PHILIPSBURG--The country needs a “right-to-development budget” and no more skeleton ones, said representatives of the St. Maarten Anti-Poverty Coalition as they called for more progress for workers.
The budgets of St. Maarten since 10-10-10 have been characterised as skeleton budgets, they said, noting that this statement has been made by all finance ministers, including the current minister.
When balanced budgets were presented as balanced and were in compliance with the demands of the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT and the Dutch government, these were also skeleton budgets, they said.
“They did not provide meat for the poor and the needy in this society.
“None of these budgets could realise the right to development of the people of St. Maarten to an equal human development index as is the case of the people in the Netherlands,” the coalition representatives argued.
All politicians, including those of the Netherlands, claim the balanced “meatless skeleton budgets are in the interest of the people of St. Maarten. If these politicians were for the people of St. Maarten, what have they included in the budget of St. Maarten that would eradicate the poverty?” they questioned.
Several ministers have said in the past weeks they want to beef up their budgets in 2020, the coalition pointed out. “And what do you think will be the response of the CFT and the State Secretary of Kingdom Relations when the meat for the 2020 budget is being presented? We want the St. Maarten politicians in government and in Parliament to stand up for our right to development and to budget for a right-to-development budget,” they said.
“A right-to-development budget comes up with objectives and targets to realise all human rights of the people of St. Maarten on an equal footing as the people in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
“We are anxiously awaiting to see what will be the meat that they will present in their budgets for the people of St. Maarten.”
The Minister of Finance “is constantly saying that his meatless skeleton budget is for the people of St. Maarten. We want to see the meat this Minister of Finance is going to present for the people in the 2020 budget,” they said.
