ST. EUSTATIUS–The Democratic Party (DP) of St. Eustatius has made a plea with State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops to restore democracy in St. Eustatius “as soon as possible,” and to hold an election for a new Island Council.
In a letter sent to state secretary Knops by DP party leader and former Island Council Member Frini Adelka Spanner and by former Island Councilman Nicolaas “Koos” Sneek on Thursday, August 1, the party says that democracy should be restored and an Island Council election held to make the intervention by the Dutch government of February 7, 2018, a success.
A year and a half ago, the Executive and Island Councils were deposed due to bad governance and replaced by a government commissioner and a deputy commissioner, who were both appointed by the Dutch government.
According to the DP, the restoration of democracy in Statia should go hand in hand with a transition phase, in which there is sufficient control and supervision over the Island and Executive Councils to “ensure they keep colouring within the lines,” the party wrote in its letter.
The DP said this is in accordance with the advice of the Council of State on the introduction of the Law Task Neglect St. Eustatius (“Wet Taakverwaarlozing St. Eustatius”).
“This phased return to local government increases the chances of a successful intervention and provides a certain form of guarantee for sustainable good local government in the future,” the DP said.
The party wrote its report in response to the Progress Report St. Eustatius of May 29, which in DP’s opinion is not entirely according to the reality.
Contrary to what is stated in the Progress Report, communication and transparency from the current administration to the residents of Statia is lacking, according to the DP.
“Town-hall meetings have not been held since last year. The Social Advisory Council hardly functions, and if it does, the population is not being informed. As far as we can ascertain, there are no set agendas for this council, the meetings are not public and no minutes are kept, or at least these are not disclosed. The population is not familiar with the subjects that are dealt with in the council and how the government commissioner is advised,” the party said.
The fact that the Government Commissioner is also the chairman of the council complicates its advisory function further, the DP said.
“The return of the Island Council in a transition phase with public debate will increase transparency in which the citizen will also feel more involved in the developments,” the DP said, adding that the Cooperative Platform also does not really function.
“On the one hand, the members of this platform must put their hands in their own bosom, on the other hand, it is mainly one-way traffic. The platform asks a question, the government commissioner answers or – sometimes – makes information available. There was never really a dialogue.”
The DP says that the St. Eustatius government website also fails to provide sufficient information. “You will come across minutes of board meetings (the last of May 28), but these are mostly meaningless documents because the background information is not known. The same applies to the quarterly reports. The last published Newsletter dates from 2016.”
Without trivialising the “gross neglect of duties” and the “disregard of the law” by the previous Executive Council, the DP pointed out that the neglect of tasks as mentioned by State Secretary Knops took place over many years as a result of a dire shortage of financial resources. This applies for the period before 10-10-10, as well as for the period thereafter.
The latter also left its mark on the quality of the civil service, according to Spanner and Sneek. “If sufficient structural resources are not available, the chances are very high that the problems will repeat themselves, also for future Island and Executive Councils that do want to operate within the law,” they wrote.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/89828-dp-makes-plea-to-restore-democracy-in-st-eustatius
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