WILLEMSTAD – MFK Member of Parliament Ishahier Monte is calling on Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas to examine whether Curaçao should establish a specialized entity for legislative drafting and legal support, warning that a longstanding shortage of specialized legislative lawyers is hampering the government’s ability to prepare and modernize laws.
Monte raised the issue in a formal letter to Pisas, arguing that Curaçao has struggled for years with insufficient capacity in legislative drafting.
According to the MP, the consequences go beyond staffing problems. A shortage of specialized legislative lawyers can delay the preparation, amendment and modernization of legislation and ultimately affect the legal quality expected from a country governed by the rule of law.
Monte points to previous findings by the Commissie Algemene regels bestuursrecht Curaçao and says observations from institutions such as the Council of Advice and the Social Economic Council (SER) regularly raise issues concerning legal quality, preparation, implementation and the legislative process.
Within government, Wetgeving en Juridische Zaken (WJZ) plays an important role in assisting ministries with drafting, amending and modernizing legislation.
Monte said his discussions with people working in the field indicate that some of the main problems concern the number of available lawyers, salaries, career opportunities and the organizational structure of WJZ.
He stressed that legislative drafting is a highly specialized area and that the government must compete with the private sector as well as public and semi-public entities for the same limited pool of qualified professionals.
The problem has already been formally recognized through Curaçao’s Landspakket reform program. Under measure B4.2, a review was initiated to determine how the island’s legislative function could be improved and strengthened. Monte noted that the initiative was still included in the February 2026 implementation agenda and progress report.
The parliamentarian is now asking Pisas to provide Parliament with the report on Curaçao’s legislative function prepared by Prof. Sjoerd Zijlstra and explain what concrete results have emerged from the reform process.
Monte also wants the government to disclose how many specialized legislative lawyers currently work within government and WJZ, how many positions have been formally approved and how many remain vacant.
Rather than relying exclusively on the existing government structure, Monte believes Curaçao should investigate an alternative model.
He points to organizations such as SOAB, SBAB and SBTNO, where specialized expertise has been organized outside the regular government apparatus. He also refers to the autonomous administrative body model used by institutions such as RAC.
Under his proposal, a specialized legislative and legal-support entity could recruit and retain professionals, develop expertise, preserve institutional knowledge and provide services on an assignment basis.
Such an organization could assist government ministries with legislative projects while potentially also providing expertise to Parliament, particularly when MPs exercise their right to introduce legislation.
Monte stressed that any such arrangement would have to guarantee Parliament’s independence and maintain a clear separation between legal assistance provided to the government and assistance provided to the legislature.
He also asked Pisas whether the government is willing to evaluate which legal structure — such as a foundation, autonomous administrative body or another model — would be most appropriate.
Monte said strengthening legislative capacity should not be treated as a coalition-versus-opposition issue.
“Here it is Curaçao that counts,” he said, arguing that legislation remains one of the principal instruments available to government and Parliament for translating policy into action and advancing the country’s development.