分类： politics

Suriname’s President Jennifer Simons is set to depart on Wednesday for two days of official working visits to Brazil and the Dominican Republic, with a clear agenda centered on expanding economic cooperation, advancing agricultural development, boosting tourism growth, and strengthening regional connectivity. The head of state outlined the key priorities of the trip during a press briefing held on the morning of May 25, noting that the visits are designed to unlock new investment inflows, expand trade access for Surinamese products, and strengthen the country’s key strategic economic sectors.

Simons confirmed that substantive preparations for talks with Brazilian authorities have been underway for months, led by Suriname’s cabinet ministers working in coordination with their Brazilian counterparts. One of the top infrastructure priorities for Suriname is the development of a shorter direct shipping route between the two countries. A more efficient shipping connection would allow cheaper imported goods to reach Suriname faster, while also cutting export costs for Surinamese producers looking to access markets across the Mercosur trade bloc.

Beyond maritime connectivity, the Surinamese delegation will also push for improved air links and deepened agricultural collaboration. A key meeting is scheduled with Brazil’s leading agricultural research agency, Embrapa, to advance cooperation on agricultural development and food security. Suriname is specifically seeking technical support, training programs, and knowledge sharing to modernize its domestic agricultural sector.

A particularly urgent topic on the agricultural agenda is the current cassava disease outbreak that has impacted large swathes of Suriname’s agricultural production. Simons noted that Brazil is actively developing disease-resistant cassava varieties, a solution that Suriname is eager to access. Cassava holds major strategic potential for Suriname, she added, supporting national food security, creating opportunities for domestic agri-processing, and opening new export revenue streams.

Border security and cross-border monitoring also feature prominently on Brazil’s meeting agenda. Suriname aims to expand joint security cooperation, including enhanced cross-border region monitoring and increased information sharing to address transnational illicit activities. Talks will also cover developments in the aviation sector, including potential Brazilian support for Suriname’s national carrier, the Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij (SLM).

In a key announcement, Simons confirmed that representatives from Suriname’s private sector will be included in the official delegation. She emphasized that meaningful progress on trade and investment requires joint action from both the public and private sectors, with business leaders on the ground to capitalize on new opportunities as they emerge.

Following the visit to Brazil, Simons will travel to the Dominican Republic, where talks will focus primarily on tourism development and agro-economic partnership. The Dominican Republic has built one of the Caribbean’s most robust and successful tourism sectors, and has already expressed clear interest in deepening bilateral cooperation with Suriname.

Suriname’s government is keen to explore interest from Dominican investors in developing new tourism projects across Suriname. Simons noted that Suriname offers a distinct tourism product compared to more traditional Caribbean vacation destinations, creating natural opportunities for complementary partnership that benefits both nations.

In the agricultural sphere, Suriname aims to leverage regional cooperation to open new export markets for its domestic agricultural goods. Simons stressed that foreign direct investment is a critical requirement to unlock the full growth potential of Suriname’s tourism sector, which remains underdeveloped relative to the country’s natural assets.

Multiple memorandums of understanding and cooperation agreements are currently in preparation to be signed during the two visits. Simons clarified that these are not formal state visits, but results-focused working visits dedicated entirely to advancing economic, social, and strategic bilateral cooperation. The Surinamese head of state is scheduled to return to Paramaribo on June 2.

A new push for greater parliamentary transparency is underway in Suriname, where National Assembly Speaker Ashwin Adhin has reaffirmed that all commission meetings of the legislature will be open to the public by default, with secrecy only imposed when explicitly mandated.

Adhin outlined the new framework in an interview with local outlet Starnieuws, emphasizing that public access to parliamentary work is a constitutional starting point for Suriname’s democratic process, and that greater transparency toward the general public remains a key priority to strengthen. To advance this goal, Adhin confirmed that party leaders and internal parliamentary administrative bodies are currently holding discussions to remove barriers holding back broader public access to commission meetings. He added that commission chairmen are being prepared for the new operating model, and he will personally oversee high-stakes sessions when necessary to ensure compliance with the new open access rules.

The renewed discussion on parliamentary openness comes on the heels of recent high-profile hearings over the legislation on the indictment and prosecution of elected political officials. Former minister Bronto Somohardjo publicly requested an open public hearing for his case, a request that was granted, while closed-door hearings were held earlier for two other former government officials, Riad Nurmohamed and Gillmore Hoefdraad. The discrepancy in access for these high-stakes proceedings sparked renewed public debate about the rules governing parliamentary meeting openness.

To clarify the legal foundation for the new default of open access, Adhin cited Article 82 of Suriname’s Constitution, which explicitly states that all meetings of the National Assembly are public, with closed-door sessions only allowed in exceptional cases formally approved by the body. He also referenced the National Assembly’s Rules of Procedure to back the new framework: Article 26 of the rules states that preliminary investigations conducted by parliamentary commissions are not automatically confidential, and secrecy is only required when explicitly ordered by the full National Assembly, the national government, or a special general committee. Article 28 of the rules further explicitly allows commissions to hold open public meetings when coordinated with the Speaker’s office.

