ST. EUSTATIUS- In responding to recent statement made by Dutch state secretary Raymond Knops regarding the improvement plan on St. Eustatius. Leader of the Progressive Labor Party Clyde Van Putten on Wednesday called the statement reckless and an insult to the intelligence of the people of the island.
Van Putten said that there was very little to show after two plus years since the Dutch intervention on the island. The Dutch has failed at all levels. Van Putten highlighted the present water shortage which is so vital to the island community as one of the biggest embarrassment and failures to date on part of the Dutch government. He also sighted their failures regarding the construction and repairs of the many roads on the island, an issue that the PLP lead government was severely criticized for by the Dutch as part of the task neglect. After more than two years with all the financial and human resources that were imported from the Netherlands it is only because of the local public works department that we are now seeing that roads are finally been built.
Regarding other areas of improvement which was promised by the Netherlands the island community is still waiting to see these realized. What we have seen to date are projects that were finalized and ready to be executed by the PLP lead government, which was removed from office. Pertaining to the improvement of the public finances and overall administration of the island, the PLP leader said what he has seen presently are more regulations by the Dutch in creating a structure where elected officials will become subordinates to civil servants, to which is not the case in the Netherlands.
In doing so the Dutch is making it almost impossible for locals to fill the leading positions in the civil service, thus opening the possibilities for more Dutch Europeans to come and take control of the government organizational structure. When this is done the Dutch will remotely control the structure of government from the Hague. Van Putten said that he was appalled at statements made by one of the newly appointed commissioners who stated that they were still busy cleaning up the financial household of government. He singled out the annual account of 2016-2018, if this statement is correct then it brings into question as to what was been done by his predecessors Franco and Stegers, who were appointed two plus years ago and made this there number one priority.
The PLP leader accused state secretary Knops and the Dutch government of putting up a smoke screens in order to implement their colonial agenda on the island. Even in recent times members of the Dutch parliament have been voicing their displeasure and frustration with regards to the lack of improvement and progress since the Hague has taken control of the island. Van Putten said that Knops confessed to him in a brief conversation on September 22, 2019 while in transit from St. Marteen to St. Eustatius that he had grossly under estimated the situation on Statia and that it was much more complex than he originally anticipated.
It should be noted that the political opposition who were the main advocate for the takeover of the island by the Dutch is today levying heavy criticism at the Dutch and the State secretary Knops for their failure in improving the social, economic and infrastructural development of the island as was promised. Van Putten stated that it is not state secretary Knops to decide the future of the island, but rather the citizens and inhabitants of St. Eustatius.
We need to stop the infighting and political bickering and unite for one common cause. The PLP leader concluded by calling on the people to wake up and realized what is happening before their eyes before it’s too late. If we fail to do so then we will become second class citizens in our country and modern day slaves to the new elite which is now been created by external forces.
