Dear Editor,

Monday, June 25, 2018 the new Cabinet took the oath of office and a new chapter in Government began. It is my hope that each and every one of our civil servants will be able to focus on “the big Picture.” I have truly experienced the majority of them to be hard working, involved, passionate and dedicated employees, often times working under less than acceptable conditions in the post-Irma wrecked Government Building, yet everyday coming to work with a smile and often doing more than their share. Unfortunately I have also experienced some that are aces at backbiting, telling you half a story and lacking all respect for their colleagues and superiors.

The way we communicate with each other, the way we talk about each other, the way we respect each other will ultimately determine how well we work with each other. Understanding each-others challenges, greatly improves compassion for each other.

Serving the public is a privilege; the public should never be seen as an interruption of your work.

In the same way that the private sector is not the enemy. It serves absolutely no good purpose to treat them as such, or to paint all members of that pillar of society with one and the same brush.

Government besides being a regulator and enforcer, should also be a facilitator. Government is made up of people … those people are the civil servants.

Be the best that you can be, consider that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, adopt an attitude that embraces the glass being half full rather than half empty. Do not accept mediocracy. Smile every day and count your blessings. Use the stairs more and the elevators less. Flush the toilets and urinals … it shows you respect the next user. Do your work with passion and compassion. Consider yourselves lucky: You have a job!

Thank you for the privilege to allow me work with you and amongst you.

Michael Ferrier

Former Minister of Finance

Dear Editor,
My tenure as Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (MECYS) in the Interim Romeo-Marlin Cabinet has come to an end. When I transitioned into the role as Minister on January 15th of this year, I was overwhelmed with a sense optimism and gratitude for being given the opportunity to serve my Country. In this short time, during which we have been through a parliamentary election and the formation of a new government while still very much in the midst of our Recovery process, I recognize that there have been continued challenging moments and unforeseen complications that influenced emotions, our sense of well-being and progress of our recovery.
As I close off this interim term, I reflect on the progress and accomplishments made since January. The assignment for the Interim Cabinet had a strong sense of focus on the recovery progress post Irma, the establishment of budget 2018 and the continuity of ongoing governmental affairs. In preparing this message I returned to my very first press briefing speech given during my first week in office. In that message I emphasized my prioritization and focus on the psycho-social wellbeing of our students, teachers and MECYS staff; safety and preparedness of all MECYS institutions to ensure that our children and youth can learn and develop in an environment that is conducive to their overall development; reconstruction and possible re-zoning of certain critical facilities; capacity building; policy and legislation.
To that end the Ministry’s accomplishments as a team have been remarkable and individual staff members of the staff bureau, departments and divisions have made significant contributions towards the MECYS agenda of recovery and strategic change in the short period of time. I am content with what we together accomplished as a team; none of which would have been possible without the support of my capable Ministry.
With the hard work of my team, I take pride that our Ministry has been able to:
* Advance significantly with the Higher Education Ordinance, the establishment of a Law Faculty on the island and complete the Study Financing Ordinance.
* Host the first ever Creative Industries Interactive Exchange Forum and present the 2018 Culture Prize through which has served as the catalyst for dialogue on the establishment of an Artists Guild as well as an investigation into the economic opportunities the creative industries may bring to the island;
* Train staff members of the ministry, teachers and key MECYS stakeholders through trainings and workshops on disaster management and phyco-social wellbeing;
* Highlight the importance of sports and focus on the critical repairs needed of our sports facilities through the #SportsMatter initiative;
* Advance on critical repairs to schools and surrounding perimeters, repairs to several community basketball courts and sports facilities;
* Significantly advance with a number of conclusions, agreements and an enhanced relationship between the Government and the St. Maarten School Bus Owners Association;
* Successfully complete the school year, with study financing and an examination season where initial results indicated that student’s learnings, especially in our exam classes, were not significantly impacted by the Hurricane;
* Establish a number of key committees including the Steering Committee to evaluate and discuss Career Development in the Teaching Profession, Monument Council and UNESCO National Commission;
* Contract a consultant and establish a project organization to assist in the repositioning of Public Education as we work towards schools of excellence;
* Secure our place as an important Ministry to discuss and develop new building criteria to build our schools back better.
Our recently established National Recovery and Resilience Program highlights and confirms that the MECYS sectors has been significantly impacted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria with estimated damages of more than 60 million dollars and 1,7 million dollars respectively. Personally, I wished to have advanced much further with the repairs to our schools, sport facilities and cultural heritage and organizations, but as I have been informed that the insurance claim may be settled soon and the interests of Build Back Better repairs have been recognized in the first tranche emergencies and short term needs via the Trust fund, I am hopeful that Quarter 3 and 4 will see intensified reconstruction of our precious MECYS infrastructure.
Knowing that the MECYS agenda continues to be challenging, I sincerely hope to see an accelerated recovery and continued improvements for resilient and 21st learning environments, a cultural and sport infrastructure with programs that fosters and propels talent and a Philipsburg “knowledge and cultural city” that boosts our identity and social-economic strength.
I sincerely thank each and every one of the staff members of my Ministry for their dedication to this Ministry, their professionalism and hard work for the community of St. Maarten. I would especially like to thank Mrs. Shermina Powell-Richardson, my acting Secretary General, who has been steadfast, calm and consistent, as well as Suzan Aafjes and Oralie Boirard for their significant contributions to the recovery process.
With the transition into my new role as Minister Plenipotentiary as of Monday, June 25th I ask for the staff’s continued enthusiasm as they welcome new MECYS Minister Wycliffe Smith and his Cabinet. I personally believe that this Ministry and the people of this Ministry, including the teaching staff and sport instructors are one of the greatest assets of the Government of Sint Maarten and I hope to be able to continue to support and collaborate with MECYS where ever I can in my new upcoming position.
I thank Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin and my fellow Council of Ministers for the opportunity to work with such a vibrant and enthused set of individuals. Each of us fought passionately for our Ministries. With limited funds, an at times uncertain trajectory and an overwhelming amount of work to be done, conversations at times were tense but I truly believe that each Minister’s only motive was to see the people of St. Maarten successfully through the recovery phase. I am proud to have been a part of this team.
To the media, I enjoyed building what I hope was a strong relationship and active partnership between the Ministry and yourselves. As I stated back in January, “Your responsibility within our society is an important one as fair and balanced reporting is in my opinion, the corner-stone of your profession.” I believe in the principles of an open government and radical transparency to regain trust amongst our people, our constituents.
To the people of St. Maarten, I am very humbled at the responsibility that was entrusted in me. I worked hard, I gave it my all and I look forward to my continued service to Sint Maarten as your representative in the Hague.
I wish to end with the quote “Goodbyes are never easy and this goodbye is hard for me. Then again some can say “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying Goodbye so hard’” (Winnie the Pooh).
God bless Sint Maarten always.

