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Special Report
Bonaire Reporter
Glenn Thodé, the respected Governor of Bonaire, quit his job today. The dramatic action made a strong statement condemning the political bickering that has virtually paralyzed the leadership of the Bonaire island council and government for six months.
Politically things in Bonaire, have been in turmoil for an extended period. The most recent development has been in the forming of a new executive council (the island's executive branch). The Island Council named an individual who has been the focus of serious financial crimes for the last two years to head the Economics and Tourism departments.
The Governor told The Reporter he could no longer be a party to those activities. Politics on Bonaire is like a gunfight on a ship at sea. The opponents are shooting at each other so much and not thinking that the bullets are making holes in the ship and it is sinking. And themselves and the passengers, the Bonairean people, are about to go under.
Today, Thodé called an emergency press conference and announced he was leaving his job. (He’s served three years, had another three to go). He said he hoped that this act would make people on the island realize that they have to alter course and get people into leadership positions who are for the people, not just for themselves and their associates.
A governor leaving office is not unprecedented: in the 60s the first Antillean Governor, Raymundo Saleh, quit to start a political party. No gubernatorial replacement has been named. Thodé will become the Director of the University of Aruba. He was the head of the Law School there before being selected to become Bonaire's Governor.
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