Adhin stressed that clarifying the legal foundation of open access is critical for future cases, particularly to set clear expectations for future requests for secrecy, as well as for legal representatives and all parties involved in parliamentary proceedings. He reaffirmed that the core principle guiding Suriname’s legislature should be that as much parliamentary work as possible is conducted in public view.

Practical implementation of the expanded open meeting policy will begin this week, with working groups drafting detailed procedural guidelines starting Tuesday. This is not the first time Suriname’s National Assembly has experimented with public commission meetings: the first pilot of open sessions launched in October 2016 during the speakership of Jennifer Simons, giving the public direct insight into how legislation is drafted and how the parliament operates. During the tenure of former Speaker Marinus Bee, the legislature launched an evaluation of the open meeting program to identify areas for improvement ahead of a broader rollout.

On May 25, exactly one year has passed since the last general elections that brought the Simons-led coalition government to power in Suriname. Veteran fiscal-financial analyst Robby Makka, who has delivered annual economic and fiscal (ecofin) assessments from macro, meso, and micro perspectives for over 12 years, has released his annual evaluation of the administration’s first 12 months in office, pulling together data, official documents, policy reports, recent developments, and stakeholder feedback to build his analysis.

This year’s review comes amid the regular cycle of International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessments, which typically take place in March with follow-up visits scheduled for May or June. Makka centers much of his analysis on this ongoing IMF engagement, framing his assessment around six core benchmarks aligned with the six parties that make up Suriname’s current ruling coalition. Echoing the government’s own framing of a rapid policy review, Makka argues that fiscal and economic policy must remain fully sovereign across all three levels of analysis, warning that instead of benefiting from broad-based oil-driven growth, Suriname faces the looming threat of the resource curse known as the “oil curse.”

In his initial quick scan of the administration’s performance, Makka criticizes President Simons for declining to hold a national press conference by the first anniversary of the election to address the coalition’s policy mandate, governing agreement, pressing fiscal and economic challenges, and the recently released IMF assessment. Instead of prioritizing this critical domestic accountability moment, the president has prioritized overseas official visits to the Dominican Republic and Brazil. While a press conference was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on the anniversary, Makka points out that it is led solely by the government’s own fiscal spokesperson, a format he rejects as insufficient.

Makka pushes back against the spokesperson’s framing of the current economic landscape as “moderate,” noting that official forecasts predict 3.4% economic growth this year, a metric that demands far more transparent and comprehensive public discussion. He argues the entire six-party coalition should have appeared before the public to present a data-driven, fact-checked annual evaluation of its performance, and calls on President Simons to immediately order full annual progress reports from the President’s Cabinet, Vice President’s Cabinet, and all 17 government ministries.

Digging into an independent review of the administration’s foundational policy work, Makka argues that the 2025–2030 governing agreement *Samen naar fundamentele verandering* (Together for Fundamental Change), struck between the six coalition parties, has largely proven to be performative, designed more for public presentation than for delivering tangible systemic change. While coalition negotiators moved quickly to finalize the power-sharing agreement, Makka says the administration has failed to deliver a unified Simons economic and fiscal plan, produce a cohesive cross-coalition policy framework, or even draft its own national budget. Instead, the government is still operating on a budget approved by the previous Santokhi administration.

Worsening this institutional gridlock, the key 2026 financial memorandum, the core policy document for the national budget, has still not been submitted to the National Assembly (DNA) for oversight, even with the year already half over. Suriname’s Planning Bureau has not been empowered to carry out rigorous, independent policy modeling, reliable economic projections, or fully developed scenario planning, Makka says.

Most notably, the most recent IMF report is unsparing in its criticism of the Simons administration’s first year of fiscal and economic governance. The global financial body cites major constraints including implementation delays, weak oversight mechanisms, critical data gaps, fragile institutional systems, and a severe shortage of qualified technical experts. The IMF concludes that policy implementation “is not yet complete due to limitations in institutional capacity, delayed secondary legislation, and limited political engagement”—with Makka emphasizing that the emphasis on “limited political engagement” is particularly telling. These gaps leave Suriname exposed to widespread budget errors and growing systemic financial risks, the analyst warns.

Suriname’s Accountability Act is currently stuck in legislative processing in the National Assembly for what Makka describes as questionable political reasons. Minister Adelien Wijnerman has publicly cited the lack of a five-year financial plan, a consolidated budget memorandum, formal budget rules, and primary expenditure ceilings as core reasons for the delay.

Makka questions what tangible progress has been delivered since the president’s October 1, 2025, address to the nation, arguing that the bar for policy performance was set far too low, and needs to be raised through more robust planning, programming, and project implementation. One year in office cannot erase the country’s long-standing economic and fiscal challenges, he notes, and the delay to the Accountability Act has only raised more pressing questions about the administration’s commitment to reform. Makka concludes that after 12 months in power, President Simons has not demonstrated effective leadership or managerial capacity, lacks a clear policy agenda, and has failed to deliver meaningful change at every level from local community outcomes to national strategic direction.

