as she talked about the preliminary results of the quick scans at the ministries. She emphasized that things are well organized at certain ministries while others ministries are dealing with huge organizational and financial shortcomings.

“At some of the ministries the scope of the problems is so big that our quick scan teams do not have enough capacity. That is why we opted for external audits,” said Simons.

Public Works Minister Stephen Tsang confirmed that his ministry is still busy with the quick scan. “Two months is certainly not maanden to get everything to the surface. So many things went wrong with state vehicles, fuel and construction material that were bought and that we are still trying to locate,m” said Minister Tsang. The Public Works Ministry is currently working with an external audit firm to get a clear picture of the scope of the problems. The Ministry of Agriculture, Stock Breeding and Fisheries (LVV) is currently in the same phase. Agriculture Minister Mike Noersalim explained that the quick scan only offers a birds’ eye view. “You could technically have a quick oversight after 2 months but a thorough investigation into tenders, people who were involved and strategic mistakes would require more time.

That is why external financial audits were hired to make an inventory of all of the problems,” said Minister Noersalim who added that semi governmental companies of the Ministry of Agriculture are also under investigation especially given the fact that structural problems in the systems hamper the implementation of a healthy policy. The quick scan team also came across huge challenges at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing (Sozavo). Social Affairs Minister Diana Pokie explained that the administration that was left behind was very chaotic and that the welfare payment system known as Moni Karta does not run smoothly.

“There are cards in the system but that are nowhere to be found physically. Citizens complain that money is unavailable and there is no clear insight into these payments. That is very problematic,” said Minister Pokie who added that talks would be held with more banks to improve the ministry’s services. The next distributions will take place in Wanica and Nickerie first and after that there will be more evaluations. President Simons pointed out that despite the scope of the problems, there are also ministries where the situation is under control. “The work of the quick scan teams show us where improvements are necessary. But it is a very complex task and some ministries require extra support in order to implement a healthy and transparant policy,” said the president.