Jorien Wuite
Former Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS)

Dear Editor,
Last year on 27 June, the international community celebrated for the first time the Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day.
These are enterprises, which generally employ fewer than 250 persons based on international criteria. They are considered as the backbone of most economies worldwide and play a key role in developing countries.
As Minister for Tourism and Economic Affairs, I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Sint Maarten micro, small and medium enterprises, happy Enterprises Day.
You are the ones who make or break our economy. You are currently operating in very challenging times. It is no different for the public sector. However, we are all resilient and will overcome the challenges that came with the hurricanes of September 2017.
On behalf of the Government of Sint Maarten, we take our hats off and salute you, management and employees on Enterprises Day. #SXM Strong.
According to the data provided by the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), formal and informal micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make up over 90 per cent of all firms around the globe and account on average for 60-70 per cent of total employment and 50 per cent of gross domestic product.
The United Nations General Assembly, recognizing the importance of these enterprises, decided to declare 27 June the Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day to raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development.
On a global level, these types of enterprises are responsible for significant employment and income generation opportunities across the world and have been identified as a major driver of poverty alleviation and development.
MSMEs tend to employ a larger share of the vulnerable sectors of the workforce, such as women, youth, and people from poorer households.
MSMEs can even sometimes be the only source of employment in rural areas. As such, MSMEs as a group are the main income provider for the income distribution at the “base of the pyramid.”
MSMEs should be the first responders to societal needs and provide the safety net for inclusiveness.
Micro-, small and medium sized enterprises are vital in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular in promoting innovation, creativity and decent work for all.
Efforts to enhance access to finance for SMEs across key sectors of national economies are an important element of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
SDG targets 8.3 and 9.3 call for enhancing the access of SMEs to financial services. In addition, SMEs are an important element in the implementation of SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure).

Stuart Johnson
Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication

Dear Editor,
“Finally, St. Maarten is getting a government” – those are the words out on the street today. After the last election on February 26, the people of St. Maarten can sigh a sign of relief that a government is being installed this Monday, June 25. It took the formateur, Mr. Heyliger four months to accomplish this task. Right now, he is holding the record of taking the longest period to form a government in the history of St. Maarten. But it is better late than never.
Under normal circumstances, you would provide a new government with a 100-day
honeymoon period for them to get their feet wet. But these are not normal circumstances and according to media reports, five of the present members of the Interim government will be returning as ministers. They will no longer be labelled with the interim status therefore the people expect them to perform. The people want to know if those proposed Cost Reduction Measures will be enforced.
Secondly, the people also want to know if the government has plans to introduce any type of revenue-generating measures. What are some of the plans to stimulate this economy to create jobs and a business atmosphere to promote small businesses? What are some of the incentives to promote local and foreign investors? Is this government planning to allocate part of the recovery funds to establish a loan guarantee program? This program would allow those potential entrepreneurs the opportunity to start their businesses without having the necessary collateral.
After Hurricane Luis in 1995, part of the Dutch funding was used to set up a funding program to assist those businesses that were affected. These funds were managed by the Development Bank of the Netherlands Antilles and were a great help to many businesses that were suffering financially. Today, many businesses are in a worse financial position due to Hurricane Irma and this type of funding would certainly assist them to become profitable once again and employ more people.
We expect that this new government will be releasing their governing program during this week for the people to know exactly what they have in store for them. Remember, our major port of entry is still damaged, many people are still jobless, roofless and hopeless due to the fact it took the “formateur” four months to form this government.
There are many people still roofless despite so many different agencies and the government promising them to assist. We honestly believe that there must be some type of coordination between these agencies and the government because at the end of the day it is those people who are homeless that are suffering the most.
The opposition also has a gigantic task ahead of them as the people expect them to question the government about their governing programme, the proposed cost-cutting measures, any new revenue-generating proposals and the National Recovery & Resilient Plan (NRRP).
The people expect that the opposition will bring proposals forward in the Parliament of St. Maarten that will be beneficial to them and to give direction to the government if they are working like a ship without a rudder.

Lenny F. Priest
National Alliance