(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Legislator Carl Breeveld (DOE) tells de Ware Tijd there is little transparency surrounding the government’s plans to partly privatize Staatsolie. He therefore supports the opposition’s demand that President Desi Bouterse should explain this matter.
High-level executives have confirmed the plan to sell some of Staatsolie’s shares, while both Vice President Robert Ameerali and Natural Resources Minister Jim Hok refer to Staatsolie director Marc Waaldijk, who is currently abroad, for further details. Opposition members Rajkoemar Randjietsingh (NF/VHP), Ruth Wijdenbosch (NF/NPS), Chandrikapersad Santhoki (NF/VHP), Guno Castelen (NF/SPA), Winston Jessurun (DA ’91), Ronny Asabina (BEP), Rudolph Zeeman (BEP), Ganieshkumar Kandhai (VHP), Asiskumar Gajadien (VHP), Arthur Tjin-A-Tsoi (NPS), Patrick Kensenhuis (NF/NPS) and Mahinder Rathipal (NF/VHP) support a letter to the President and Parliament Speaker Jenny Simons requesting a clarification.
The letter also refers to events in 1998, when protests erupted against plans by the former Wijdenbosch administration to privatize Staatsolie. “We are concerned about the information currently available, as such a decision reminds us of the clearly recognizable policy of the past,” the letter states. Former President Jules Wijdenbosch has always insisted that only part of the company was to be privatized. It is surprising that Staatsolie union chairman Lloyd Read, who was among those leading the protests then, is now positive about a sale of some of Staatsolie’s shares on the local market.
Breeveld admits that this need not be a negative development, but the fact that information has come through just the media so far while Parliament has not been informed about the details yet, is rather improper. “That is why I support the Law on Transparency in Government that ought to have been debated together with the law on reporting unusual transactions in order to do away with these things in a structural manner,” Breeveld says.
