Dear Editor,
The leader of the PLP party uses any opportunity to tell the people of Statia that his government is not making any progress and is unable to do anything, because their hands are tied by the Dutch government. It is therefore, according to him, that apparently the Plan of Approach cannot be executed in order to improve government’s financial household and administration. The multi-annual plan remains just a plan and the first project under this plan still needs to be executed.
I wish to disagree with him. This government consistently has gotten rid of qualified people in important positions simply because they were only willing to work according to the book. In the meantime, no attempts were made to fill these vacancies with other qualified people. The Plan of Approach requires highly-skilled short-term appointments, who are able to turn this government around. Instead of this, government is in a constant battle with the Kingdom Representative to hire their political cronies, who preferably are also anti-Dutch, regardless of their qualifications or experience.
An example is the appointment of a former school teacher as island secretary, with a healthy dose of antipathy towards the system, and with no managerial experience or knowledge of the public sector.
This approach has resulted in a non-functioning government, in particular the finance department, whereby the remaining civil servants have reached a level of total frustration. This frustration is further fuelled by constantly publicly questioning their loyalty and input by members of the coalition parties.
The PLP mouthpiece, in his radio program, on a daily basis is proclaiming that government should never accept the assistance of the Dutch ministries. According to him, we don’t need those unemployed Dutch civil servants that Holland wants to send to Statia to give them a job.
More than a year after the fact, however, finally the Executive Council has officially asked the minister for assistance in the form of a facilitator, to solve the stalemate regarding the harbour ordinance and the relation with NuStar. In a meeting I had last month in The Hague at the Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment, together with my UPC colleague in the Island Council Reuben Merkman, their commitment to assist in this matter was confirmed. I sincerely hope this move will have the support of the majority of the island council, as this appears to be a good development at last.
CFT is at its wits end where it comes to the execution of the financial part of the Plan of Approach. After one full year only one of twenty-two measures of the plan has been completed. The government is still not able to submit a single report on time. They have even requested to postpone the completion of the financial statements of 2015 (deadline July 15) until the middle of November. If the minister goes along with this, Statia will not have an approved budget for 2017 before the end of this year.
In the meantime, Duiveman, government’s appointee as process manager to carry out the Plan of Approach, has tendered his resignation. This fact most likely will cause further delay. In an attempt to curb the tide, at least four financial experts will be sent to the island to help get the financial household back on track. I hope this assistance will not be seen as another set of unemployed Dutch civil servants that are send to Statia for a job.
Van Putten also leaves no opportunity unused to state that Holland wants this Plan of Approach executed, but he claims that they refuse to make the necessary funding available. I made it a point, while in The Netherlands last month, to visit BZK and to ask clarification on this matter. The answer was that the ministry is willing to finance all costs that are not budgeted for, but that they have never received a substantiated request for financing of these costs from the Executive Council.
In a meeting between CFT and the Island Council last week, this information was confirmed by CFT. Also when reading the weekly decision lists of the Executive Council it can be concluded that never a decision has been made to ask the ministry for financial support.
This government consistently blames its incompetence and inability to make things happen on the lack of cooperation, or even hindrance by the Dutch government. This while help is just an email or a phone call away. I also noticed there is no urgency within this government. Instead their hands are tied; they are sitting on them, and they let the island go down the drain.
Koos Sneek
