Prime Minister of Aruba Gave Important Speech at the Road to Good Governance Symposium

“Our government, Cabinet Wever-Croes was formed in November 2017 after intense negotiations between three political parties, to form a coalition. We could have formed with the minimum of 11 seats, but we managed to reach an agreement with three parties, creating a broader majority of 12 seats.
Each party had its own philosophy, its own vision, its own main areas of focus, but we agreed to focus on what unites us instead of focusing on what divides us. 

One of the first topics that united us was integrity. I started the path to integrity from the opposition seats in the year 2014. I drafted a note “Integrity, doing the right thing, even when no one is watching”. In this note, I analyzed the legislation that was missing in Aruba, and I proposed a path to follow towards integrity in Aruba. Not much could be achieved from the opposition in that time, but the road was paved and now, being in Government, I have the opportunity to apply the recommendations made. We see integrity violations all over the world, and unfortunately Aruba is no exception. My nephew, Brian, an Aruban European law student in Maastricht, has shown interest in the integrity pathway in Aruba, and has helped me to make a list of integrity violations by politicians in recent years. In 1 hour time research he had compiled a list of up to 22 cases of all continents. Most integrity violations concerned: corruption, financial mismanagement, use of public funds for private means, sexual misconduct issues, credit card fraud, prostitution, pedophilia, and interference with election results. So it is really not a problem that we only see in Aruba. But what about we all work together to ensure that integrity violations never again occur in Aruba? I think that that is the main reason we are here this afternoon.

In the coalition agreement which led to the Government program, “Hunto Pa Aruba”, (Together For Aruba), chapter 1 reads : good governance, integrity and transparency. Integrity was as point number one. Why? Because the people of Aruba have lost faith and confidence in politics and in Government. Because integrity violations were often accepted. Because too often we looked away when it concerned integrity violations. Because persons of integrity within the public administration felt that they were not supported. The new government wanted to change this, we wanted to gain the confidence of the people again. We wanted to gain the confidence and credibility within the Kingdom also. Therefore we knew that integrity needed to be put high on the political agenda. And there was consensus. Inspired by recent events in our dushi Aruba, we decided that the moment to act is now.

So this is what we will do.

Our main objectives are:
1. Institute a bureau of Integrity
2. Institute a chamber of Integrity
3. Institute an Integrity supervisory body for state owned companies and semi public entities, and introduce a uniform corporate governance code
4. Ratify the Anti Corruption Treaty

I will elaborate shortly on each of the four main objectives.

1. ​Institute a bureau of Integrity, on this we have booked more progress. This bureau has the task of raising awareness in the public administration, and monitor integrity within the public and semi public services, up to the ministers. This Bureau will also be the hotline for the citizens of Aruba to file complaints on or report integrity violations. First only within the public sector, but we aim to expand and receive also complaints on integrity violations in the private sector in the future. To realize this vision under my leadership we have instituted a working group early in 2018 consisting of the Prosecutor General, National Security Service of Aruba, Department of Human resource and the Central Accounting Department of Aruba. We have made good progress since then. We have instituted the Bureau on 1 October 2018, and we have appointed Mrs. Amalin Flanegin, as the person responsible for setting up the Bureau by April 30, 2019. Ms. Flanegin works at the Central Bank and we thank the Central bank of Aruba for giving her the opportunity to take on this important task. The Central Bank is also an important ally in the fight against corruption. The recruitment process for the director of this Bureau will start this week and the job vacancy will be published soon. The hiring will not be in hands of the Government, to make sure that the appointments are as objective as possible. We will start the awareness programs soon, and once the Bureau is staffed, the first phone calls can be received, with complaints of integrity violations. The Bureau will conduct a first review of each complaint, and refer the complaint to be investigated by the Human Resources Department, the Police Department or landsrecherche, etc. The Bureau will also follow up to make sure the complaint has been investigated. This Bureau will be an autonomous entity and will have a legal framework, making it therefore almost impossible, or at least very difficult for another Government to eliminate this Bureau in the future. Only by creating a legal framework we can guarantee the sustainability and durability of this Bureau. As I mentioned, the Bureau will be up and running by May of this year.

2. Institute a chamber of Integrity. The main task of this Chamber is to review of decisions of the Government, for example on public procurement. We have requested the Advisory Council, RvA, to advice on the institution of this Chamber. In order for this Chamber to be able to review the decisions made by the Government, important legislation needs to be amended or introduced:

– Procurement rules in the Financial leglisation, comptabiliteits verordening needs to be amended; the draft has already been sent to Parliament, and will be handled in the first half of 2019. 

– Legislation on Financing of political parties needs to be introduced.

– Legislation on integrity of members of parliament and ministers needs to be introduced; these draft laws have been submitted by members of Parliament, and are planned to be handled in parliament in the first half of 2019.

