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Sieuw Ramsukul, Suriname’s presidential advisor and director of general management at the Ministry of Land Policy and Forest Management (GBB), responded to the ABOP’s attacks on him and President Chan Santokhi. He denied that he was assigned to process the files of VHP members at the ministry.
“Who says good things about GBB? All you hear everywhere is negativity. Land belonging to others is being taken away and because of this GBB has a very bad image. I was put there by the president but not to deal with VHP files. Because that is the biggest lie they tell,” Ram Sukur said on Apintie TV’s show ‘To The Point’.
The GBB director argued that he was sent to the ministry because of the pressure the head of state was facing. Santoshi was said to have noticed from various conversations he had with citizens every day that 80% of the problems these citizens were facing were related to land issues.
“The biggest problem in Suriname is the land issue. People are now less afraid of criminals than of their plots being taken away. People even dream of their land being taken away. The fear among citizens is very strong. So I was put there to handle and process complaints from citizens who no longer had any hope in the department. Citizens wait 10, 20, 30 and 40 years to get their documents,” the director said.
Ramsukul said he personally brought more than 7,000 documents to Minister Dinotha Vorswijk until December 2023, after which the minister forwarded them to various departments. But when the pieces finally made it to the departments, they disappeared. According to him, the head of the land inspection department even stated to the president that the documents were stored in the drawers of civil servants. That is why he developed a plan to do the work in one location, as it would provide more visibility.
Ramsukur said what is happening now in Suriname has never happened in the country before. “Corruption on land issues started in 1982. We should be ashamed that in 2024 we are still giving out land by decree, so laws must be introduced. But you can see what the trend is because land conversion is one of the examples. Danes have no resentment, but the president has been empowered,” Ramsukur said.
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