~Curaçao under restraint~
WILLEMSTAD--Governor Frits Goedgedrag has informed the Council of Ministers by letter that he will not deal with draft laws or decrees that do not comply with the recent instruction given by the Kingdom Government to balance Curaçao's 2012 budget, so that any appointments or new financial commitments are off for the time-being. The news comes as the main opposition party PAR demanded action from the Schotte cabinet on the instruction.
The governor will check all decisions to see if they comply. This also means no extensions of contracts that have budgetary implications. The ministers are asked to take this into account.
Meanwhile, PAR-leader Emily de Jongh-Elhage in a letter to Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte (MFK) called the fact that a week had gone by and government was yet to inform the people and Parliament which measures will be taken to comply with the instruction from the Kingdom Council of Ministers "unacceptable." The PAR-fraction demanded that Schotte indicate within one week how government intends to lower the costs of public health by 55 million guilders.
In her letter to Schotte, De Jongh-Elhage elaborated on the instruction, which departs among other things from the Curaçao government having to present a concrete plan by September 1, to clear the current deficits on the budget. She is not pleased that the Schotte-cabinet is yet to explain how it intends to get Curaçao out of this "historic and disgraceful situation."
The former Antillean prime minister urged government to take action and said her party demands in the short term. PAR wants government to explain how it will implement the economisation in the health sector.
She also wants the Schotte-cabinet to present a concrete plan to Parliament on how it suggests to collect 25 million guilders in dividends from the government-owned companies.
On the other hand, the PAR-leader demands that government provides the monthly review on its liquidity position to Parliament before sending such to the Kingdom Council as instructed. She further wants government to issue a monthly publication on the number of civil servants at the various ministries in conformity with the decree that makes this possible.
In her letter to the prime minister, De Jongh-Elhage also expressed concern about the latest developments at utility company Aqualectra. She asked Schotte, who is also in charge of energy affairs, to cancel the new policy for Aqualectra and all other government-owned companies until the cabinet presents a recovery plan for Aqualectra that also charts all risks of the company.
In connection with this, PAR urges government to initiate a national dialogue in the very near future to create a broadest possible support-base in solving the current problems of the country.
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