The Committee for Financial Supervision CFT hit the nail on the head (see related story) by stating that the Netherlands is insufficiently considering the lack of administrative and implementation capacity in the Caribbean part of the kingdom. This leads to not meeting planned objectives and targets.
Mention was made of the overwhelming number of specific grants and subsidies for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (so-called BES islands) as well as the “country packages” of reforms in the autonomous countries Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten. Execution of the latter is being led by a Temporary Work Organisation (TWO), which has come to the same conclusion.
This is nothing new, though, as something similar occurred when the Netherlands Antilles was dismantled per 10-10-10. Elaborate government structures with extensive “formations” were designed with involvement of Dutch officials and consultants for the two “new” countries resulting from revamped constitutional relations in the kingdom.
No big problem for Curaçao where the bulk of the – no longer existing – Central Government bureaucracy was already located, but in St. Maarten it was – and to some extent still is today – a different story. A traditionally small Island Territory administration has to be transformed into one with many more tasks and – first and foremost – responsibilities.
Essential functions proved hard to fill, from both a human resources and financial perspective. The greatly expanded government bureaucracy in Philipsburg proved a heavy burden for the vulnerable tourism economy too.
Changes usually work best when tailor-made, well-adapted to local circumstances and in line with what’s actually happening on the ground. That calls for realistic expectations and above all local ownership of not just problems, but also their solutions.
