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Statia has received an instruction from Minister Plasterk (Interior and Kingdom Relations) to follow-up on the opinions of the College Financial Supervision (CFT) regarding the budget and the financial management. In 2014, the Public Entity St. Eustatius accumulated sizable deficits and also for 2015 the picture is worrisome. Drastic measures are now necessary to get spending under control again. To prevent the budget in the meantime from further deteriorating, there should be no new financial commitments from this point on.
The developments on financial grounds are a result of the administrative dysfunctioning of the island. The quality of public management is at stake. For example, repeatedly appointments are made where there is no basis for it in the budget, e.g., a family member of one of the commissioners has been appointed as Head of Finance department without approval by the Kingdom Representative. The Kingdom Representative has a crucial role to safeguard the quality of the governance. The Kingdom Representative, making use of his legal powers, will carry out administrative supervision on St. Eustatius. This based on the Law Public Entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (WolBES). Under the leadership of the Kingdom Representative a plan will be drafted together with the Executive Council to get the administrative organization in order and back under control.
Good governance and financial stability, in the interests of the well-being of the population, are the purpose of the instruction and the role of the Kingdom Representative.
Press release RCN, June 10, 2015
Click here to read the letter from Plasterk to the Island Council of Statia (in Dutch – translation will follow)