where people can take advantage of our weakness. So this [law] was a step” to correct this.

MP Leonard had stated his agreement with the law fervently earlier in the meeting, saying that as a former police officer he could not be against the law. “Why fear if you have nothing doing wrong? … I don’t have a problem … 24 hours tap my phone. … Start with me.”

MP James also believed the law was is “the right thing for the island.”

The passing of the law also means that it can also be put into effect in Aruba and Curaçao. Those countries had already passed the uniformity law and were awaiting the decision of St. Maarten to implement it. The last procedural step is for the law to be signed by Governor Eugene Holiday and Duncan.

The Justice Ministry now will embark on an extensive public information campaign with funds already set aside for this undertaking.

The law also fits into the Financial Action Task Force requirements the country must have in place to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

MP Louie Laveist (NA), a staunch opponent of the law on the ground of possible abuse by law enforcement, was conspicuously absent from the meeting. He sent a notice of absence for the meeting, but no specific reason was given. Laveist showed up in Parliament House a short time after the meeting was closed.

Also absent was another MP with concerns about the legislation: Leroy de Weever (DP). His concerns hinged on the breach of privacy the law would create and the breach when it comes to the Constitution. De Weever’s absence was due to his “taking his wife to the doctor,” according to MP Roy Marlin.

Roy Marlin blasted Laveist and independent MP Frans Richardson who had not yet taken part in the meeting for purposely being absent after voicing opposition to the law in the past months, but not wanting to be present to vote on it. In his determination, this was a political move to claim later that they had no part in the adoption of the law. He excluded De Weever from this observation.

MP William Marlin objected to Roy Marlin’s “bashing” of members who were not present and asked why Arrindell had not stopped it. Her answer was that Parliament was a political body and from time to time MPs would refer to each other.

Frans Richardson subsequently joined the meeting and stated that it was his right to vote, not vote or abstain from voting on the law. He said the fact that “great” United States or The Netherlands wanted it in place did not mean it must be so, especially considering that the law had been with the Netherlands Antilles Parliament for more than 12 years. The law passed on Thursday has had some adjustments made by the Justice Ministers of St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba.

Frans Richardson also argued that laws with significant impact on people’s lives should be decided on via referenda.

Justice Minister Roland Duncan, after hearing opinions from MPs, said the law was simply putting law enforcement on par with the methods already accessible and used by criminals. “What are we afraid of [with passing this law]? We hid behind the Constitution. … Privacy is not absolute. … What we are saying here today is ‘if my privacy is invaded we don’t have it?’” He added, “We are a mature and properly-functioning democracy.”

Duncan also answered additional questions posed by MPs on the law, including concerns that the maximum sentence of four years for misuse of the law was too low. He recommended that if Parliament had concerns, they should be put forward in a proposal from MPs.

He said it was regrettable that Frans Richardson did not support the law, adding that MPs were the representatives of the people.

At the start of the meeting MP William Marlin pointed out that it had become a practice for MPs to receive information in two languages. Sometimes, he said, this creates a situation of English and Dutch being “mixed up.” He said while this might “sound frivolous … it does not look good.” He called for Parliamentary committee names, for example, to be used in English for consistency.

MPs get answers on expenses and general matters from St. Maarten governmentt

TUESDAY, 06 MARCH 2012

PHILIPSBURG–The Audit and Criminal Investigation Department is understaffed with fifty per cent vacancies. Due to this there was not enough capacity to perform audits on rental cars, hotel rooms and timeshares, and the focus was on income tax, turnover tax and profit tax, government answered to questions posed by Members of Parliament (MPs) during the Central Committee session of last week Thursday.

The Tax Administration plans to perform audits and on-the-spot checks on the tax on rental cars, hotel rooms and timeshares this year.

The package of answers was delivered to Parliament by Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto on Monday. MPs were given time to review the answers and to pose additional questions. Those will be answered by government in writing as well and sent to Parliament ahead of the plenary session on the draft 2012 budget.

MPs also learnt from the answers that not all casino fees are up to date “given the fact that some arrangements were made with the previous Executive Council. … The matter is being looked into now we are country St. Maarten.”

