{"id":210628,"date":"2026-11-12T14:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T17:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/?p=210628"},"modified":"2026-11-12T14:52:27","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T17:52:27","slug":"president-simons-monoraths-position-untenable-departure-as-minister-inevitable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/president-simons-monoraths-position-untenable-departure-as-minister-inevitable\/","title":{"rendered":"President Simons: Monorath&#8217;s position untenable, departure as minister inevitable"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"intro-text\">\n<p>President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons confirmed on Thursday, November 12, 2026, that the position of Minister of Justice and Security Harish Monorath has become untenable. Following talks with the minister and examination of the submitted documents, it was decided that he cannot remain in office. According to the head of state, Monorath\u2019s resignation will be accepted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dropcap \" style=\"background-color: #ffffff;color: #000000;border-color: #ffffff\">The<\/span> president made this statement to journalists after consultations on Monorath\u2019s political future. According to her, all available documents and statements were taken into consideration before the conclusion was reached that the situation that had arisen was no longer tenable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have come to the conclusion that an untenable situation has arisen,&#8221; Simons stated. She indicated that this conclusion was also discussed with the minister.<\/p>\n<h3>Resignation or dismissal<\/h3>\n<p>During the press briefing, the president was asked why the minister himself was given the opportunity to submit his resignation. Her response showed that Monorath\u2019s departure was certain for her. The minister had to step down himself or would be dismissed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Simons over Monorath: Of hij dient ontslag of hij wordt ontslagen\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VtHMpJXHGm0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Simons made it clear that the decision weighs heavily on her. &#8220;It is unfortunate, of course. I would like to have my minister for five years. I was not waiting for this,&#8221; the head of state said.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what exactly had made the situation untenable, she did not wish to elaborate. The president referred to information that had emerged in recent times about the matter.<\/p>\n<h3>Brunswijk disagrees with decision<\/h3>\n<p>The decision also appears to have political consequences within the governing coalition. ABOP chairman Ronnie Brunswijk reportedly cannot accept Monorath\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n<p>When the president was asked about this, she indicated that everyone has the right to hold a different opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Brunswijk has repeatedly defended Monorath in recent days. He stated that the minister, during his previous position as president-commissioner of the Telecommunicatie Autoriteit Suriname (TAS), acted on the basis of decisions and instructions from the government at the time.<\/p>\n<p>During earlier talks with the president, documents were submitted which, according to Brunswijk, support this account. <a href=\"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/coalition-divided-over-monoraths-position-some-parties-want-minister-to-step-down\/\">Key News previously reported on the divisions within the coalition and the submitted documents.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Successor not yet known<\/h3>\n<p>It is not yet clear who will succeed Monorath as Minister of Justice and Security. The ministerial post is filled within the current political cooperation by the ABOP.<\/p>\n<p>Simons did not wish to speculate during the press briefing on who the new minister will be and whether that person will again come from the ranks of the ABOP.<\/p>\n<h3>TAS issue prompts political pressure<\/h3>\n<p>Monorath\u2019s departure follows a period of increasing political pressure over his involvement in the matter surrounding TAS.<\/p>\n<p>The current Raad van Commissarissen of TAS has filed a criminal complaint against Monorath and former director Wendy Jap-A-Joe. The complaint concerns, among other things, the establishment and implementation of an employment contract from 2021, which Monorath signed at the time as president-commissioner.<\/p>\n<p>Monorath has denied the allegations of acting without authority and stated that he acted on the basis of a presidential resolution and government decisions. The filed criminal complaint does not mean that criminal guilt has been established.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/tas-supervisory-board-requests-criminal-investigation-into-monorath-and-jap-a-joe-over-possible-corruption\/\">Read also: RvC TAS requests criminal investigation into Monorath and Jap-A-Joe over possible corruption.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With Thursday\u2019s statement, President Simons made it clear that she no longer sees any room for Monorath to remain as Minister of Justice and Security.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Simons confirms that Minister Monorath will leave due to an untenable situation, despite opposition within the coalition. His successor is not yet known.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":210615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_29234516172805655_1445375691985227":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1158244960706604":"","facebook_29234516172805655_108923581283702":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1309923202201307":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1093738170500407":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[{"account":"facebook_29234516172805655_1309923202201307","service":"facebook","timestamp":1794505961,"status":"success"}],"rop_publish_now_status":"done","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16390],"tags":[21345,22989,16291,27032,22551,20032,18326,26400,16292],"class_list":["post-210628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-abop","tag-harish-monorath","tag-key-news","tag-minister-of-justice-and-security-2","tag-ndp","tag-nieuws","tag-politics","tag-president-simons","tag-suriname"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/media.keynews.sr\/2026\/11\/Screenshot-2026-11-12-143126.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}