Dear Editor,
MP Ardwell Irion has been loud about budget delays and government spending without an approved budget. Accountability is crucial, but his own history as Finance Minister contradicts the very claims he now makes. The same late budgets he now condemns? They happened under his leadership. The same unapproved spending he calls unconstitutional? Sounds too familiar.
He accuses the government of illegally spending public funds on events like Soul Beach, Carnival, and consultancy contracts without proper approval. He also claims the 2025 budget remains unpublished and flawed, citing errors in Nota 3. At the same time, he criticizes unpaid justice workers and civil servants, calling it selective enforcement of budget rules.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane because not all of us suffer from selective amnesia.
Under Irion’s leadership, not a single budget was on time. The 2021 budget, due in September 2020, didn’t reach Parliament until mid-2021 and wasn’t passed until September – nine months late. The 2022 budget? Also late, despite his promises. By 2023, the pattern continued, with St. Maarten repeatedly missing deadlines, forcing the Kingdom Council to step in and extend the approval process. Now, MP Irion speaks with authority on budget delays, as if he weren’t one of the main offenders himself.
At the same time, his government was spending without an approved budget. Because his budgets were always late, the government had to operate for months without an approved financial plan, relying on interim measures to keep functioning, the very thing he’s now criticizing.
In 2020, the General Audit Chamber found unauthorized expenses, meaning money was spent without budgetary approval under Irion’s watch. The same thing happened in 2021, his government spent public funds for over eight months with no adopted budget before rushing a late approval. He’s acting as if this is some unprecedented crisis, despite having played a key role in creating the same problem.
Ironically, back in 2019, when Irion was in opposition, he supported a no-confidence motion against then Finance Minister Perry Geerlings – one of the key reasons? Late budgets. However in 2021, when Irion’s own budget was nine months late, there was no no-confidence motion against himself. Where was that same energy?
MP Sarah Wescot-Williams summed up the hypocrisy best in 2022 when she called him out: “The minister confidently stated that the draft 2022 budget would reach Parliament by September 1. [But] during the opening of the parliamentary year, we learned … the 2022 budget will reach Parliament in November. No further explanation was given as to this delay. In politics, what you say can come back to haunt you.” And now, here we are, it’s haunting him.
Beyond budget delays, MP Irion is now warning that the government has “no money” for essential services. He’s not wrong that St. Maarten faces economic struggles but here’s the thing: those problems didn’t appear overnight.
Under Irion, St. Maarten ran massive budget deficits every year. The 2021 draft budget projected a NAf. 228 million shortfall, covered by Dutch loans and wishful thinking. The General Audit Chamber repeatedly flagged mismanagement, and the government’s own internal auditor (SOAB) found serious compliance failures.
By the end of 2021, even Irion himself admitted, “The country does not have any buffer.” St. Maarten was operating month to month with no reserves, a dangerous financial position. Meanwhile, critical reforms to fix tax collection, reduce costs, and stabilize public finances were delayed under his leadership. The Committee for Financial Supervision (CFT) warned that failure to act would lead to an untenable situation for Sint Maarten’s finances. MP Irion had the power to fix these issues but he didn’t.
Focus on real issues, not political games.
MP Irion has all this energy for a budget delay, but where is his energy for the real issues crippling St. Maarten? The skyrocketing cost of living, lack of access to international financial markets, and economic stagnation to name a few. His complaints about delays and reckless spending might sound convincing until you look at his own track record as Minister of Finance. A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black!
If MP Irion truly cares about fixing St. Maarten’s financial struggles, he should start by owning up to his own failures, not playing political games. Instead of recycling old political drama, let's push for real solutions: timely budgets, financial discipline, and economic reforms.
Until then, let’s take his budget criticisms with a grain of salt.
Angelique Remy-Chittick
Financial Strategist and Consultant – Financial.ish
