During the public meeting of Parliament on Monday, February 9th, regarding the concerning developments surrounding ORYX/VIGOR and Global Oil, the Faction of the Partido Nashonal di Pueblo (PNP) maintained a firm stance. Although this meeting was also suspended until the end of March, the PNP demands clarity and transparency for the people, particularly considering that what was promised to the people of Curaçao has not materialized to this day. One can see the difference when the PNP is no longer in government.
Member of Parliament Osepa reminded the Government and Parliament that the PNP has been sounding the alarm on this topic since 2021 and that the PNP was resented for its critical position on this: everyone can remember the CPR debacle. “Many times we warned, we spoke, and today we are meeting again about a failure that could have been foreseen,” Osepa declared. The bitter reality is that the promises of a 30-year contract and millions in investments turned out to be empty promises. According to the PNP faction, the people were sold hot air and workers were promised the moon and stars, especially on the eve of elections, while today the Government itself has had to halt the contract.
A crucial point brought forward by the PNP is the role of Finance. There are indications that the Finance department ‘sounded the alarm’ that things were going wrong, but these signals were ignored. Therefore, the PNP Faction demands that the Government send the ‘Risk Matrix’ that Finance produced, together with the reports of the annual accounts.
“We want to know how much money RDK/2Bays invested in the search for an operator and how much money remains in 2Bays’ coffers right now. It cannot be that a small group gets rich on the back of this process, while the people remain poor,” emphasized the PNP Faction Leader, Ruthmilda Larmonie-Cecilia.
During the first round, which was suspended, PNP parliamentarians Larmonie-Cecilia, Osepa, Martina, and Cijntje launched several concrete questions that the Prime Minister still must answer:
- What is the current position of 2Bays after the contract with Vigor was broken?
- How many employees does 2Bays currently have in service?
- Is there a realistic view of when Global Oil will be able to start operating and producing asphalt?
- What is the current technical state of our refinery?
The PNP regrets that we are once again at a crossroads where the largest asset of our country is at a standstill, while our economy depends on it. The faction hopes that when the meeting resumes, there will be honest answers and documents on the table, and no more fantasy promises.
“History will show that we asked the right questions at the moment when others chose to remain silent,” the PNP Faction concluded.