I have also instituted a Committee strengthening democratic system of Aruba to further strengthen and solidify the democratic institutions. This committee is assisting with the institution of the Ombudsman, and also with the institution of this Chamber. We are walking the path towards the Integrity Chamber as much as possible together with Curacao and St. Maarten, because of the small scale of our islands, we will be much stronger if we work together and exchange experts to staff the Chamber. In the second half of 2019 we expect to institute the Chamber, and start the recruitment of the members of the Chamber, more specifically in Q3 2019.

3. ​Institute an Integrity supervisory body for state owned companies and semi public entities, and introduce an uniform corporate governance code. This body will provide a uniform corporate governance code for the Government entities. We have started with making an inventory of the different corporate governance codes, with the goal of matching this as much as possible and, where necessary, take into account of the specific characteristics of each company. The goal is to achieve a National Ordinance corporate governance. In addition, we aim in the coming months to institute a body responsible for monitoring and the standardization of Public entities: an independent administrative authority that gives the Government solicited and unsolicited advice and oversees various areas on state owned companies; this body will also advice on the appointment and dismissal of members in the various boards of directors of the state owned companies and semi public entities. The aim is to finalize the preparations in the second half of 2019, more specific in Q4 2019.

4. Ratify the Anti Corruption Treaty
Aruba has not ratified this Treaty. We are working towards this by checking off a list to be complied with before we can ratify. The Bureau of Integrity, the hotline for complaints, the several legislations are part of the process. Once these objectives are reached, we can finally ratify the Anti Corruption Treaty. 

Those were the main objectives.

However, this will not be enough. We know that we have to take additional actions to guarantee integrity on the long run, for it to be sustainable. The subsidiary actions include:
– Legislation for whistleblowers; this legislation needs to grant protection to those complaining on or reporting integrity violations. Of course we are not talking about rumors, but solid complaints.
– Investing in eGovernment to make government procedures more transparent and leaving less and less space for corruption. I am proud to announce that we have partnered up with Estonia, the country leading in eGovernment, we have convinced the eGovernment institute of Estonia that we are a serious partner, and they are willing to assist us in this path. As we speak, a delegation of Aruba is having training sessions in Estonia to kick-off the Aruba eGovernment movement. Upon their return they will give the trainings here. The aim is to improve government service towards the citizens, and to have a more transparent and efficient government.
– Tax reform to simplify the tax code, improving tax compliance. The first phase was completed last year, and we are now working towards the second phase by mid this year. We aim to finalize the tax reform mid 2020.
– Investing in law enforcement and the human resource department of the government in order for these departments to be able to conduct the investigations of integrity violations that are reported through the Bureau of Integrity.
– Investing in human resource policy and depoliticize appointment of public employees

These subsidiary actions will be undertaken in the course of this year and next year 2020.

So this is what we are doing and what we will do. But as with everything in life, the government cannot do this alone. We need to do this together. For corruption to take place two parties are needed, the one paying the bribe, and the one receiving the bribe. So what do we expect from you? Basically, the same.
We expect for the citizens of Aruba not to engage in corruption.
We expect the citizens of Aruba not to cut lines or engage into bribing public officers, nor ministers.
We expect the citizens of Aruba to follow the procedures.
We expect the citizens of Aruba to report integrity violations, and we expect the citizens of Aruba to hold each other accountable.
We are not yet where we need to be, but we have made important steps.

We didn’t manage to have everything on rails within the first year in Government because there were other priorities that needed urgent attention, such as keeping Aruba outside the danger zone of financial bankruptcy and to avoid another instruction or KB from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We were successful in this and now that we have new financial arrangements in place the attention focused on realizing the objectives in the area of integrity. 2019 will be the year in which we will raise the level of awareness within the public administration, and finalize the necessary legislation. 2020 will be the year in which we will hold all those violating integrity codes, accountable.

I am confident that we will succeed. Why? We have a Public Prosecutors Office and Police Department that have shown that high level corruption investigations can be conducted and taken to court, as we all can see this week. We have a Parliament that is working very different than in the past years. A difference of almost night and day. Debates are conducted on a very professional level, and the members of Parliament are sometimes very critical of the policy of the Government. This Parliament is exercising its control function very seriously. We have NGO’s and partners like the Foundation Deugdelijk Bestuur Aruba, who we consider a partner in the fight against corruption, as is the Central Bank and other partners. And we have citizens like you that take the time to attend symposias like this one, and are our most important critics. You keep us on the right track. We do this because you want this and because Aruba deserves it.

These are historic moments, we are writing a new chapter in the history of our country. Let’s work together to make this a successful endeavor, so that when our future generation looks back at this time, they will always know that we started this new chapter in the history of Aruba, the path toward good government and integrity. Let yourself always be guided by integrity, by doing the right thing even when no one is watching.

Thank you.” – Evelyn Wever-Croes