“Partido Futuro has become a major disappointment for Aruba”
Partido Futuro has turned out to be a major disappointment in politics and especially within Parliament. The very party that promised political change—a new politics, politics with integrity, transparency, and better parliamentary functioning—is today doing exactly the opposite.
Today, Partido Futuro is acting against our constitution, violating all principles of good governance, showing no transparency, and returning to traditional politics filled with insults and personal attacks.
Last week, Parliament held a Central Committee meeting to decide whether Parliament wished to submit written questions regarding the LIM law. This law is the National Ordinance Establishing Ministries, which legally sets out the responsibilities of each ministry.
During this meeting, Mrs. Muzanin Wever acted as President of Parliament in the absence of President Marlon Sneek. Instead of using this opportunity to demonstrate transparency, respect for Parliament, and proper parliamentary functioning, Mrs. Wever decided in a dictatorial manner to remove the rights of each parliamentarian and obstruct us from doing our work.
Mrs. Wever opened the Central Committee meeting, and at that moment the MEP faction stated that we wished to submit written questions regarding the law. Mrs. Wever did NOT listen to our request and said that the MAJORITY decides, and that the MAJORITY had decided the law would proceed as a blanco verslag (without written questions). This means the law would move forward without Parliament being allowed to submit written questions.
Our constitution states that for a law to proceed without written questions (blanco verslag), ALL 21 members of Parliament must agree. In the case of the LIM law, the MEP faction was clearly NOT in agreement and requested time to submit the written questions.
The manner in which Muzanin Wever took her decision and acted violates our constitution. She acted unlawfully and did not respect the MEP faction’s request to submit written questions. She was not transparent and attempted, in a dictatorial manner, to silence the MEP faction and unilaterally dictate how we should carry out our role as parliamentarians.
Since when does a President of Parliament believe she can stand above our constitution? Since when can a President of Parliament decide when we may or may not submit written questions?
The arrogance and the way in which our democracy is being trampled upon are being tolerated and even accepted. We urge the Governor to address this violation of our constitution as soon as possible to prevent it from happening again. When the people vote for anyone, the consequences eventually show—and today in Parliament, the Futuro faction has confirmed exactly that.
Press release by Parliamentarian Dangui Oduber