Representative of the Dutch Government on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba Wilbert Stolte visited Saba Tuesday and held audiences by appointment with several interested residents. He also visited with a number of local organisations.
The visit, which is becoming a routine fixture connecting local governance with the national government, is said to be part of a concerted effort to have the voices of local stakeholders heard and their challenges understood. It was explained that the impact of such meetings was reflected in reports issued by the office of the Representative of the Dutch Central Government that facilitate deeper understanding of the local challenges.
In addition to the traditional political and administrative consultations held by Stolte and his team with the local administration, he allocated time to tour the various key organisations on the island tasked with addressing multiple community needs. One such visit was with the board members and programme coordinator of the AIDS Support Group Saba Foundation, who briefed him on the history, expertise and ongoing programmes of the organisation which has served Saba for over 22 years. The meeting was followed by a visit at 14:00 to the Organoponics garden on The Level, where the team met with board members and the implementing team of the Foundation Social Workplace Saba (FSWSaba). Together with FSWSaba a visit followed to the Agricultural Centre and to farmers in Hell’s Gate because of the new agricultural project SABAGRO until 15:30. The day tour was followed by private, 15-minute meetings held with several Sabans at the Kingdom Service Caribbean Netherlands RCN Office from 4:00pm to 5:30pm. The last visit at 6:30pm to 7:30 pm was at the Adult Continuing Education Center in The Bottom of the Foundation Social Workplace.
Source: “The Daily Herald” and FSWSaba 2012-06-06
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Dear Mr. Stolte: After our quite frustrating, ten minute meeting on Tuesday , which was scheduled by the RCN after the SMA had received the invitation and inquired a meeting; we can only say that we are very shocked about your behavior and attitude. Basically you showed us the door and didn’t feel fit to attend to our questions. It is one thing if you want to meet in a different setting with the Saba Business Community but then don’t allow the RCN to schedule a meeting you don’t want to have. Believe us, we all have better things to do than attend a meeting to discuss pressing matters with an unpleasant and unprofessional Kingdom Relations Representative. You said further that we always have the same questions which is right because these questions are never answered to our satisfaction and we still struggle with the same problems nobody wants to solve. You can hardly expect us to make up new things to satisfy your personal preferences. Furthermore, our experiences from these meetings with you comes off as being more conceited than as a “concerted effort to have these local challenges understood” as the article in Saba News dated June 6, seems to suggest. Therefore, we will resort to contacting the Second Chamber and the press directly in order to confront and solve the problems everyone on Saba is still facing.