The St. Maarten Progress Committee praised Justice Minister Ana Richardson for doing her utmost to get the function book of the police corps KPSM implemented (see related story), but also pointed to a major challenge in deciding whether to do so retroactively. The latter would mean hefty backpay to uniformed services for which – according to the committee – no reservations were made.
According to this week’s presentation on the draft 2022 budget, funding for the Justice Ministry will amount to 85.3 million Netherlands Antillean guilders compared to NAf. 82.1 million in 2021, hardly a significant increase. The general “contingencies” post is budgeted at NAf. 3 million, compared to NAf. 5.7 million in 2021.
On the other hand, the Progress Committee noted that not introducing the function book retroactively would lead to unrest among the force, especially because up-front payments had already been made in the past. There could be costly court cases against government too.
They suggested that possible financial implications of the matter need to be calculated and an acceptable outcome sought for all parties involved. Easier said than done, but just as advances were given, phased pay-outs might be an alternative.
A reasonable solution must be found, because right now it appears that – regarding this issue – the country will soon be caught between a proverbial rock and hard place.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE:
Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control there is no WEEKender supplement in the newspaper today, Friday. We apologise for the inconvenience and kindly invite readers to look out for a special Christmas Eve edition next Friday, December 24.
