WILLEMSTAD – Giselle Mc William, a member of the opposition party MAN, has raised serious concerns about the "lack of transparency in financial management" under the Pisas administration, directing her criticisms in a letter to MFK Minister Javier Silvania.
Mc William pointed out the regular appearance of large sums of money being distributed by the Minister, who holds the crucial position overseeing the national treasury, whether in his role as Finance Minister, Minister of Health, Environment, and Nature (GMN), or, until recently, as Minister of Social Development, Labor, and Welfare (SOAW).
She questioned the extent to which Silvania has the freedom to make such financial decisions independently, or whether he is bypassing the island's parliamentary budget rights. Budgetary control is a fundamental power of the Curaçao Parliament (the Staten), allowing lawmakers to determine the scope of government spending and the intended purpose of those funds. Through this power, Parliament authorizes the government to make expenditures for specific tasks.
In a series of written questions to Minister Silvania, Mc William stressed the importance of good financial management and transparency. "Recently, we became aware of several non-budgeted subsidies awarded by your ministry to various organizations. Given Parliament’s budget rights, the MAN faction seeks to gain insight into the policies and criteria behind these subsidy allocations," she explained.
Following parliamentary procedures outlined in Article 96 of the Parliamentary Rules of Order, Mc William and her colleagues have submitted critical questions. The first asks: "Can the minister provide a list of organizations that received non-budgeted subsidies in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, including the amounts allocated to each organization?"
The ongoing practice of frequent donations, grants, premiums, bonuses, and additional allowances has raised alarms within the opposition, calling into question the broader implications for financial accountability and governance.
