December 15, 1998
Marijke Djawalapersad would like to have an inquiry done into the enormous debt of 250 billion
which ex-director of the Central Bank of Suriname has alledgedly reported the State to be in. The
Assembly's Chairman finds this a very alarming matter and intends to have the figures verified. If
this proves to be true then the job will be left for the members of parliament both opposition and
coalition to discuss which they cannot do by staying away. Djawalapersad hopes that they would
find it critical enough to make an effort to hold discussions to get to the bottom of it. According
to her the budget debates would be the right time to discuss this matter, but that the members
were free to call a separate meeting for this. When asked if it was not a breech of the rules to have
the amount of debts exceed the credit limit of the Credit-Law, she replied that it was possible but
that nothing could be done until Parliament decides what decision to take. She strongly believes
that the Assembly is the place in which such matters ought to be discussed and not in street
actions. The Assembly's Chairman stated that there was a lot of work to be done but that it has so
far been shelved because the opposition is not cooperating. She criticized the actions of the FOLS
and the BVL because of the consequences involved. The school childreen and students are the
innocent victims of all this. They are not in any way responsible for the crisis in the country.
Djawalapersad, who is also a teacher regrets this situation because the lost time cannot be made
up for. She criticizes the actions of the teachers who give lessons until 10 am then report ill for
the rest of the day only to turn up for classes in the evenings for their further studies. She said that
this was not correct, "You were either an educator or you were not" was her emotional response.
She admits that there is a crisis in the country at present otherwise the President would not be
involved in holding dialogue discussions. The problems in the country at present are being created
by anti-government forces and the Assembly's Chairman would like to have the opportunity to
discuss this and the reasons behind it but first she thinks it better to give the government and the
participating groups the chance to look for suitable solutions that would clean up this mess once
and for all.
MINISTER SNIJDERS SIGNS AGREEMENT IN TRINIDAD
Minister Errol Snijders of Foreign Affairs returns today from a 3-day visit to Trinidad where he
has signed an agreement for a Suriname-Trinidad joint venture that allows both countries to work
together. Meetings with members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Production Associations and
the Chamber of development for small scale industries were also on the program as well as a
meeting with Trinidad's Prime Minister Basdew Panday.
President Jules Wijdenbosch is reported to be happy with the results of yesterday's dialogue." The
basis has been laid for success" was the Presidents reacion. According to the Head of State
everyone participating so far has given their positive opinion of how to solve the problems in this
crisis. The President stated in a short interview with STVS and ATV that there was no air of
incompatible differences. The meetings were generally fruitful. Even though the President has not
yet received the CLO for a meeting because he was against a meeting with the Secretary-General
Ronald Hooghart who was to be part of the CLO's delegation he claims to have no problems with
the suggestion of the CLO to have a preliminary meeting with Hendrik Sylvester Leader of the
CLO to first try to iron out their differences before getting on to the dialogue discussions.
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