PHILIPSBURG--"No benefit from any pensioner had been cut," Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto stated in Parliament Thursday morning as he corrected "misinformation" stated by National Alliance (NA) Members of Parliament who addressed the plight of the pensioners and the suffering they would endure if their monies were cut.
Shigemoto had announced on March 12 that some NAf. 14.7 million for Back Service Pension Premiums for civil servants, former Lt. Governors and commissioners had been removed from the budget and placed on the balance sheet of previous years.
NA Parliamentarians made passionate pleas during the meeting about preserving the already small pension received by retirees and the impact more cuts would have on their lives.
Answering questions about the so-called cut, Shigemoto explained he would have to clear up the misinformation because pensioners would worry for no reason if it were left unaddressed.
Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Marlin asked the minister to explain the back service more in depth so that the perception that it had anything to do with pensioners receiving less money could be removed.
The NAf. 14.7 million is the amount owed to the Pension Fund based on the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to the basic salaries of government personnel from 2006 to 2009. The decision was made in 2009 and 2010 to increase the basic salaries with the COLA; therefore, the amount should not have been in the budget 2011, but on the balance sheet of the years when the decision was taken.
Shigemoto was in Parliament based on a request from NA to discuss developments surrounding the 2011 budget. NA Parliamentarians posed some 110 questions verbally and in writing on the topic as well as on the budget itself.
NA Parliamentarian Louie Laveist said his faction would give the minister sufficient time to answer the questions in writing so that the answers would be as detailed as possible.
Shigemoto said he would be happy to return to Parliament to give the answers verbally as well as in writing. However, he pointed out that several questions had been posed about the budget itself and said those would be answered when the adjusted budget was presented to Parliament for approval in the coming weeks, because he had been called to Parliament to answer questions on the developments surrounding the budget.
MP Hyacinth Richardson (NA) asked whether a candidate had been nominated officially to serve on the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT and whether an alternative candidate had been considered, whether the Government Programme would be completed and added to the 2011 budget, and when the annual accounts would be presented to Parliament. He also asked for an overview of the country's liquidity position.
Referring to the pension back service, Richardson said a large amount related to "the most vulnerable" in the community had been cut from the budget and asked whether this had been discussed with pensioners, because he was sure it would "not go down lightly" with them.
MP Lloyd Richardson (NA) asked about the involvement of civil servants and technical advisors in the drafting of the budget and correspondence, if there any efforts had been made by the former NA Government to clear arrears with creditors, and the status of the annual account. He also wanted to know the status of the report on the minimum cost of running government and how the company Versant had been selected to carry out the cost assessment.
MP George Pantophlet (NA) expressed concern that information he had requested had not been delivered to him by Shigemoto and that MPs had been told to visit the Council of Ministers Secretariat to review the budget and correspondence between government and CFT. He only received a copy of the budget on Wednesday without explanatory notes.
Pantophlet wanted to know why Shigemoto and Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams had not attended a video conference with CFT at the end of March. He also asked whether the NAf. 20 million government wanted as an advance on its share of the Netherlands Antilles assets had been received.
He also asked about the status of payment to creditors; requested an overview of the Turnover Tax (ToT) from October 5 to December 31, 2010, and January 1 to March 31, 2011; and asked about the effect the increased gas prices would have on the people.
On dollarisation, Pantophlet asked whether the report on the topic had been compiled by Central Bank of Cura�ao and St. Maarten head Emsley Tromp. He also wanted to know the amount and value of the country's share of the gold tied to the Antillean guilder. He also asked what would happen to the reserves of the pension fund now that the back service had been taken out.
MP Louie Laveist (NA) said the meeting had been requested when the country had been facing a precarious situation with CFT and government not being able to come to an agreement.
He said NA members had not been in favour of the budget when it was tabled in December 2010 because it was not balanced, and that had been backed up by CFT later. He further said government had stated that no cuts would be made to the budget to bring it in line with CFT regulations, but in the end had been was done.
Laveist, like MPs before him, also decried the supposed slashing of pensioners' benefits and wanted the minister to state publicly why the benefits earned by pensioners were being cut. He asked why other items such as the ring road had not been cut from the budget and why the budget of "some" ministers had not been touched. He also asked if there was tension between Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Shigemoto that stemmed from the disagreements with CFT.
MP Frans Richardson (NA) said Minister Shigemoto was not being chastised or attacked as had happened with NA Finance Commissioner Xavier Blackman.
He asked whether it was legal for government to ask residents to state whether they owned any apartments, as was being done in a letter sent out with the 2010 tax return forms. He also asked about the weak economic growth for the country as stated recently by Tromp and requested the amount of ToT collected for the first quarter.
On the pension back service, he asked what the effects would be to the Pension Fund when the payments were spread over to 2012 and other years, and whether there was an agreement with the Pension Fund for this.
Richardson also wanted to know why Shigemoto had denied CFT board member Max Pandt access to the meeting between CFT and government, and whether preparations had started for the 2012 budget.
He also wanted a written report on the issues with salary payments in December 2010 and what had been done to prevent this in the future. As for the increasing gas prices, he asked how government would balance the effects of the cost of living and tackling the fuel clause of utilities company GEBE.
NA Parliamentarians also asked why the technical assistant provided by the Dutch Government to help with the Finance Department in 2006 hadn't worked out and requested an overview of the people hired and who had left the Finance and Resources Department.
MP Roy Marlin (DP) commended Shigemoto on reaching an agreement with the CFT on the budget. He pointed out that St. Maarten had been put under pressure in September 2010 to accept several Plans of Approach or risk not attaining country status, and asked about the consequences for the budget in financing these plans and if the country didn't have to include these if all other expenses could have been covered.
Marlin added that the 2011 budget had not been signed by Governor Eugene Holiday "for his own reasons," which resulted in the budget not becoming law. Based on this, he asked the Minister Shigemoto to explain how the amendment he would be tabling would be handled.
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