attempt to do some damage control by mini-mizing the scope of these scandals as much as possible. Due to the growing pressure on his administration because of these scandals, president Santokhi on Monday decided to put three big projects on hold. But that came too late because a judge had already frozen two of these projects last week. The projects that were frozen by the court is  the   IDBproject for the  Van ’t Hogerhuysstraat. This project had already been put on hold by the IDB itself after much commotion in the community. The judge also ordered the state to stop the

 Nickerie-Apoera Road Project. Reports I dicate that the government would pay way too much for these projects.  Tens of millions of US dollars that could have been used to finance other projects would be paid on top of the reasonable price. The head of state also froze the FAI Region Allotment project after a wave of criticism regarding this project surfaced on social media. This decision is deemed as an attempt to keep the voters happy until Election Day. Of course the legislators from the opposition are seizing the opportunity to hit the government where it hurts namely in parliament. Last Monday they handed in a request for an emergency session so that the Santokhi administration could be summoned to explain its actions that were taken at the expense of the taxpayers. The MPs from the opposition warned that more shocking actions of the current administration would come to light prior to the elections. They also criticized their colleagues from the coalition for expressing selective outrage these past couple of days. “This has not gone unnoticed because they were given the opportunity to speak their mind in relevant settings. But evidently the Friends and Family policy has been expanded with a take what you can mentality.”