Serge Mansur

Queen’s Birthday Celebration

We have received the information that the celebration of the Queen’s birthday has been officially moved from the 30th of April to the 29th of April. That means that the 29th is an official holiday, while the 30th is to be considered the same as any other Sunday.

All businesses that are normally open on Sunday can open as usual on the 30th of April.

The ATIA feels that the Government should make some effort to communicate these decisions earlier to provide a better opportunity to the business community to plan their operations.

Meeting with DIMAS

The ATIA, together with the AHATA, the WAB and the Chamber of Commerce had an informative meeting with the leadership of the DIMAS, which should be functioning as of July 1st of this year to handle all requests for work permits for foreign workers.

The meeting went very well, and all four organizations left feeling satisfied that the policies and procedures will become much more efficient and effective in the foreseeable future.

However, considering that the DIMAS exists to serve the Aruban private sector (workers and employers), we find it regrettable that at this late date there has been no request for the point of view of the private sector regarding the policies and procedures to be adopted.

It has come to our attention that on February 13, 2006 a ministerial decree was signed establishing a committee which is to provide advise in this important process. This committee is to have both private and public sector representation. We feel that it is of crucial importance that this committee start to function as soon as possible so that the needs of the community are taken into consideration as much as possible.

We must always remember that government exists solely to serve the community and not the other way around.

New AZV Cards

The ATIA together with the Chamber of Commerce held an informative meeting with representatives of the AZV in which we were informed of the introduction of a new card for AZV insured. The new card will have a photo as well a megnetic strip which will contain information about the insured.

Over the next six months all those that are entitled to an AZV card will be called up to pick up the new card on a specific day. The time during which this can be done will be mostly during normal business hours.

Since we believe that this new card will contribute to bringing the AZV costs under control, and will therefore benefit our community as a whole, we request all of our members to be flexible where possible so that your employees are able to pick up their new cards on the assigend day..

Government Finances / Kerntakenanalyse

The ATIA is very satisfied that the Government has announced a comprehensive “Kerntakenanalyse” for the public sector. Naturally, the instructions that are to be given to the company or organization that is to carry out the work will be decisive in determining the quality of the work (the GIGO Principle). This, coupled with the enormous importance of this project make it imperative that this topic should be discussed by Parliament as soon as possible. We are confident that (provided it is done correctly) this is an important step towards the improvement of the Government finances.

We feel that the creation of new positions and/or departments must cease immediately pending the outcome of this report. Naturally, there must be exceptions for truly important and unexpected developments.

The need for departments such as a new “Directie Cultuur” is not so urgent that it can not wait for the result of the “kerntakenanalyse”. Especially since we already have an “Instituto di Cultura” which has essentially the same function(s).

Lately we have noticed that there are many sources which provide the press with data about a number of topics, including public finances. We believe that trustworthy, professional and impartial sources are to be used for this purpose. The ATIA places much fate in figures provided by the Central Bank as well as other local and international organizations.

We strongly feel that political parties in general do not possess the needed impartiality (or the necessary expertise) to be considered a trustworthy source for such information.

It is noteworthy that all reliable sources are unanimous (and have been for years) in pointing out the excessive expenses of the public sector, especially when it relates to personnel expenses.

As we have recently pointed out, yearly personnel expenses have increased by more than Awg.220,000,000.00 to around Awg.600,000,000.00 over the past five years. This is a figure which our small community can not afford. We MUST find a way to bring these expenses back to reasonable levels.

As always, the ATIA stands ready to help, where possible, to achieve those goals we consider to be in Aruba’s best interest.

At this point we do not believe that increasing taxes on our already overburdened community serves the best interest of Aruba. The productive sector of Aruba is already contributing more than enough to a government which is inefficient and unproductive.

This is why the ATIA can NOT support any increase in taxes at this time.

ATIA

ATIA is Aruba’s largest NGO with well over 200 members which employ more than 13,000 Arubans. As such we strive to achieve a better socio-economic climate for all segments of our population.

Remember to visit us at: www.atiaruba.org