Dear Editor,
On Thursday, chairman of the Island Council Julian Woodley, made his sixth attempt to call an island council meeting requested by the DP faction. Just like what happened in the previous five meetings, the sole agenda point the financial household of government and the recently introduced stop on the undertaking of new financial obligations (verplichtingenstop) by the minister was therefore again not debated. This time, however, also Councilman Merkman of the UPC was present at the meeting, thus avoiding the customary tie with the votes whereby the point was stricken off the agenda without the need for a second meeting.
I do not want to waste much time on the yelling, name calling and foot-stamping, which the PLP faction members resorted to in order to convince the chairman on how he should chair his meeting. It was more interesting to learn what the reasoning was of the ruling coalition to avoid the debate on such an important topic. According to Councilman Van Putten, the debate could not yet take place since, according to him, an investigation at the finance department is ongoing.
According to him, this investigation is a direct result of the initiative of the commissioner to travel to The Hague, where she convinced the ministry that it is time for action. The Commissioner of Finance needs her time to bring to light, with the assistance of a handful of external accountants, what exactly the problem with her finance department is.
Therefore, according to Van Putten, it is premature to have a meeting at this point in time and this meeting should take place only when the coalition parties decide that it should take place. This does not sound very democratic either.
To start with the last part, in our democratic system also a minority has the right to have a meeting called when they feel it is the right time. This right is clearly being trampled on by the coalition parties. Furthermore, contrary to what Van Putten wants us to believe, there is no investigation going on at all. The accountants are instructed by the minister to clear up the mess of the budget 2016, whereby it has become impossible to establish what the status is.
In other words, the commissioner lost complete track of what she spent and what is still in her wallet. In its letter of July 19, the ministry clearly stated that there is no longer confidence in the financial reporting, since the information is untrustworthy. Halfway the year budget items may already be depleted, while others appear soon to be depleted. The assistance by the accountant was also already put in place since at least June 27 (see a letter of the Kingdom Representative of that date).
The visit of the commissioner to The Hague might have sped up the process a little. The fact that now the good Councilman Van Putten comments the commissioner with her visit to The Hague, is in stark contrast with the instruction he gave her and then colleague Zaandam more than a year ago to abort a visit to The Hague for the same purpose. If he had allowed the assistance of the ministry at that time, a lot of the problems we are now facing could have been avoided.
The accountants have until the end of August to have a clear picture of where we stand with the 2016 budget. After this, a budget amendment will be required in order to get it back in line, the way it is stipulated in the FINBES. How this exactly will look like I am unwilling to predict.
Koos Sneek
Democratic Party (DP) Statia