Dutch funding will come to an end this year and new partnership programmes with the Netherlands cannot be counted on, government said. “The intention is that after 2013, St. Maarten is self-sufficient and capable of financing projects out of our own financial resources. This is one of the reasons the Government is pursuing a policy of getting our financial situation in order.”

A strategic vision of the relation with the European Union will be presented in the second half of this year. A framework of the cooperation with the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and an “extensive 360-degree inventory” of other possible donors will be compiled, together with strategies involving those donors in the further development of St. Maarten.

The Netherlands Antillean tax holiday legislation still exists in St. Maarten. The tax reform exercise also will include the evaluation of the tax holiday legislation and tax incentives in general.

Three tax holiday requests have been submitted to the Governor since 10-10-10. There are some 15 tax holiday requests pending; among others, from Indigo Bay Estates. No concessions have been made yet regarding the Indigo project, as this application is still being processed, according to government.

As for tax incentives for companies that hire more locals, the Finance Ministry is of the opinion that it is very important to strengthen the labour market for locals. However, if the labour market does not have the local expertise, then the companies may have to acquire the expertise from abroad.

“Training our local people to acquire the expertise needed for these companies to be able to operate efficiently as opposed to giving out tax breaks would be a win-win for all involved.”

The claims of civil servants who worked for the Netherlands Antilles up to October 10, 2010, will be sent to the assets and liability division committee within the next two weeks. It was said to be “a long process” because information provided had to be completed by the ministry and verified.

Government further explained that the ministers’ basic salaries remained the same, despite reports to the contrary. For the 2011 budget, ministers’ allowances, with the exception of child allowance, were not known, so these were left out.

Those allowances – rent, car, telephone and personal – were applied in the 2012 budget after they were known. Applying these allowances increased the ministers’ overall salaries, including the vacation allowance, which is calculated as a percentage of one’s salary.

Corporate Governance Council to be re-installed in St. Maarten

TUESDAY, 06 MARCH 2012

PHILIPSBURG–Government has said that the content of the draft new national decree to re-install the Corporate Governance Council (CGC) has been discussed with the CGC and is now ready to go to the Council of Ministers for approval.

This disclosure formed part of the answers presented to Parliament, during the continuation of the Central Committee of Parliament meeting on the 2012 national budget, on Monday. Government added that CGC was meeting with the Ministry of Finance to reach an agreement on the budget.

“Almost a year ago, the first meeting between the working committee, including the chairman of the CGC, met to discuss the money that government made available to the CGC. The chairman did not accept the cheque because, according to him, there was not legal ground for him or any other member to accept the cheque. Since then, the working committee has drafted a “beslisnota” [decision memo-Ed.] to structure the CGC after 10-10-10. The beslisnota included the laws that needed to be changed and published and a draft national decree [landsbesluit-Ed.] to install the CGC again, since the island decree installing the CGC is no longer valid,” government explained in its response to questions about the status of the CGC.

Tax collector St. Maarten permitted to reach back 15 years

Minister Shigemoto: Budget figures St. Maarten conservative and realistic

THURSDAY, 23 FEBRUARY 2012

PHILIPSBURG–Income and expenses in the draft 2012 budget are “estimated conservatively, but realistically,” Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto told Parliament as he tabled the budget for debate Wednesday, almost two months into the year. The economy is showing signs of “picking up” based on increases in room occupancy and cruise passenger arrivals, he said.

The budget has to finish its rounds in the Central Committee before it is forwarded to a plenary session of Parliament for approval.

While Shigemoto did not specially outline government’s policies in his presentation, he highlighted that personnel expenses, salaries, wages, benefits and social charges needed to be controlled as soon as possible to be able to keep the budget in balance in the future.

The total operating expenses for 2012 are budgeted at NAf. 432.5 million, an increase of NAf. 11.6 million or 2.8 per cent compared to 2011. As required by law, the total operating income and expenses are balanced; the budget has no deficit, no surplus.

Capital expenditures include study loans, the cost of completion of the new Government Building, and infrastructural projects, including the ring road. The total of capital expenditures of NAf. 65.6 million will be financed by government’s available cash (NAf. 23.8 million), bonds to be issued (NAf. 37.3 million) and means available from depreciation of material fixed assets.

