“Cabinet reshuffle has never worked”

“President Desi Bouterse is currently setting the wrong priorities,” said Robby Naarendorp, secretary at the Progressive Labor Union Federation 47 (C-47). He is finding hard to believe that the head of state is currently busy preparing a cabinet reshuffle while a mass strike is happening at the surface. “It is another group’s turn to be accommodated,” said Naarendorp in response to the reports that indicate that a cabinet reshuffle will take place. “There is no time for a reshuffle.” C-47 on Friday announced that it would support the strike of the Teachers’ Association (BvL) and the Alliance of Teachers in Suriname (ALS). If the wishes of the teachers are not granted, C-47 will intensify the campaign by mobilizing all of the union members from the working class. President Desi Bouterse must give priority to this and not the cabinet reshuffle,” said Naarendorp. “The reshuffle measure has never worked. It only adds more people to the group that earn high wages, thereby putting more pressure on the treasury. “We have known the reshuffle phenomenon since the eighties and we have noticed that it has never brought a solution. The interests of a small group of people are given priority while the rest of the people are abandoned. The police have no fuel and security guards have not been paid for the past 6 months. There are 3 groups that always get their money on time namely: the president and his advisors, the ministers and the coalition members in Parliament.”