GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Ludmila de Weever delivered one of the most passionate presentations in Wednesday’s parliamentary session, warning that GEBE’s ongoing failures are the direct result of years of poor governance, political interference, and an alarming lack of accountability from its Supervisory Board of Directors.
De Weever opened with a direct response to calls for MPs to “look in the mirror.” She did not hesitate: “Don’t come here and ask me to look in a mirror today. Because when I look in the mirror, trust me, all I see is honesty and truth. I see someone who understands their responsibility of fighting for their people. And when you tell the truth all the time, you don’t have to remember what you say. That is who I am, and I have been nothing but direct and honest about GEBE and its problems.”
The MP recalled how from the moment she entered government in 2020, she repeatedly raised red flags. “Sometimes I feel like a psychic because so much of what I warned about has now come to pass. Other times I feel like a broken record, because I’ve been saying the same things for years. I warned the administration I was part of, I warned Parliament after I left government, I sent emails, I gave advice in personal meetings. I did all of this because my responsibility is to my country. I understood my responsibility then, and I understand it now.”
She laid out the critical mistakes made in the company’s governance. “No company in the world creates a vacuum by removing three managing directors at the same time. Yet that is exactly what happened at GEBE. And then again, when it was recommended to dismiss an entire Supervisory Board, I was vocal then, and I remain vocal now. These decisions create chaos, and the people of St. Maarten are the ones paying the price through high bills and load shedding.”
De Weever personalized the crisis by highlighting its human toll. “When a 73-year-old woman who planned her life for retirement has to come back to work because she cannot pay her GEBE bills, that is when we have a serious problem. This is no longer about politics or pointing fingers. This is about people’s dignity, their savings, their health, and their ability to live in peace after a lifetime of work. That is what we are failing to protect.”
The MP reserved some of her harshest criticism for the Supervisory Board of Directors. “When a board chooses to communicate with the public through full-page newspaper ads rather than with the shareholder, something has gone very, very wrong. That is irresponsible governance. As a former auditor, I know how this should work. Financial statements should be ready within a year. Yet here we are in 2025, and the last financial statement we have is from 2019. How can we even begin to discuss relief for the people when we don’t know the company’s real financial state? That is on the board.”
She painted a picture of systemic failure: “We have a breakdown in communication everywhere. Temporary managing directors who are not permanent, a Supervisory Board that fails to report to its shareholder, and ministers and MPs forced to debate in the dark because no figures are available. And then, when communication does happen, it’s through ads, press statements, or leaks instead of official channels. That is not accountability. That is chaos.”
De Weever reminded Parliament of the World Bank’s past recommendations. “I have not forgotten when the World Bank said that in order to receive funding, GEBE would have to fire 30 percent of its staff. I will not allow us to go down that road. We cannot let GEBE become a carbon copy of TelEM because of irresponsible people making immature decisions. Everybody, Parliament, the Council of Ministers, the Board, and management, needs to get their hands on deck to fix this before it is too late.”
She demanded answers from both government and the board. “Where are the financial statements for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023? Why have no shareholders’ meetings been called? Why do we have no permanent management after four years? These are not small oversights, they are fundamental breaches of governance that leave our people without relief and without trust.”
De Weever called on all parties to take responsibility instead of trading blame. “Everybody in here (Parliament), everybody in government, and everybody who has touched GEBE over the years carries some responsibility. But it starts with the board, and it starts with management. Grow up. Handle your responsibilities. Because until that happens, 73-year-old women will continue to go back to work just to keep their lights on. And that is something none of us should ever accept.”
https://tribune-site.webflow.io//articles/mp-de-weever-i-know-what-i-see-when-i-look-in-the-mirror---cites-gebe-board-for-irresponsible-governance
