Aruba still governed under 2022 ministries law

ORANJESTAD — More than 500 days after the AVP-FUTURO cabinet took office, Aruba still does not have a new Landsverordening Instelling Ministeries, LIM, in force that reflects the current distribution of ministerial portfolios. The official law still in force remains the 2022 LIM, created under the previous cabinet.

The issue was raised this week by MEP in a political statement, but a verification by NoticiaCla shows that the current Government did in fact submit a new LIM bill. The proposal was sent to Parliament on November 18, 2025, and was subsequently debated.

In February 2026, however, the Government decided not to sign the law after the Advisory Council concluded that an amendment added during parliamentary consideration conflicted with a higher-ranking legal rule. The result: the new LIM never entered into force.

WHAT IS A LIM?

LIM stands for Landsverordening Instelling Ministeries, the national ordinance establishing Aruba’s ministries. It determines which ministries Aruba has and which policy areas officially fall under the responsibility of each ministry.

The significance of the LIM goes far beyond the names of ministries. Aruba’s Constitution stipulates that ministries must be established by national ordinance and that each ministry falls under the direction of a minister. The LIM therefore forms the legal basis for determining who is responsible for what within Government.

The 2022 law currently in force sets out the responsibilities of the ministries and even provides that if a minister deals with a matter that legally belongs to another ministry, the issue must be transferred to the correct minister.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

An updated LIM is important for accountability, transparency and parliamentary oversight. If the political distribution of portfolios changes while the law does not, a gap can arise between who handles an issue in practice and who is legally responsible for it.

This concern is not new. As early as May 2025, the PPA parliamentary group questioned the Government because the AVP-FUTURO cabinet’s division of portfolios differed from what is established in the 2022 LIM. PPA argued that this could complicate parliamentary scrutiny and ministerial accountability.

The Advisory Council also criticized the way the Government proposed reorganizing ministries in the new bill, particularly combinations of portfolios that, according to the advisory body, lacked sufficient coherence.

BUDGET AND LIM

The issue becomes even more relevant now that the 2027 Budget is before Parliament. The Government itself has stressed that the new budget should connect policy priorities to public spending and make accountability more transparent.

But as long as the new LIM is not in force, the general legal basis for the structure of the ministries remains the 2022 law.

The central issue, therefore, is not that the Government never submitted a new LIM. The more precise question is this: why, more than 500 days after the AVP-FUTURO cabinet took office, does Aruba still not have a new LIM in force that reflects the Government currently governing the country?