Opposition criticizes government

The members of the opposition on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Finance Minister Gillmore Hoefdraad. In its motion the legislators from the opposition criticized the government of negligence. The members of the opposition pointed out that there must be consequences to the failing policy of the government. They condemned the actions of the government and therefore the president and made it clear that the minister of Finance “must accept responsibility for the failing policy.” Nine reasons were mentioned for demanding the resignation of Hoefdraad and almost all of them are based on the fact that no specific details have been given to explain what has happened to $100 million of the foreign currency cash reserve of private banks. The members of the opposition claimed that the government has lost the trust of the nation because of the actions that it carried out deliberately and secretly. They pointed out that information regarding the deposits and foreign currency of the banks that has been used improperly still has not been released. The government did not demand that the government must give Minister Hoefdraad the boot but it did, however, criticize the government for failing to adequately keep an eye on things at the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS).

According to the opposition, the answers of the government indicate that there are loopholes in the system of checks and balances which is why the watchdogs did not detect the problems on time.

The government is being urged to appoint a new governor as soon as possible in order to restore confidence in the Central Bank of Suriname. The government is also being urged to present proposals aimed at strengthening the control mechanisms and to upgrade security for the monetary reserves within the Central Bank of Suriname.