DE SNIJD / Armand Snijders
Our travel minister Melvin and his Dutch counterpart Tom recently presented the ultimate privilege for the political elite: from January 1, 2027 holders of a Surinamese diplomatic or service passport can travel visa-free to the Benelux to fly. That’s great news!
While the ‘little people’ don’t care one bit and have to stand in line at VFS and have sleepless nights about sky-high fees, our rulers will soon board the plane whistling and without any administrative hassle. That is truly an achievement that can be credited to Melvin. Three cheers for him!
“The people didn’t know anything about most of the trips. And that’s strange, because we all pay for it. Can we at least hear where our money is being thrown away?”
Because traveling to the Benelux is what the political elite does! But also to the rest of the world, so visa-free deals are also being made for that. With Panama, for example, Melvin is currently working with his mentor Aunt Jenny to achieve this. Ordinary travelers with simple blue passports will have to wait a while, as long as the elite is allowed to travel undisturbed.
Every time during conversations with Dutch colleagues they play the same tape that it would be nice if we, as former subjects of the kingdom, could fly to Schiphol unattended, but the answer has been the same for decades: ‘that’s what Brussels is about so that’s where you should be’. You may find that annoying, but that’s just the way the rules are. I doubt whether our representation in Belgium really has the lobbying qualities to advocate the Surinamese case. So that will take years…
The ever-critical economist Winston recently calculated that all Surinamese ministers have traveled more than six times on average in the fifteen months that they have been sitting in their luxury chair. So about a hundred times in total. And that Aunt Jenny even took to the skies ten times. Even its travel-loving predecessor has almost been surpassed. But in his first year he was bound hand and foot by the corona pandemic.
And to think that in her first weeks as head of state she had solemnly promised us all ‘openness and frugality regarding foreign travel’. “Every trip must deliver something concrete to Suriname,” she said sternly. She would keep her finger on the pulse and protect the government coffers against unnecessary wanderlust. We now know what such purple promises are worth.
So it has not been allowed to be this way so far, although I do suspect that the delegations traveling in her wake are much smaller than Chan’s. Because he often took his in-laws and an unnecessary army of ministers, security people and friends with him. They were all allowed to fly business class and sleep in five-star king-size beds. And while they licked their fingers with lobster and bottles of precious wine, attractive daily allowances poured into their bank account.
By the way, I am convinced that this also applies to the current travel-loving elite. I haven’t bothered to check Winston’s figures, but given my knowledge of the greedy behavior of most of our politicians, I am prepared to believe them.
The people knew nothing about most of the excursions. And that’s strange, because we all pay for that. Can we at least hear where our money is being thrown away? And why do the ladies and gentlemen of travelers never report on their visit to some useless conference or other meeting in Far Away? Or do they think they can make do with a standard photo sent out by the Suriname Communications Service or something like that?
In recent years, the promises made by successive governments to drastically limit the number of foreign business trips have virtually come to nothing. Improvement was repeatedly promised under both the Desi and Chan governments, but in practice the travel behavior of ministers, parliamentarians and top officials remained a constant source of social and political frustration. Despite the guidelines introduced and the talk about ‘austerity’, travel behavior remained unchanged. And that continues to this day.
It is regularly mentioned in the national talking point. They have to do that every now and then, to make the people believe that they are serious about us. Like last week, when there was a commotion about a Dutch trip by veepee Gregory, where he took part in an international conference on racism and discrimination (and even got to shake Alex’s hand!). The government, through ‘coordinator’ Marinus, was initially unable to provide much information about the purpose of the visit and the planned discussions, which led to frustration.
Afterwards he tried to calm the mood with the promise that the government is “always prepared to share information with parliament”. In doing so he actually laughed off the ‘nagging’ from the highest council of the state and actually said: ‘we will continue to fly and – if you push hard enough – we might tell you later where the US dollars have gone’.
While the talking house members – led by Asis and Rabin – speak shame about the inadequate provision of information about the travel behavior of ministers and their delegations, they and their colleagues also have a huge pile of butter on their heads. Because they absolutely belong to the travel elite.
At every chat room meeting, you notice the empty chairs. This is not only because of illness or other legitimate reasons, but because both coalition and opposition representatives are traveling for something ‘very important’ in Geneva, Brussels or London, to name just a few cities. Do you think we will ever see travel reports when they return full and satisfied, as Asis and Rabin demand from government members.
Citizens do not know who is in the delegation and what exactly the trip will cost the taxpayer. And what is the point at all… The chairman of the national discussion center, Ashwin, said some time ago that he was prepared to announce “which parliamentarians are going on the trip, why the trip is being made and what its importance is for Suriname”. According to him, frugality would be observed and not all invitations would be accepted. Delegations should also be kept as small as possible.
In his view, society can expect clear communication about this. Ashwin also does not rule out that more insight into the results and possible costs of such missions will be provided at a later stage, “within the applicable procedures of parliament”. Despite all these words, a confusing parliamentary mess is being made even under his leadership.
The conclusion is that billions of Surinamese dollars evaporate in airline tickets, luxury hotels and generous daily allowances, while society still sighs and the state treasury functions as a bottomless travel pot. That will not change at all during this government. Traveling at state expense has always been a Surinamese political tradition; under Aunt Jenny it has apparently been elevated to a right. The people will pay the bill.
