THE TWO LARGEST political parties in Suriname are going through a challenging time. While the VHP will be forced to elect a new chairman and may therefore have to chart a new course, the NDP is going through a leadership crisis. Ramon Abrahams is sticking to an old Bouterse formula and president Jennifer Geerlings-Simons seems to be slowly maneuvering away from the Bouterse era. She is not thanked for that.
With the death of Chandrikapersad Santokhi, the VHP is faced with the inevitable choice of choosing a new leader. Two candidates are reportedly facing each other there. That’s a healthy thing. Having a choice means that candidates have to present themselves better and that members have to speak out clearly. The party can only grow from this. At least, then it can only be closed after the elections.
The image of a group of king vultures – better known as opete – ready to attack the prey that is breathing its last seems obvious
The VHP has gone through turbulent elections. On election day, Santokhi and the party were convinced that they would win the election. That optimism was shared with sponsors and no effort was spared to persuade voters. Unfortunately, that was not a success, the VHP became the only party in the opposition.
We are not going to act like strangers in Jerusalem: a lot of money is coming from offshore oil, the VHP traditionally consists of large entrepreneurs and they want to recoup their ‘investment in the election campaign’. So veteran top entrepreneur Armand Achaibersing seems to be a favorite. Achaibersing had distanced himself from politics a few years ago, partly due to private circumstances. Apparently the wait is over.
The NDP has a different situation, but there are many similarities. Simons keeps some of the ‘great minds’ such as Abrahams out of the party’s ‘decision-making’. The idea is that those who have supported in recent years should also be deployed. This effort sometimes looks more like ‘earning’, but that cannot be substantiated.
Yet it is clear that there is great dissatisfaction about the lesser involvement of certain party members. Romano Meriba has ‘just left’ the party with much fanfare and is reportedly going to start a party with Desi Bouterse’s son. Faizel Abdulgafoer makes it clear that he is interested in the chairmanship of the NDP. The image of a group of king vultures – better known as opete – ready to attack the prey that is breathing its last seems obvious.
Within both the NDP and the VHP, ‘relatives’ smell that there is big money to be made in the coming elections and, if Simons doesn’t wait it out, much sooner. Offshore money can turn the already wealthy into oil sheiks and that apparently makes everyone float. With good regulation and leadership, we could have minimized the chance that these would-be oil sheiks would keep the money for themselves. We have let go of that opportunity so far and although the threat is obvious, there seems to be no hurry.
