WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao and Sint Maarten should explore whether they can jointly recruit and share specialized legislative lawyers as both countries face the challenge of maintaining sufficient legal expertise within relatively small government administrations, according to MFK Member of Parliament Ishahier Monte.
Monte has asked Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas to approach Sint Maarten about possible cooperation as part of a broader proposal to strengthen Curaçao’s legislative capacity.
The MP argues that specialized legislative lawyers are scarce and difficult for government to attract and retain because qualified professionals can also find opportunities in the private sector and at public and semi-public organizations.
He believes creating a specialized legal entity serving more than one country could provide a larger professional base, spread costs and make it easier to attract and retain highly qualified lawyers.
Monte points to SOAB as an example of an organization whose expertise is used in both Curaçao and Sint Maarten. He believes a comparable approach could potentially be investigated for legislative drafting and specialized legal support.
Curaçao and Sint Maarten would continue to maintain their own governments and legislation under such a model. However, specialized expertise that either country needs only periodically could potentially be shared rather than permanently duplicated within both government organizations.
The proposal forms part of nine questions Monte submitted to Pisas regarding the state of Curaçao’s legislative function.
Monte wants to know how many legislative lawyers currently work for the Curaçao government, including within Wetgeving en Juridische Zaken (WJZ), how many positions are officially available and how many vacancies remain unfilled.
He is also seeking information about measures the government has taken in recent years to attract and retain these specialists, including while work continues under Curaçao’s Landspakket reform program.
The Landspakket already includes an initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s legislative function. Monte is asking the government to disclose what concrete improvements have resulted from that process and what additional measures are planned.
He has also requested that Parliament receive the Rapport Doorlichting Wetgevingsfunctie Curaçao prepared by Prof. Sjoerd Zijlstra.
Monte believes the structural problem warrants examining whether legislative expertise should continue to be organized primarily within the regular civil service or whether a new specialized organization could provide a better solution.
Such an entity could potentially serve both the Council of Ministers and Parliament. In Parliament’s case, specialized lawyers could assist with its role as co-legislator and provide technical support when individual MPs draft initiative legislation.
Monte emphasized that safeguards would be necessary to protect Parliament’s independence and prevent conflicts between legal work performed for the executive and legislative branches.
He has therefore asked Pisas whether the government would be willing to study different organizational options, including a foundation or autonomous administrative body, and determine whether Sint Maarten would be interested in participating.
The MP also turned the question back to Parliament itself, asking Pisas what support the government needs from lawmakers to “boost” Curaçao’s capacity and bring more specialized legislative lawyers into the system.
According to Monte, allowing the shortage to continue will ultimately affect not one government or political party, but Curaçao’s ability to enact the laws needed for the country’s development.