Dear Editor,
With the intervention in February 2018 a kingdom commissioner was appointed who, with the acting kingdom commissioner, took the place of island council, executive council and the governor. A handpicked community council is used as a kind of sounding board when there is a need for it.
When the kingdom commissioner started his work supported by several Dutch civil servants, it became clear that the problems were much more severe than one at first instance thought. The (financial) administration was a mess, the civil service was generally not sufficiently qualified and up to their task and there was a severe backlog in the infrastructure.
Some of this could be attributed to the previous government, but state-secretary Knops acknowledged that most problems dated from long before. According to the state-secretary, however, the consecutive governments in the past had a feeling of powerlessness because they believed that with the available budget, they could not improve the situation.
This is an assumption that is not based on historic facts. It is a well-known fact that for decades there was an inadequate budget. In order to avoid its responsibility, prior to 10-10-10 the Antillean parliament for many years had neglected its responsibility to approve these budgets. Due to the non-existence of social benefits, to still allow for people at least a small income, subsequent Statia governments saw no other option than to employ workers, as such increasing the burden on the budget. A situation that exists until today.
Many times, large chunks of the budget were consumed to pay for expensive healthcare bills for treatment of Statians with cancer or who suffered a stroke or heart attack. There was no healthcare insurance as we have today. Healthcare cost of civil servants and their families was carried by government. Also, other Statians who were uninsured and without means, the so-called PP card holders, turned to the government for assistance.
So, for decades, there was no money to pay for decent salaries, resulting in a civil service that was not adequately equipped for their task. So, there was no money to pay for the maintenance and construction of roads. So, there was no money to pay for adequate housing for the civil service. And contrary to an average municipality, our government also is responsible for an airport, a harbor, a hospital and five different schools.
It wasn’t that the subsequent governments believed that the budget did not allow them to improve the situation as the state-secretary suggests. It was a well-known fact that the budget was for many years by far insufficient to do so and huge backlogs in all areas were the result.
And what hurts me, and many others, is that after 10-10-10 this situation continued. The warning in the first Ideeversa report that with the establishment of the free allowance these backlogs were not taken into consideration was ignored. In their second report Ideeversa concluded that the free allowance was about 25 per cent too low for the local government to carry out its responsibilities. The Spies report and even the report of the Committee of Wise Men both signaled a similar sentiment. All these reports were ignored.
Many Statia governments in the past pointed out the lack of adequate funds in vain, before and after 10-10-10. After the intervention whereby the responsibility now lies by BZK, it is recognized (not believed) that indeed it costs tens of millions to fix all the problems. Even the kingdom commissioner mentioned in his letter with the budget for 2019 that he only was able to balance the budget by leaving out several necessary expenditures, as such creating yet a new backlog. And still the national budget for 2020 does not include extra moneys for the free allowance.
I agree with Commissioner Elvis Tjin Asjoe from Bonaire where he states that the national government made adequate funding available for the tasks that are their own responsibility but up to now, they do not make enough funds available for the local governments to carry out their duties.
We all want good government but remember, good government cannot succeed without sufficient funds.
Koos Sneek
Democratic Party St. Eustatius