Calling on President Simons to take more active ownership of the country’s fiscal and economic trajectory—what Makka frames as “ecofin motherhood”—the analyst says the administration must move past planning to full implementation, institutionalize reform processes, strengthen technical fiscal teams, establish sovereign savings and macroeconomic stabilization funds, accelerate anti-corruption efforts, and most importantly, abandon plans to delay the passage of the Accountability Act.

In his concluding assessment, Makka notes that despite having six coalition parties, a full network of economic and fiscal institutions, and hundreds of qualified technical fiscal professionals, the Simons administration has yet to deliver any meaningful policy progress. “There has been one year of economic and fiscal stagnation. The ‘enemy of the Simons administration’ is inertia,” he writes. He stresses that this assessment is not malicious criticism, but a conclusion drawn from 50 years of Suriname’s post-independence statehood and 160 years of parliamentary democracy. The country still lacks a required medium-term fiscal report and a multi-year financial framework, even as qualified technical fiscal experts are pushed out or removed from their positions, he adds.

Makka lays out clear recommendations for the administration’s second year in office: the government should immediately deepen engagement with experienced fiscal and financial experts, carry out a cabinet reshuffle if necessary, and formally re-engage the IMF for full technical support if required. His closing advice to the administration centers on four core demands: change yourself, change your practices, change your governing style, and build a cohesive, coherent Simons-specific national strategy.

Bringing together the findings of stalled implementation, growing financial risks, and the absence of long-term fiscal planning, Makka sums up his assessment of the Simons administration’s first year: “1 year of Simons is a bad honeymoon.”

Twelve months ago, Suriname’s political campaign rallies echoed with bold, sweeping promises: systemic overhaul. Candidates pledged to upend the status quo, rebuild national institutions and deliver a fundamentally better future for all citizens. Slogans like *NDP o Kenki a systeem* (NDP will change the system), *A nyun pasi* (A new path) and *Tra fas’ de* (A different approach) flooded public discourse, all guaranteeing transformative change that would break with decades of entrenched political and institutional stagnation.

But more than a year after the Simons administration took office, none of the promised systemic transformation has materialized. Long-standing ineffective political patterns remain intact, and the bold campaign rhetoric has fallen silent. This absence of progress raises a critical, underdiscussed question: where does real systemic change actually begin?

Columnist Indra Toelsie argues that transformation does not start in the ivory towers of political leadership, nor does it emerge from thick, unimplemented policy documents. Instead, genuine systemic change begins with individual citizens – and the leaders they elected – embracing a willingness to think, act, and prioritize differently. Systemic overhaul can only become a reality if every person, from ordinary voters to top policymakers, first accepts that fundamental change is both necessary and possible.

This shift starts with collective mindset: are citizens and leaders still clinging to familiar, comfortable systems that have clearly failed to deliver progress? Do they have the courage to let go of outdated habits, unchallenged assumptions and entrenched power structures? Toelsie emphasizes that systemic change requires an inner revolution: greater personal awareness and consistent small actions in everyday life, not just top-down policy announcements.

The core principle is simple: if individuals do not change their own behaviors and mindsets, the broader system will never change. Only when enough people – especially those in leadership positions – internalize this truth and take action will campaign slogans turn into tangible, on-the-ground change. Until that point, “systemic change” will remain nothing more than an empty slogan, a hollow political promise.

Toelsie also explores the root causes of stalled change: Are ruling party politicians holding back out of fear of electoral backlash in the next election cycle? Do they lack the political courage to cross the high threshold of disrupting entrenched power dynamics? Or has the energy that fueled fiery campaign rhetoric a year ago simply fizzled out in the day-to-day work of governing?

Genuine systemic change also requires honesty and self-reflection, both from leaders and the public. Can Suriname’s political class deliver on their promises? Do they truly want to? Or will systemic change remain just empty words? Will the public accept that outcome?

A common cultural attitude in Suriname holds that there is always plenty of time to implement change, work on problems at a slow, comfortable pace aligned with what is often called “Surinamese time.” But Toelsie points out that time is one resource no one can control or replenish.

One full year of the Simons government’s term has already passed. In principle, the administration still has three full years in office to deliver on the promised systemic change before the fifth year, which is almost always dedicated almost entirely to campaigning for the next election. Three years may sound like a long timeline, but it passes far faster than most people anticipate. Toelsie reminds readers to reflect on how quickly the past year has gone, and recognize just how precious and limited time is for delivering meaningful change.

In conclusion, Toelsie argues that the public and leaders alike must hold themselves accountable first. Transformation does not come as a gift handed down from political leaders; it is a process that grows from the bottom up, starting with individual mindset and action. Only when Surinamese people – and their elected leaders – dare to change themselves can the entire system get a fresh start.