The pre-financed loans were refinanced during 2011 with a bond issue of 2.5 per cent. No bonds have been issued as yet to finance the capital expenditures in 2011. The actual debt position at this moment is “therefore lower than budget and the debt to GDP ratio in the range of about 23-25 per cent.”

Shigemoto attributed the late presentation of the budget to the Central Committee to a “handicap-start” because the preparation had started late in 2011. The minister pointed to “balancing issues” as the reason for the late presentation.

After a full year of operating as a country, all ministries submitted budgets that far exceeded the available means due to experiencing what is necessary to run the country, he further explained.

Growth and tax collection

The Gross Domestic Product GDP is expected to grow by 0.2 per cent annually. The minister said that to cover the increase in expenses, extra measures will be needed to be able to balance the budget. Those measures will be focused mainly on compliance.

“At this moment there is insufficient data to project growth; however, there are signs that the economy is picking up [based on occupancy rates, cruise passengers],” he said.

Delving into the “meat of the budget,” Shigemoto said the operating income for 2011 had included incidental grants while the 2012 budget includes no grants. The main increase in income concerns extra income from income taxes (NAf. 24 million). Measures to increase compliance by taxpayers are a goal of government this year.

The personnel expenses account for 41 per cent of the total operating expenses, followed by goods and services (27 per cent), subsidies and contributions (23 per cent). Operating expenses are expected to grow by two per cent annually as from 2012. A substantial part of the subsidies and contributions includes personnel expenses, Shigemoto said.

Income from wage tax and income tax as a percentage of GDP has been “declining” over the last 10 years from 10.2 per cent in 2002 to 8.3 per cent in 2009. Efforts are being made to bring back the level of wage and income taxes through actions to increase compliance, Shigemoto told Members of Parliament.

The actual income and wage taxes for 2010 and 2011 amount to NAf. 114 million and NAf. 122 million respectively.

Wage and income tax account for 32 per cent of total income, followed by turnover tax (28 per cent), profit tax (nine per cent), other taxes like gasoline excise tax, transfer tax (10 per cent) and other levies and retributions like bank licence fees, concession fees, casino and other business licence fees (21 per cent).

The increase in wage and income tax is due to actions taken by the tax authorities in the real estate sector and should lead to substantial increase in income tax. The increase in turnover tax is due to the fact that in 2011 only 11.3 months of turnover were subjected to a rate of five per cent.

The jump in wage and income tax is mainly due to extra income tax expected from non-resident property owners. Although the expected additional income includes retroactive assessments, a structural increase in wage and income taxes is expected due to actions taken to increase compliance. Government aims to collect NAf. 48 million from foreign condo owners.

Expenses

The increase in expenses of the Parliament and Councils compared to the 2011 budget is caused by an increase in “personnel occupancy” (NAf. 2.8 million) and increases in travel expenses (NAf. 0.9 million), advisory services (NAf. 1 million), courses and communication.

The increase for the Ministry of Finance compared to the 2011 budget is due to an increase in personnel expenses (NAf. 2.4 million) and in interest and depreciation expenses (NAf. 2.6 million).

The changes to Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Communication compared to the 2011 budget are due to an increase in personnel expenses of NAf. 2.2 million and a decrease of NAf. 5.7 million in USONA/SEI funded projects included in the 2011 budget.

Shigemoto said personnel expenses, excluding cost of medical care, had increased by some 15 per cent due to salary adjustments and extension of work force (5.5 per cent). Total personnel expenses, including personnel expenses for the subsidised foundations, including the cost of medical expenses of personnel, amount to about 55-60 per cent of total operating expenses.

“Any increase in personnel expenses has a serious material effect on the total budget. Personnel expenses, salaries, wages, benefits and social charges need to be controlled as soon as possible in order to be able to keep the budget in balance in the future,” he said.

Figures per ministry

The Ministry of Education, Youth, Culture and Sports accounts for the lion’s share of the budget. A total of NAf. 110.7 million is budgeted, up by NAf. 621,000 from last year.

The Ministry of Justice has a decrease in its budget. The total allotted is NAf. 67.4 million, NAf. 1.2 million less than in 2011.

The Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunication also saw a decrease in its budget. The total budget is NAf. 30.3 million, down by NAf. 3.5 million.

