PARAMARIBO – “The fight against corruption within the land policy of Suriname will be given priority. The procedure for land requests will be digitalized. This measure is aimed at tackling corruption,” said  President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, when he gave his annual speech in parliament last Tuesday.

The head of state announced that the digitalization process has already started and that it would provide more transparency to citizens and state employees. This new measure would eventually result in a more efficient processing of the land requests.  Suriname has been plagued by corruption for many years and citizens were removed from places where they had lived for decades to make room for the political friends of those who were in power. The president explained that when his administration came into office in 2020, they faced huge challenges as a result of the lack of transparency in the procedure for land requests and land allocations…[+]