NPS chairman: “The president is telling the same story again”

“The president is telling the same story again each year during his annual speech. It was the same presentation, a few measures were presented again and we heard the same promises again,” MP Gregory Rusland, chairman of the National Party Suriname (NPS), told Times of Suriname on Friday after President Desi Bouterse had concluded his annual speech in Parliament. According to MP Rusland, there was nothing new about the annual speech that lasted for more than 2 hours. Rusland pointed out that several things that sound great were mentioned but that one can’t help but wonder if those things will be actualized. “We believe that a few things that were presented require more discussion and that more information about them must be given and we will make this very clear during the budget discussion. One noticeable fact is that the president mentioned the development of the bauxite sector in Suriname and that companies will be active in that sector in 2017 although he constantly mentioned in previous talks that there is no interest for that,” said MP Rusland who added that several things will certainly go wrong again because of the current administration’s mismanagement. “The government has great plans but mismanagement always spoils everything and as long as the government fails to realize that those factors must be changed, little will be changed and very little will be actualized. If they really want the plans to work, the exchange rates must become stable and they must also drop. If the exchange rates keep going up, we will discuss yet another additional budget within a few months and there will also be several additional obligations such as the development and execution of the plans that have very little chance at success,” said the NPS chairman. MP Asiskumar Gajadien (VHP) also pointed out that the basic elements for good governance are not guaranteed. “Not even 15% of the beautiful plans, intentions and the budget from last year has been actualized and now we hear many plans and can’t help but wonder if they are practicable. The biggest problem of this government is mismanagement and that is precisely the topic that the president does not want to talk about. That is why things can’t be actualized and it is also why the problems are becoming bigger in this country,” said MP Gajadien.