Dear Editor,

Permit me to convey some thoughts to our Minister of Economic Affairs Melissa Arrindell-Doncher with the expectation that she would examine the content from a wide-ranging perspective.

At the onset: to stay away from the press briefings gives the impression that your ministry has distanced itself from the population. It is quite understandable that you will not be able to attend all of the meetings. If this is the case, then consider delegating someone so that your substitute can relay the information to the people.

Over the years, the island has not been privileged to have had a minister whose vision encompasses the economic development for all peoples nor has any one of them provided an even distribution of the various businesses. This imbalance that spreads throughout the island is destroying the authenticity of the environment which is creating animosity and frustration towards government.

At present, the island is overrun by snack bars, coffee shops and restaurants. It is amazing how government is still cash strapped with so many vibrant businesses. Not every request needs a favourable response. A reply should be based on the incentive that the business is bringing to the overall development of the country. When would there be a halt on these types of establishments that are consistently polluting the air with excessive noise? Frankly, when will enough be enough?

Besides, if the island is saturated with these types of businesses now where do the possibilities lie for the youngsters who are following culinary courses at NIPA or abroad? What would happen to them if they decide to establish individual restaurants to promote the island’s culture? Should their education be limited to just being employees earning meagre salaries, or would they be offered the same opportunity to invest and elevate the tourism product?

With regard to mechanic shops – when will the Department of Economic Affairs take the public into consideration before issuing these licences? All over the place one can see garages right next to restaurants and in the middle of densely populated areas. This is execution without vision, when the smut tends to land any and everywhere. On top of that, the thrilling sound of the machineries is also very disturbing when mechanics choose to work on Sundays and holidays; the only rest day that most of us have.

On the matter of holidays – there needs to be some serious reconsideration regarding restricting businesses to close on just a few designated holidays. Instead, every single holiday should be respected; therefore, all establishments should be closed. This preference that is given to bars and restaurants is utter nonsense because only then the noise escalates and employees become burnt out. It also contributes directly to the downfall of the family because some mothers have to neglect their children and careless fathers spend the day drinking booze.

Another upsetting issue is to hear the cries of the guests that come to our shores; even those with vacation homes. Several of them have openly expressed their dissatisfaction regarding time share owners and their disgust with the noise pollution. The complaints are occurring too often, and to ignore them is a form of depleting the genuineness of our tourism product. This is not good customer service at all. We must always safeguard the product that is offered to the guests, as the experience is far more important than the physical beauty of the land. Perhaps it should become mandatory for these businesses to install a sound proof system.

The rapid escalation of prices in grocery stores appear to be the concern of just the small man because politicians have the means to buy, no matter the cost. How long will the people continue to suffer while government allows grocery owners to do whatever they please, not realizing the adverse effect that this situation is having on the budget? Speaking of groceries, not enough items are included under the category of “basic needs.” This is an area that requires some serious attention.

Minister Arrindell-Doncher, in order to execute your task from the premise of serving the people, I implore you to use wisdom and take a page from our honourable Ombudsman Nilda Lynch-Arduin. The cries of the people are what will direct you to enact change, but it all begins with listening!  

Joslyn Morton

Dear Editor,

Congratulations to Drs. Eugene Holiday for hosting a timely, well-organized, informative symposium, entitled “ICT Governance: Shaping our Future”. The world of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is ever expanding, and Sint Maarten needs to get on board before we are left behind. ICT is not only about having faster Internet and more computers and smartphones in our society. Rather, it is more about planning, implementing and managing technology in order to promote and enhance the flow of information to and from citizens, and to provide efficient service to citizens and to businesses.

Where does Parliament stand in terms of ICT? Very poorly! A few months ago, when reviewing Parliament’s website in terms of the information it provides and how it interacts with the people, it was obvious that in both instances Parliament failed dismally. On March 27th of this year, a letter was delivered to the President of Parliament offering suggestions as to how to improve Parliament’s website so that the people could be better informed and served. Having received no response or even a confirmation from Parliament, this letter was resubmitted on June 13.

To the Honourable Member & President of Parliament. As a concerned citizen, profoundly interested in the role and functioning of the Parliament of Sint Maarten, it is my belief that Parliament, as the direct representative body of the people of Sint Maarten, should be more transparent, accountable and communicative towards the people of this country. It behoves Parliament to disseminate as much information as possible in order to raise the level of awareness of the people concerning this new and august co-legislative and supervisory body in Sint Maarten.

Consequently, I would like, via this letter, to draw your attention to the following concerns and suggestions that would serve to raise the transparency level between parliament and the people of Sint Maarten. The following suggestions also address the question raised by the St Maarten 2015 National Integrity System Assessment on page 32, and issued by Transparency International, namely: To what extent can the public obtain relevant and timely information on the activities and decision-making processes of the legislature in practice?

As Parliament’s website is the main source of information at this time, it should be relevant, user friendly and easily accessible to the people. Please note that the current website is in urgent need of a general overhaul. The audio archives need some serious updating. The last audio recording dated back to January 26, 2016. Note also that not all of the parliamentary meetings are available in the audio archives. Furthermore, the audio files need to be labelled better so that one can easily find the meeting one is looking for.

