WILLEMSTAD – The opposition party MAN has strongly criticized Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas and his Cabinet, accusing the government of attempting to award ministers and Members of Parliament additional payments while arranging a promised thirteenth-month bonus for civil servants.
In a strongly worded statement, the MAN party board described the government's handling of the proposed payments as unacceptable and praised parliamentarians Giselle Mc William and Suzanne Camelia-Römer for challenging the decision.
Giselle Mc William and Suzanne Camelia-Römer in Parliament
According to MAN, the controversy began after the Pisas Cabinet agreed on October 7 to honor a request from labor unions for an additional annual payment to public employees.
The party emphasized that it supported the decision to provide civil servants with a thirteenth-month payment and had no objections to the government fulfilling its commitments to the unions.
However, MAN alleges that the Cabinet also decided to include additional payments for ministers and parliamentarians, despite legislation that the party says prohibits such compensation.
MAN Questions XCG 18,000 Payment for Ministers
According to the opposition party, the Cabinet's decision would have provided each minister with an additional XCG 18,000 as a thirteenth-month payment.
MAN argues that ministers and Members of Parliament are not legally entitled to such additional compensation under legislation approved and signed by the Pisas administration itself in 2021.
The party described the proposed payments as an attempt by government officials to financially benefit themselves through a decision originally intended to assist public employees.
MAN characterized the move as corruption, although the party's allegations do not establish that a criminal offense occurred.
The opposition also pointed to the Governor's intervention, which it says prevented the disputed arrangement from proceeding.
According to MAN, the decision to include political officeholders created an unnecessary obstacle to the payment intended for civil servants.
Opposition Praises Mc William and Camelia-Römer
The MAN board expressed strong support for Giselle Mc William and Suzanne Camelia-Römer, saying the two parliamentarians fulfilled their responsibility to scrutinize government decisions.
The party credited their intervention with bringing attention to the proposed additional payments for ministers and parliamentarians.
According to MAN, the two politicians acted in the public interest by questioning whether the Cabinet's decision complied with existing legislation.
The party argued that parliamentary oversight is especially important when decisions involve the financial interests of government officials themselves.
MAN also criticized the governing MFK party, noting that it controls all nine ministries and holds 13 seats in the Curaçao Parliament.
The opposition believes that this political position makes the government responsible for explaining and defending its decisions rather than shifting responsibility to parliamentarians who raised objections.
Questions Remain Over the Government's Decision
MAN maintains that the controversy could have been avoided if the Cabinet had limited its decision to the additional payment requested by public-sector unions.
The party argues that the government's attempt to include ministers and parliamentarians created the dispute that now threatens the promised bonus for civil servants.
Its statement calls for greater accountability and transparency regarding how the October 7 decision was prepared and why political officeholders were included.
The allegations concerning illegality and corruption are MAN's political assessment of the decision. The statement does not establish that a court has ruled the proposed payments unlawful or that criminal wrongdoing has been proven.
Nevertheless, the controversy has intensified political scrutiny of the Pisas administration's handling of public-sector compensation and the legal limits governing additional payments to elected and appointed officials.