During a public meeting with Minister Wendrick Cicilia, Parliamentarian Xiomara Maduro questioned the decision to use Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) funds to pay a private company to process waste.
Transparency in public spending According to Maduro, the discussion is not just about trash, but about how the Government spends public money. She emphasized that every taxpayer has the right to know how their money is used. “We are not asking for miracles. We are asking for every florin to be spent with logic, transparency, and responsibility,” Maduro stated. She clarified that her questions were not about the internal operations of Serlimar, but rather why ATA, an entity under the Ministry of Tourism, is paying for cleanup contracts.
She noted that Aruba already has a government-owned waste management company, Serlimar. Serlimar already pays the same private company to process part of the waste, and now ATA is also paying the same company for the same work. Maduro used a simple example: if you hire one person to clean your house and then have to pay a second person to do the same job, you would naturally ask why you are paying twice.
Questions posed to the Minister:
Confirm whether this contract is being paid for with ATA funds.
Explain why funds designated for tourism were chosen instead of expanding Serlimar’s services.
Clarify whether the Government compared costs before signing the contract.
Detail the difference between this new project and the “Baki den Bario” program.
Lack of a new LIM creates confusion Maduro mentioned that the absence of a new Landsverordening Instelling Ministeries (LIM) creates confusion regarding ministerial responsibilities. However, she emphasized that the decision to use ATA funds falls under the Ministry of Tourism. Maduro also requested data on how much public money has been paid to private companies for waste processing, concluding that while private companies play an important role, the Government has an obligation to spend public funds responsibly.