A total of NAf. 15.4 million is budgeted for expenses for Parliament and the High Council of State. This is NAf. 9.5 million more than 2011.

Budgeted for the Ministry of General Affairs is NAf. 69.3 million, up by NAf. 1.8 million from last year.

The Ministry of Finance’s budget is NAf. 43.1 million, increased by NAf. 3.3 million.

The Ministry of Health, Social Development and Labour has a budget of NAf. 61.5 million – increased by NAf. 2.8 million.

The Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure has a budget of NAf. 34.4 million, an increase of NAf. 1.8 million.

Moving forward

Shigemoto warned that any changes to the draft budget during its handling in Parliament would mean that the draft budget would have to be re-submitted to the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT for advice. The CFT already has issued a preliminary cautiously positive advice. A formal advice will be given after Parliament has approved the budget.

“If these changes are budget-neutral, the process could possibly be shorter than if changes are made without considering how to cover the changes of increases in cost in the draft budget. This in turn would mean a longer period without an approved budget 2012.”

The Finance Ministry has started the 2013 budget cycle. Each Ministry will receive a framework document soon indicating the 2013 budget room for each. The expected income level for 2013 will be calculated so the “pie” can be divided among the ministries.

St. Maarten Mental Health Foundation closing ward if government continues to deny work permits

SATURDAY, 28 JANUARY 2012

~ Finding qualified staff a major challenge ~

PHILIPSBURG–If government continues to deny employment permit requests for qualified Mental Health Foundation (MHF) staff, the foundation will be forced to close its Admissions Ward.

While this would be a last resort, MHF Director Eileen Healy said she would not continue to admit patients with mental disorders without the necessary qualified staffers on board.

Healy made the comments during a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Friday. “Work permits are being turned down as we speak. We are seriously looking at closing down Admissions soon if we don’t get permits, because I won’t take in more patients if we don’t have qualified staff,” she said.

Healy’s comments sparked a strong reaction from Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Leroy de Weever, who said he didn’t understand where her comments “on non-cooperation” stemmed from, given that the foundation had received what he said had been a substantial increase in its subsidy from government over the years.

De Weever also questioned whose authority it was to determine whether MHF should be closed.
However, Healy pointed out that while government had been cooperating and an increase in subsidy had been budgeted for the foundation, this never had been received in January as prescribed and in fact had been given as late as August on one occasion.

Healy said obtaining qualified staff was a “major challenge and hurdle” for the foundation. This, she said, is complicated when government denies the employment permit requests for the persons from abroad.

She told MPs the foundation had gone through the required process of advertising for qualified staffers at the Labour Department and in the newspapers for several weeks and when this had not yielded any success, the foundation had submitted a request for a non- national with the necessary qualifications to work in its operations.

She told this newspaper last night that four permit requests had been submitted, two of which had been approved, one denied and one pending. The permit denied was a first-time request for a Social Psychiatric Nurse and the one that is pending is for a Registered Nurse, both of whom are for the Admissions Ward. MHF has a total of 40 workers.

In addition, while the Labour Department is supposed to give an answer on a permit request within six weeks, Healy said it took three months and longer. “And in the meantime, we have to run a facility,” she said.

She stressed that the current complement of staffers in the Admissions Ward could not provide the 24-hour service that was required, without the workers for whom permits had been requested. She said too that while the foundation had at its disposal the services of part-time nurses who had full-time jobs elsewhere, these nurses often were not familiar with patients with mental disorders, which could create a dangerous situation.

The foundation had requested exemptions from Justice Minister Roland Duncan and Labour and Health Minister Cornelius de Weever. “We understand that Minster de Weever is trying to do something about it, but our staff gets desperate. … It is not an easy situation for us now,” Healy said, noting that she wanted to take only good news to Parliament, but she had challenges and wanted to speak honestly about them.

In response to Healy’s comments De Weever said: “… You hinted that you are thinking of closing. How can a single person like yourself make that decision arbitrarily? And I’d like to know the structure of your foundation. Who represents the foundation? What are the authorities of the board versus the Director? Is the board or the supervisory board ultimately responsible? Is the director’s power mandated or delegated? And what authorities are mandated and delegated to the director?”

