The Budget is balanced says the coalition government of the UP/DP parties. A beautiful and unique pre-Christmas announcement which will begin the New Year with a bang. What a gift for the residents of St. Maarten. This measure according to an article appearing in one of the daily newspapers was approved by the Council of Minister on Thursday. There are some statements that were attributed to the Minister of Finance that needs addressing.
And one of them relates to the issue of borrowing. Permit me to quote from the daily newspaper: "We as a country are not able to borrow money to cover our budget (general fund)" end of quote. I have a question: "Why do we have to borrow?" Government can answer the question now or later because I as a Member of Parliament who have to approve the illusive 2011 Budget have not seen it as yet. But since government saw it fit to inform the people through the media it should have no problem answering the question. Why did I ask that question? Did or didn't the Dutch government deposit some funds on the account of the Central Bank for St. Maarten? And imagine we don't have to pay it back. Now if indeed this is the case then why hasn't the government accessed these funds? Let me answer and I stand to be corrected if my answer is incorrect. In order to access those funds government has to present approved audited financial statements. We all know that the General Audit Chamber of the then Netherlands Antilles has not approved the financial accounts for the last 10 years. We all know that they said that these budgets were never balanced. We all know that they said that some of the information was in such a state and let me paraphrase that they did not know what to make of it or where to begin. And let me insert here, "who was director of resources and as such over the various heads of Finance for the last 10 years or more?" Another statement attributed to the Minister of Finance was and I quote:" After inheriting a multimillion guilder deficit from the previous National Alliance led Government we have the responsibility to solve the problem rather than throw up our hands in despair" end of quote. People of St. Maarten please analyze that statement carefully and then ask yourself the question when did the multimillion guilder deficits start? Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue. I must ask this question also, how much money does the former Netherlands Antilles government owe St. Maarten and what committee is looking into this? Finally, I suggest to the UP/DP party coalition government to in line with was agreed to with the Dutch government by the signing of the Final accord of November 2, 2006 and what was also stated in the Transition Accord of February 12, 2007 under the heading Payment arrears to ask the Dutch government how much funds was deposited for St. Maarten on the account of the Central Bank. The Dutch government should have this/these amounts at their fingertips after all they are meticulous when it comes to their administration. Perhaps that amount will turn the deficit into a surplus and the people of St. Maarten will not have to suffer under the burden of more taxes because of the Democratic Party of the last 10 years and prior to this not adhering to sound financial practices.
