Four MPs asked zero questions during an entire parliamentary year

ORANJESTAD — As Aruba’s Parliament prepares to begin a new parliamentary year, the official overview of parliamentary activities for 2025-2026 reveals a notable difference among the 21 representatives of the people: four Members of Parliament did not submit a single written question during the entire parliamentary year.

While that does not mean they did not work, in the eyes of the public it can easily be interpreted that way: that a parliamentarian sat there and did not do the job, because doing the job also means asking questions.

The four members are Gino Goeloe of FUTURO, Clifford Heyliger of AVP, Stephany Sevinger of AVP and Mike de Meza of AVP. Parliament’s official record lists 0 questions submitted, 0 answered and 0 unanswered for each of them.

The figure stands in sharp contrast with other MPs. Rocco Tjon submitted 1,035 written questions, Evelyn Wever-Croes 996 and Edgard Vrolijk 628. Hendrik Tevreden submitted 367 and Dangui Oduber 259.

Written questions are one of the formal instruments available to Members of Parliament to hold Government to account, request information and require a ministry to explain its policies and actions.

PARTICIPATION IN PARLIAMENT

However, the fact that a member did not submit written questions does not automatically mean that the person did not participate in Parliament. Members can take part in debates, committees and public meetings, submit motions or carry out other parliamentary work. This official overview specifically measures written questions submitted.

But precisely because written questions form an important part of parliamentary oversight, a figure of zero remains relevant.

With a new parliamentary year about to begin, the question for these four MPs will be whether they will change this pattern, and how they will demonstrate in the coming period that they are using all available parliamentary instruments to represent the public and hold Government to account.