Internal source critical of the Public Entity’s functioning: ‘Decision-making gets stuck in bureaucratic organization’

KRALENDIJK – A source with experience within the Public Entity Bonaire (OLB) is voicing sharp criticism of the way the administrative organization functions. According to the source, responsibilities and authorities are insufficiently divided, documents have to pass through too many hands, and the structure of the organization causes decision-making to be unnecessarily delayed. Ultimately, according to the source, it is not only administrators but above all residents and entrepreneurs who suffer the consequences.

The source has put the criticism in writing at length, and the documents are in the possession of Bonaire.nu. The identity is known to the editorial team but is not made public in order to protect the source.

The documents draw a distinction between the Executive Council, which sets the administrative objectives, and the civil service apparatus that must subsequently implement those objectives. It is precisely at the implementation stage that things frequently go wrong, according to the source.

“The government is so poorly organized that it has been falling short of the Executive Council’s expectations for years,” the documents state. A deputy should be able to rely on an administrative organization that carries out governmental assignments with quality and in a timely manner, but according to the source, that is insufficiently possible in practice.

Office of the Island Secretary

A key problem would be the distribution of authority within the OLB. Directorates are said to have insufficient mandate to make decisions independently. As a result, documents would have to pass through multiple levels before a decision can ultimately be made or a document can be signed.

The source explicitly points to the position of the office of the Island Secretary. According to the documents, a large portion of the mandate rests there, meaning that many documents from the various directorates must ultimately pass through this office.

“Every single piece of paper that comes from the government” must, according to the source, go through multiple hands for approval and signature. Certain processes are also said to still not be handled digitally.

According to the source, more responsibility should be placed with departments and directorates. If employees and managers lower in the organization can make independent decisions within clear frameworks, part of the current delays could be prevented.

“The real administrative power lies with the highest leadership of the government.”

Residents feel the consequences

The consequences of the way the organization is structured would, according to the source, be visible on a daily basis. The documents cite permit applications, land matters, business applications, and sedula requests as examples of procedures in which residents can wait a long time for clarity.

The absence of clear and uniform work processes would also be a problem. According to the source, it is not always clear who is responsible for a file and where a decision needs to be made.

At the same time, the problems are explicitly not placed solely at the feet of individual civil servants. According to the documents, there are civil servants who genuinely want to help residents and achieve results, but who work within a system that makes that difficult.

“It lies in a failing government system,” is the conclusion.

Who really holds the power?

The criticism goes beyond slow procedures. According to the source, the actual influence within public governance may lie elsewhere than is assumed on paper.

Formally, the Executive Council sets the administrative course and the implementation is placed with the civil service apparatus. According to the source, however, a situation arises in which the administrative leadership — through the way mandates and approvals are organized — has great influence over whether and how quickly political decisions are actually carried out.

“The real administrative power lies with the highest leadership of the government,” the documents state.

Portfolio deputy as an afterthought

This also raises questions about the idea that bringing in so-called portfolio deputies can solve Bonaire’s administrative problems. A deputy may have as much substantive knowledge as they like, but remains dependent on an administrative organization that must actually implement the plans.

According to the source, attention should therefore be directed not only at who is appointed as deputy, but above all at the structure and functioning of the civil service apparatus itself.