WILLEMSTAD – Five years after the government formally adopted an integrity policy, a new baseline scan shows that many civil servants believe the policy is not consistently applied in daily government operations.
The report, prepared by the statutory internal auditor of the Governments of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (SOAB) on behalf of the Ministry of Governance, Planning and Service Delivery (BPD), examined both awareness of the integrity policy and its practical implementation across all ministries. The study was designed as a government-wide assessment to determine how deeply integrity measures have become embedded within the public sector.
According to the report, the government has spent years building a framework intended to strengthen integrity within public administration. Efforts date back to the 1999 Konfiansa report and were later reinforced through recommendations from Transparency International and the formal adoption of an integrity policy in 2021.
However, the baseline scan reveals a recurring pattern: employees are generally more familiar with the existence of integrity policies than they are able to identify those policies being actively applied in their workplace.
The report measures two key elements: awareness of integrity policies and their implementation in practice. Across several ministries, awareness scores were considerably higher than implementation scores, suggesting that while rules exist, they are not always visible in everyday decision-making and workplace behavior.
Researchers also found weaknesses in the government's "soft controls"—factors such as leadership, workplace culture, willingness to speak up, and confidence that complaints will be addressed. These cultural elements often scored lower than formal controls such as policies and procedures.
The findings raise questions about whether the government has succeeded in moving beyond policy documents toward creating a culture where integrity is actively discussed, monitored, and enforced.
The report stresses that the baseline scan should not be viewed as a final judgment but as a starting point for further reforms. Its purpose is to identify where ministries stand today and what steps are needed to strengthen integrity throughout the public sector.