HAVE DIFFERENT EVENTS In recent weeks it has been made clear what everyone already suspected: the Abop is in the coalition, while Ronnie Brunswijk’s party would much rather have formed a government again with the VHP of – now late – President Chandrikapersad Santokhi. Because although it was not all smooth sailing during the five years that he was vice president in the previous government team, he was often able to get his way. Now he is ‘only’ one of the vice-chairmen of the National Assembly and the Abop hardly has anything to contribute.
That stings and the frustration about it is not hidden. He used the recent death of Santokhi to take his revenge and to praise the VHP leader as his ‘friend’ whom he would miss dearly and to openly express the hidden and hidden Abop love. The tears flowed freely, although many said they were crocodile tears. Because it is well known that Brunswijk and Santokhi often did not get along and he regularly got the blood under his boss’s nails with, among other things, his blackmail practices. Conversely, the president often did not do what he had promised and the Abop ministers felt shortchanged by Santokhi, who had placed his own VHP-led committees in most ministries to keep an eye on their doings.
However, Brunswijk’s numerous threats to quit the government were never put into practice. As a result, at a certain point there was the impression that it was all part of the political game of the two leaders and that they did have a good relationship – with or without (triple) dual agendas. After last year’s elections lost by the VHP, Brunswijk would have preferred to work with Santokhi again, but the NDP managed to get all other parties behind it. The Abop therefore made a choice and reluctantly joined the new coalition. Brunswijk had to take a big step and in the months that followed, he regularly expressed his dissatisfaction with the state of affairs.
Not only Brunswijk praised Santokhi’s leadership qualities, other Abop ministers also praised him to the heavens. For example, Justice and Police Minister Harish Monorath praised the late former head of state, who, according to him, played a decisive role in stabilizing the country at a time when the financial situation was critical. According to Monorath, when Suriname took over after the NDP government (2010-2020), Suriname was on the verge of economic collapse and the country was without financial reserves.
The fact that this is said publicly by a member of the current NDP-dominated government can be called a special event. Because President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons and her vassals still deny that the NDP has brought Suriname to the financial abyss in those ten years and saddled it with irresponsibly large debts. And if it ever comes up, the fallacies of ‘global crises’ and ‘disappointing economic developments’ always follow. The big question in society is whether the comments from Abop leaders and the open criticism of the NDP government are a harbinger of what awaits us. Much will depend on how the current situation at the Energy Companies Suriname (EBS) will develop, where Brunswijk’s brother Leo holds sway and has not cared about anyone for years. But now the Ogane Employees Organization Suriname (Owos) has asked the president to fire him. If that indeed happens, it could be a reason for the yellow party and Brunswijk to leave the coalition