Healy said her concerns were shared by the board, whose President Felix Holiday had wanted to be present at Friday’s meeting, but couldn’t attend. She said the executing of policies was approved by the board and delegated to the director. For serious measures, she said, the board meets, the director advises and decisions are made.
She said they didn’t want to close down the facility, but if their Registered Nurse couldn’t handle a 24-hour schedule without a qualified assistant, they wouldn’t have a choice. “Right now we are working with on-call nurses, which is not healthy for … our patients,” Healy said.

“All civil servants don’t understand the impact on all organisations. If we now have to go and dispute something that has been turned down, it takes away from the time we have to implement quality care. We want to be busy now to set up an education plan, but instead I have to go and run behind the Labour Office. If government gives a permit to start a facility … and now tells me that I don’t have a work permit [for my staff], it takes away from the work that I want to do for patients.”

She said too that government’s subsidy did not cover the foundation’s entire operations. “Officially the subsidy should be way lower if the tariffs were higher.” She said the problem of uninsured patients also was hampering the foundation.

She said while communication with Health and Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever had been “wonderful,” MHF “doesn’t know where the recent problems are coming from.”

MHF Registered Nurse (RN) Elena Reyes, one of the persons who accompanied Healy to the meeting, suggested that government invest more in local education programmes to produce more Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and RNs. “Most people have to pay out of their own pockets and we know how the economy is – not very easy.” She said there had been some internships at MHF recently and she was hoping to encourage these interns to work for MHF.

Based on a suggestion from De Weever, a tour of the MHF facility will be arranged.

Healy attended the meeting with MHF Psychiatrist Dr. Sachin Gandotra, Administrator Lila Jones and Executive Secretary Micaela Warner.

In addition to De Weever, present at the meeting were President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell; MPs Jules James, Dr. Ruth Douglass, Johan “Janchi” Leonard and Silvia Olivacce-Meyers of United People’s (UP) party; George Pantophlet and Dr. Lloyd Richardson of the National Alliance (NA); and independent MP Frans Richardson. Several of the MPs present also made remarks during the meeting.

CFT sees ability to meet pensions, social service as St. Maarten government ‘challenge’

WEDNESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2012

PHILIPSBURG–One of the economic challenges the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT foresees, based on global trends, is “the ability of the government to provide the social services and pension the population expects,” CFT Chairman Age Bakker told Parliament in an introductory meeting Tuesday.

Bakker, who was in the country for the opening of a CFT office and to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with government on further cooperation, met Parliament with other members of the CFT board and secretariat staff.

He explained that the challenge for government stemmed from the worldwide developments on this front where governments were looking at the pension funds and social services to see if there were adequate reserves.
To this end, CFT has asked the United People’s (UP) party/Democratic Party (DP) coalition to look at the prospects for those two issues and make sure “all available data” on these services are available to government and Parliament to make informed decisions on the service that can be provided in the medium term.

Speaking of the draft 2012 budget, the new CFT chairman said government was still discussing it with CFT. When it is finally presented to Parliament it will come with a positive informal advice from CFT on its meeting all set norms. He sees this process of discussions prior to the budget’s presentation in Parliament as “a positive step from the situations in the past.”

Budgets were presented in the past and passed by Parliament only to be rejected by CFT. Those rejections arose because CFT judged the budgets as not in line with the Kingdom Law on Temporary Financial Supervision for Curaçao and St. Maarten, the law that gave birth to CFT.

“The budget will be presented very soon,” Bakker told Members of Parliament (MPs). “It is a big improvement compared to last year. We are making progress, but we are not there completely, because the law says the budget should be ready before December 15.” The deadline was not met because the 2011 budget process was lengthy.

The improvement to which he referred relates to government and CFT being at odds in the budget process in 2010 and 2011. That led to the 2011 budget receiving final approval from CFT in August 2011 after Parliament had passed a revised budget in June. “We have good hope that the 2013 budget will be within the framework.”

The 2012 budget is presented in “challenging times” for St. Maarten and the world. Bakker said it would be “a challenging task” for Parliament and government to fulfil the requirements of the law. He indicated that there might be a need during the course of the year to assess the situation again to decide whether to adjust the budget.

