2023-11-15 00:01:02
Under the leadership of the elected governor Martín Llaryora, with the apparent approval of the still governor Juan Schiaretti, but with the signature of four Peronist legislators, the Córdoba ruling party seems to be heading towards carrying out an institutional coup.
Indeed, behind the proclaimed and very noble purpose of approving a bill that modernizes, digitalizes and streamlines the Court of Accounts of Córdoba, an unspeakable intention would be hidden: to restrict the orbit of action of a key body for transparency and accountability. accounts in the second most populated province in the country.
Before continuing, it is worth remembering that the Court of Accounts is a body with constitutional hierarchy, whose three members are elected by the direct vote of the people of Córdoba.
A new scheme
The elections on June 25 consecrated, to the surprise of many, a scheme that favors the separation of power, by giving the Executive to the Justicialist Party but the majority of the Legislature and the Court of Accounts to the opposition.
However, if this project is approved, the proposed restriction is so severe that it practically annuls the powers granted to the Court by the Constitution of Córdoba in its article 127. There it is explicitly established that this body will be in charge of supervising “every” act administrative that involves expenses. It is important to highlight the word “all” to highlight the full scope of this responsibility.
The concept of “everything” would exclude, for example, fuel and travel expenses of Government officials or acts that authorize contracts with State agencies, mixed economy companies and any other legal entity recognized by the legal system in force in the that the national State and the provincial and municipal states have participation, among many other exceptions.
In political terms, it is evident that this unprecedented opportunity for a balance of power gives prospects for an improvement in transparency, public control and accountability.
However, this situation, healthy and positive for those of us who promote democratic and republican values, seems to have altered the times that the governor-elect intends to imprint on both his management and his political career.
I wonder: is it possible to have efficient and effective management to solve the many problems that afflict the four million people of Córdoba if the institutions, the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances work?
Without a doubt yes; In fact, this is the case in each and every one of the civilized countries, those that embraced the ideas of freedom and legality and, consequently, left evils such as caudillismo, corruption and abuse of power in the past, with which they were able to escape poverty and underdevelopment.
Violate the popular will
For these reasons, it is surprising that there is an attempt to violate the popular will put at the polls, and much more once morest a constitutional authority, the Court of Accounts, whose highest legal hierarchy was ratified on the occasion of the last constitutional reform that the Province had, in 2001. , under the leadership of the same political force that today seeks to empty its powers.
In the past, to change an authority that a faction found annoying or opposed to its interests, physical violence was resorted to. At present, less crude means are used, but with similar practical effects: if this initiative advances, the tribunes of Accounts will be allowed to hold that title and go to their workplace, but they will not be able to exercise the essential powers that the same Constitution assigns them.
If this project is approved by the current majority of the Legislature formed following elections that took place in May 2019, which might happen in the coming days, it will be absolutely null and void and, therefore, illegitimate. In fact, camouflaged under the guise of a law, its true nature is that of an act of force intended to hit an institution of democracy. To sabotage the popular will. The objective: advance in the perfection of an authoritarian regime, where control, transparency and accountability are reduced to a minimum.
So, what remains to be done to prevent the sovereignty of the people from being betrayed in this way? There are still many instances. First, appeal to legislators to refrain from engaging in usurpation of functions and, therefore, reject the project. Second, if it moves forward in the same way, Governor Schiaretti should veto it. In case he decides to look the other way, only the judicial route would remain.
The tension between law and politics gives rise to the exciting world of constitutional law.
Protect democracy
This reminds me of the most famous constitutional review case in the world: Marbury v. Madison, of 1803.
There, John Marshall, president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the United States, refused to validate a law of Congress that increased his powers, considering that, in a written and rigid Constitution model similar to ours, only through a constitutional reform process the original jurisdiction of the Court can be increased.
Let’s reflect for a minute: if this is how the US Court reasoned in the face of a law that sought to “increase” its power, by doing so outside the Constitution, can you imagine how any judge from Córdoba, Argentina or belonging to the inter-American system of human rights, in the face of a law that seeks to “restrict” the powers of a Court of Accounts elected by the people, which owes, precisely, its reason for being to the possibility of controlling each and every one of the Government’s expenses.
It is imperative that citizens warn of the dangers inherent in this institutional coup and rise up in defense of the integrity and solidity of democratic institutions. The power resides in the people and it is essential that they make themselves heard.
We cannot allow particular interests to take precedence over the common well-being and erode the pillars of democracy. It is time to raise our voices and stand up in defense of probity and transparency in public management.
Let’s not let this institutional coup consume its objective; Let’s maintain the strength of our institutions and protect democracy!
* Elected legislator of Córdoba (ARI Civic Coalition)
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