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Transparency and accountability are the lifeblood of good and honest governance. It enhances citizens’ confidence in policies and government. It also means that officials can be held accountable. It prevents corruption and promotes justice and equality. The flip side of this can be nepotism, corruption and mismanagement. These things lead to the destruction of national finances, huge waste and destruction of capital.
The current government is notorious for its scandals. Some textbook examples of how nepotism, waste and corruption have destroyed the country’s finances are as follows:
1. The Sabaku Project Scandal. The Sabaku Project was purchased by the government for 12 million euros. The project was intended to help the socially vulnerable. A housing project was associated with the project. However, the project has been divided up by prominent figures of the current coalition and their families and friends. This reprehensible behavior brought benefits to the current coalition and their families and friends, but caused losses to the people of 12 million euros or more than 371 million SRD (at the exchange rate of 31 SRD).
2. The Panamericana scandal. In this scandal, which has now been referred to the investigating judge, more than 340 million dinars were paid to an entrepreneur without a PPP agreement. These scarce financial resources of the people, instead of benefiting the people, were cunningly diverted from the treasury.
3. Demolition of the unfinished and ultimately abandoned Wanicastrat police headquarters. The building had cost around $12 million (360 million dinars) before the project was halted due to technical problems. A new headquarters is planned to be built on the old site at an estimated cost of 9 million euros. Experts say the building could be completed with some adjustments and used in a different way.
4. Purchase of the Babylon Hotel. To buy the building, the state took out a loan of 39.4 million dinars. Now, several months have passed, and the building is still not operational. Minister AWJ said that all beds and other items could be donated. This involves $600,000 worth of unusable goods. However, what to do with the ultra-modern kitchen and swimming pool remains a mystery. Demolishing the rooms and sealing the swimming pool to make the building fit for use will again cost the state a lot of dollars. According to experts in the field, this bad purchase has undoubtedly caused the state a loss of $1.2 million, or 36 million dinars.
5. The DNA conference room was built despite all UNESCO recommendations. 250 million dinars were allocated for this. As a result, Paramaribo was in danger of losing its status in the World Heritage List. After strong criticism, the construction was stopped. Tens of millions of SRD were also wasted there.
These scandals (nepotism, cronyism and mismanagement) cost the state at least 1.1 billion dinars. This is still a rough calculation. What is not known is only speculation. Small scandals such as building a bridge for 21 million dinars, building a toilet for 520,000 dinars, building a market for 7 million dinars are examples of nepotism, corruption and mismanagement. People are also seriously disadvantaged in these types of small projects. It is these issues that make fairness, transparency and good governance a necessity for some time to come. Accounting for the state resources consumed is an obligation.
Political parties that promote fairness, transparency and good governance should come up with concrete action plans.
The people have the right to know where and how every penny of their money is spent. This is not the people’s happiness, but the legal obligation of every government.
Dr. A. Abdoel
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