How Many Civil Servants Are There?
December 24, 2024
Until 2010, it was a legal requirement to publish the number of civil servants employed in Curaçao in the newspaper on a periodical basis. This ensured transparency and allowed the public to monitor the size of the government workforce. However, that requirement disappeared with the constitutional changes accompanying the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010. Since then, the question “How many civil servants are there?” has become almost impossible.
A quick online search yields estimates ranging from 2,900 to 4,100 civil servants. But why such a wide range? It all comes down to a lack of clear definitions. For instance:
Some reports include teachers in the count, while others exclude them.
Contractors are sometimes counted as civil servants and sometimes not.
This inconsistency makes it challenging to understand how many people are employed by the government and raises concerns about accountability. Without a standard definition or mandatory reporting, it becomes harder for citizens to understand how public resources are being used or to hold their government accountable for managing its workforce efficiently.
So why was the legal requirement to publish these numbers removed? It seems to reflect a broader shift in governance and priorities following 2010. With the restructuring of Curaçao’s government, some mechanisms for transparency were deprioritized, either intentionally or as a side effect of reform efforts.
But this raises an essential question for today: Shouldn’t we bring back a system of regular, transparent reporting on the size of the civil service? Not only would it enhance transparency, but it would also provide a much-needed tool for tracking government efficiency and resource allocation.
What do you think? Is it time to demand more transparency from our government?
Miguel Goede
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