Verstappen on Blocks: Resetting the Civil Service of Curaçao

Verstappen on Blocks: Resetting the Civil Service of Curaçao

21 January 2026

My wife has more or less forbidden me from ever again accepting a ministerial or senior executive position in Curaçao. (I am not sure I will obey.) Even so, she has a valid point. It comes down to this: the administrative apparatus at your disposal fails to meet even the minimum requirements needed to steer effectively. I have since found a way to explain her argument to others.

In Curaçao, we know the phenomenon of the mechanic under the tree (bou di palu). You have to be careful, because it may well be a handyman rather than a professional. What you also see is that under the tree, one or more cars are standing on blocks — sometimes because work is being done, but often because spare parts are being awaited. Such a car does not drive at all. Not even if you put Max Verstappen behind the wheel.

What am I trying to say? You can be the most capable minister or secretary-general imaginable, but the apparatus simply cannot perform. That is the result of political interference: family and friends. During the construction and “reset” of the apparatus in 2010, politics became increasingly more interested in control and loyalty than in quality and performance. Politicians do not experience the apparatus as ineffective, because it does exactly what it is instructed to do. It is not a Weberian, independent, and expert civil service. And matters are getting worse.

Today, politicians want to sit on selection committees themselves and see nothing wrong with this. So anyone who believes that the performance of a ministry depends on the qualities of the minister and the senior civil service alone will be sorely disappointed.

Miguel Goede