The video archives are in need of some serious updating and overhauling as well. These need to be complete because several video recordings of parliamentary meetings have not been taken up in the archives and consequently, people who go to the archives are unable to find what they are looking for. For example, the first meeting of the NA/UP Government held on October 31st is missing; also, the budget meetings held in December 2016 are incomplete. In addition, the meeting concerning the establishment of parliamentary committees is also missing. These are but a few examples of missing videos on the website. Furthermore, the videos also need to be clearly labelled and identified so that one can find a particular meeting with much greater ease than now is the case.

The telephone numbers, email addresses and office hours of the MPs should be listed. I hereby also suggest that a brief Bio of each MP be given as well as the various committees that an MP is a member of.

I tested parliament’s email address that is listed on the website (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by submitting a question to parliament. To my surprise and joy I received an immediate reply stating that I would receive an answer within one business day. Three months have since passed and I am still awaiting the promised reply from Parliament. I suggest that someone of the administration be assigned to check Parliament’s emails and to ensure that the necessary follow up is carried out expeditiously.

I have noticed that the Parliament of Curaçao posts all the documents related to the agenda points of a meeting on their website. Is it possible for the Parliament of Sint Maarten to also post the same on its website? Minutes of public and committee meetings are not available on the website. Will these be posted soon on the website?

These are just a few of the observations and suggestions that I submitted in writing to the President of Parliament. I ended my letter by stating that in the interest of ensuring that the people of Sint Maarten receive accurate, relevant and timely information, “I kindly request that you look into the above-mentioned issues and problems so that the people will be kept abreast of what is taking place in Parliament with their elected representatives.

Trusting that you will be able to improve the communication and information flow between parliament and the people in the near future, I remain”,

Wycliffe Smith

Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party

Dear Editor,

The Receivers Office recently with great pride made it known that some 30,000 plus licence plates were sold. It may have been a statistical achievement but, when you drive on the airport strip, where most of the car rental operations are located you ask yourself why so many rentals in their compound are carrying French licence plates while operating out of Dutch St. Maarten.

Is this a sign that the government agency responsible for the issuance, regulating, and control of licence plates turned a blind eye which allowed this?

While the common man/woman can’t get away from taxation, and the threat of confiscation of their hard owned property these car rental operators enjoy cheating the government out of a much needed revenue.

The Mongoose is back, and will be monitoring this gross non-compliance of car rental operators avoiding and circumventing paying much needed revenue to government.

The Mongoose

(Curaçao Chronicle)

The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela informs the Venezuelan citizenry and our brothers and sisters of the world about the armed attacks perpetrated on Tuesday, June 27, against the premises of the Ministry of People’s Power for Internal Relations, Justice and Peace, and the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, both in Caracas, as part of a coup-mongering escalation against the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its institutions.

Both attacks were perpetrated from an Airbus Bolkow Model 105 helicopter, with tail number CICPC 02, stolen from the Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base in La Carlota, Caracas, by a man with the name of Oscar Alberto Pérez, who in order to commit the attacks made use of his condition as an inspector assigned to the Air Transportation Division of the CICPC.

The conspirator flew the aircraft up to the adjacencies of the Ministry of People’s Power for International Relations, Justice and Peace at Urdaneta Avenue, and fired around 15 gunshots towards the building while a reception was taking place on its terrace with a group of communicators in celebration of National Journalist Day. At the moment of the attack there were some 80 people at the place.

Afterwards, the helicopter was taken to the site of the Supreme Court of Justice, precisely while the justices of the maximum tribunal’s Constitutional Chamber were in session, and while a group of workers were still in their offices. Shots were fired against these individuals and at least four grenades, of Colombian procedence and Israeli manufacture, were thrown.

Of these, one did not explode and another was retrieved. The other two, were thrown against the Bolivarian National Guards that keep the building safe. Thanks to the swift reaction of the guards, a tragedy was avoided.

The material author of this act is being investigated for his ties to the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States (US) Embassy in Caracas, as well as his ties to a former Interior Minister who recently confirmed publicly his contacts with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

For the Bolivarian Government, these are attacks of a terrorist nature, within the framework of an insurrectional offensive put forward by extremist factors in the Venezuelan right, supported by foreign Governments and powers. The Bolivarian National Armed Force and the State security forces, have been deployed with the purpose of capturing the author of these acts and recuperating the aircraft. We urge anyone that can supply elements that help locate him, to contact authorities by dialling 911.

The Bolivarian Government calls upon the political parties allied under the so-called Democratic Unity Roundtable, upon the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and other actors in Venezuelan society to condemn these acts with resolve and to distance themselves, once and for all, from violence.

The Bolivarian Government calls upon the Venezuelan people to be alert in face of a coup-mongering escalation with the intention of altering the constitutional order in Venezuela and that has proved it lacks any scruple for achieving its political and economic goals. None of these attacks will stop the popular constituent process nor will it impede the people’s exercise of the vote on July 30, in order to elect the members of the National Constituent Assembly.

The constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro Moros, who on Tuesday, June 27 led the awards ceremony of the National Journalism Awards, is heading his Government team in directing actions to defend the security and peace of the Venezuelan people.

More than ever, the words of Commander Hugo Chávez are valid: Unity, Struggle, Battle and Victory.