Member of Parliament Henk Nijboer (PvdA) will leave the presidency with immediate effect. That he leaves Tuesday in a statement on Twitter know. Nijboer says in recent days that he has been called to account about the relationship between his party membership and his support for an independent investigation into Khadija Arib (PvdA). “This makes functioning in the presidency impossible for me.” On NRC Nijboer says that he does not like the decision, but “it is in the interest of the room”.
Posted last week NRC about an external investigation that is being launched into possible cross-border behavior by former Speaker of the House Arib after two anonymous letters that had ended up at the presidency. It referred to “abuse of power,” “an unsafe work environment,” and a “reign of terror.” Nijboer writes in his statement that he knew in advance that he would not be thanked for the decision of the presidium to start an independent investigation. “I have never in my life received so much criticism as in the past few days. From people outside and within my party.”
Nijboer says he has agreed to the investigation because, in his opinion, the House of Representatives bears responsibility for the decent treatment of employees. When so many employees feel compelled to report an unsafe work environment, “the presidency cannot help but take these signals seriously.” According to him, too many reports from whistleblowers have been ignored in recent years. On NRC Nijboer says that the reports to Arib are “serious, heavy and unfortunately not incidental”. At the same time, no one is guilty until proven otherwise, according to Nijboer.
On Saturday, Arib left the House of Representatives after 24 years after being told via a journalist from NRC should have been informed that an investigation is underway into her. In an emotional statement, she said her decision was inevitable. “I am used to a lot, but the anonymous stab thrusts of the past few days have meant that I no longer wish to remain as a Member of Parliament.”
The presidency decided on Saturday to report the leak of confidential information surrounding the investigation into the former Speaker of the House. Nijboer states in his statement that he immediately supported this report. “But the damage has been done. That remains unstoppable.”
Also read: Under acclaimed Chamber President Khadija Arib, one official after another snapped