By Alex Rosaria
The screening of ministerial candidates confronts us with a simple yet profound question: “What kind of country do we want to be? And consequently: what kind of leaders do we want to have?”
Do we truly want people in power who have been involved in money-laundering, corruption, sexual offenses, and document fraud? And that’s not even touching on the competence of these candidates.
Still, political parties continue to nominate individuals who are clearly unfit for office – something we’ve seen happen far too often over the past 15 years.
It’s easy to point out that our screening law is stricter than the one in the Netherlands. Maybe it is. But honestly, what does that matter? The real question is whether this law is good for Curaçao.
And that’s a question we rarely hear addressed. Instead, many remain fixated on The Hague. Or more recently, they admire how President Bukele in San Salvador or President Traoré in Ouagadougou would handle things.
But let’s talk about what really matters: How high should we set the bar for integrity in ministerial candidates, if we want to become the kind of country we claim to aspire to be? Is integrity just about following laws and regulations, or is it also about norms, values, ethics, and decency?
And should screening be limited to the start of an appointment, or also be done periodically – and especially at the end – as I previously proposed as a Member of Parliament?
We can also choose to lower the bar so much that anyone can just walk into Fort Amsterdam and hold office. And clearly, the screening law shouldn’t only be considered “fair” when it applies to others – but “unjust” when it applies to us. We saw this contradiction during the uproar in the Rhuggenaath administration, when the Minister of Economic Affairs was forced to resign.
What kind of country do we want to be? Ibrahim Traoré, the military leader who seized power in Ouagadougou promising democracy – but now clings to his throne – cannot answer that question for us.
~ Alex David Rosaria (53) is a freelance consultant active in Asia and the Pacific. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America. He is from Curaçao and has an MBA from University of Iowa (USA). ~