Dealing with the Annual Report for 2011, Bakker said this would take time, seeing that the process to adopt the budget had only ended in August. “We have heard that it will be probably before the expected date of August.”

The 2010 Annual Report is in the final process and will be sent to the General Audit Chamber and Parliament soon. These reports are “important in Parliament being able to play its role.” Without the reports, government, Parliament and CFT have to operate “a little in the dark” to a certain extent, because not all information is available. However, Bakker is optimistic about progress being made.

CFT has a role in seeing that corporate governance is implemented and fostered by government, he said. The progress of this has been discussed with the Council of Ministers and progress is being made. MPs George Pantophlet, Frans Richardson, Patrick Illidge and William Marlin made comments and asked Bakker questions about the role of CFT and its relationship with government, and on the budget.

Investors brief St. Maarten MPs about plans for US $128Million medical tourism project

~ Cupecoy possible location for new hospital ~

TUESDAY, 20 DECEMBER 2011

PHILIPSBURG–A second group of investors under the name “Thukela” unveiled plans Monday to build a US $128.5-million hospital named International Medical Center (IMC) St. Maarten, “possibly” in the Cupecoy area, as part of plans to exploit medical tourism here.

Another group, the Florida-based Advanced Orthopedic Centre, had expressed earlier this year its desire to open a multi-disciplinary clinic to cater to residents and visitors.

Representatives of the two groups have met, but were unable to come to an agreement to work together, IMC Project Director Sandra “Sandy” Papale told Members of Parliament (MPs) in a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament yesterday. She said IMC’s intention was to create a “world-class medical centre” servicing world needs for first-class medical procedures with “top global surgeons and specialists.”

Architect David Morrison also attended the Parliament meeting. The facility will combine medical facility and resort-type facilities for patients and their families to be able also to enjoy what St. Maarten has to offer.

News of the plans drew mixed reactions from MPs, some of whom said it would be beneficial to St. Maarten, while others questioned whether it would be competition for the existing St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) and sought clarity on issues such as provisions for local labour, liability insurance, etc.
IMC says its aim is to “bring the world to St. Maarten and introduce our island as the hub for medical tourism servicing the Americas, European and possibly the Asian and mid-Eastern markets.”

Papale said the intention was for the facility to offer procedures and treatments based on what St. Maarten thinks is necessary and not any that would be in direct competition with SMMC.

However, in a feasibility study on the initiative, the group lists medical services to be offered as diagnostics, pre-operative care, cardiovascular care (invasive and non-invasive), oncology, radiology, orthopaedic treatment (spine work; hip and knee replacements), stem cell research/implementation, neurological evaluation, general/internal medicine, gastroenterological treatment, cosmetic/plastic surgery, urology, dentistry (including cosmetic), aqua therapy, physiotherapy and imaging (CT, MRI, EEG, etc.), as well as a hyperbaric facility and a pharmacy.

The centre also would address the needs of clients looking for preventive medical care, with attached residences to cater for post-treatment recovery and relaxation.

“The St. Maarten economy will benefit by the influx of visitors, who will often take much-needed vacations after their procedures. The neighbouring islands of Anguilla and St. Barths, who cater to the rich and famous, BVI, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, as well as the existing mega-yacht community will also find the location of this world-class facility ideal and will partake in its services, bringing a further influx of monies to the local economy,” it was stated in the feasibility study.

Venue
Papale told MPs that while Cupecoy was their first choice in terms of a venue, the group had a “plan B” to construct the hospital at another location if plans to acquire the Cupecoy venue were to fall through. She said that while the group’s initiative was still in the early stages, financing to build the hospital would not be a problem.

“We won’t want any financing from government,” she said. Investment will come from multiple sources with which government would be happy, she said. She did not disclose the sources. However, she said local medical practitioners and associations representing medical practitioners would have an opportunity to invest and become shareholders in the facility. They also would be given an opportunity to work at the facility or to upgrade themselves to be able to work there, if their training is not up to par.

The intention of Monday’s presentation, she said, was to secure a letter of support from Parliament, so that she could proceed with securing investment and move ahead with the project.

Papale said she had met and held discussions with Health Minister Cornelius de Weever and Independent MP Patrick Illidge. She said she had also given the former government a presentation on this project and on a hotel project with which she had been involved.

Papale, who said she had been the driver behind this initiative for the past three years, said many persons had died, been misdiagnosed or had lost a limb unnecessarily because of the timing of emergency services and the unavailability of equipment in St. Maarten.

She said that while she could not give any guarantees, she had never failed on any project in which she had been involved. Papale said locals also would be catered to at an affordable price, which she said would be determined by local insurance companies and medical practitioners.

Medical tourism
Papale, an Executive Vice President of Prudential Douglas Elliman, a New York-based residential real estate company, said research done by the group showed that there existed a real and distinct need for a “one-stop” medical, lifestyle and wellness facility in St. Maarten, which “will become a prime development initiative and market leader.”

“The cost of medicine in the US is so high that people are desperately looking for alternatives. We will be fully inclusive and we hope to bring to this island the best surgeons and specialists in the world in each medical discipline, to cater to tourists and local people,” she said.

Feasibility
In its feasibility study, the group said the cost of surgery in India, Thailand or South Africa could be as little as one-tenth the cost in the United States or Western Europe. A heart valve replacement that would cost $200,000 or more in the US could cost as little as $10,000 in India, including airfare and a brief vacation package.

Similarly, a metal-free dental bridge costing $5,500 in the US costs some $500 in India. A knee replacement in Thailand, including six days of physical therapy, costs almost one-fifth what it would in the United States. Laser eye surgery costing $3,700 in the US is available in many other countries for only $730.
“Therefore the financial savings benefit is one of the leading aspects of medical tourism that causes increasing interest from visitors,” the study said.

According to the group’s “low-range indicative financial projections,” this project is likely to yield a 10-year internal rate of return (IRR) of 14.4 per cent for investments in St Maarten.

The study said the Caribbean had welcomed health and wellness travellers seeking out its warm climate, fresh air, soothing seas and mineral springs to prevent illness or aid in recovery. Now it is the medical tourism market segment involving those seeking curative treatment – with a bit of holiday on the side.
The major driving force is a growing demand in the Caribbean’s traditional tourism markets of North America and Europe, where more and more people are opting to travel abroad for medical treatment sooner or less expensive than they can have it at home.

Unanswered
MPs present asked a number of questions on the initiative. However, Papale was unable to answer certain questions because she said the group had not yet met with any stakeholder and the plan was just in its preliminary stages and nothing was set in stone. She said once government endorsed the initiative, further discussions and plans for the facility could take place and more details on specifics could be ironed out. She said too that she did not want to create “false hopes” about the project.

Independent MP Frans Richardson said based on the questions asked and the responses given, the project had been brought to Parliament prematurely, because Papale had been unable to answer many of the questions posed.

Parliament President Gracita Arrindell’s reaction to Richardson’s comments promoted Richardson to say that his opinion as an MP should be respected and that Arrindell should be neutral as the Parliament President.
Arrindell later responded by saying that she was not neutral, because she had a vote as an MP. Some MPs of the governing coalition said the group had not wasted its time going to Parliament with its plans.
One of the questions asked by Democratic Party (DP) MP Leroy de Weever was how the group could assist SMMC, which needs $17 million. Papale said that while it would be easier for her to raise $150 million for a viable, world-class clinic than it would be to raise $17 million for a local St. Maarten clinic, the high-profile image of IMC would be the way to raise funds, as well as for the local hospital.

The proposed venue for the clinic was another issue raised by some MPs, who had concerns about the distance. Papale said this was the preferred venue for the hospital, the reasons for which would be disclosed at a later stage.

Based on other concerns raised by some MPs about the segment of the population without medical insurance and unable to pay, Papale said an agreement had been made with medical practitioners who would work at the facility that 10 per cent of their work would be pro bono.

On the issue of the Florida-based group that also is interested in setting up a hospital here, Papale said a member of her group had flown to Florida to discuss with that group the possibilities of working together. However, she said that while the vision of the two groups was primarily the same, they differed on certain issues and couldn’t come to an agreement to work together.

Regarding concerns of possible competition by two groups, Papale said two medical facilities wouldn’t be too much for St. Maarten. She said competition was healthy, that her group had confidence in the quality of its services and that government should ensure that any other facility at least provided the same level of services.