Following complaints from several municipal leaders, including the president of the National Association of Municipalities (ANAM), who pointed out a “coldness” between the central government and the municipalities, the Secretary of Communications of the Presidency, Santiago Palomo, denied this.
“The Guatemalan government remains committed to coordinated work with the municipalities,” he said.
Mayors warn that there are delays in the procedures from the ministries, in addition to the fact that there is a distant communication relationship with the Executive and when they make requests, they are not attended to.
“I do not know what the motivation behind the mayors’ statements is. The government, through its various municipal participation bodies, continues to be completely open to working with the country’s municipal leaders,” said the secretary.
According to the Secretary, President Bernardo Arévalo is expected to visit San Marcos on Tuesday, August 13 to meet with the mayors of the region, as part of his objective to get closer to local power and strengthen the necessary alliance between the executive and the municipalities, the Secretary declared.
In the first months of government The president visited the departments to meet with the mayors along with the president of Anam, But since the last National Council for Urban and Rural Development (Conadur), councillors and members of the Codedes have made it clear that there is a lack of concrete responses to their requests.
Some of the reasons why they indicate there are delays in the execution is due to the appointment of governors, which did not take place until April. The president of Anam explained that in the governorates there is also a “divorce” between the executive or financial directors and the governor, which is another factor that has repercussions on delays in the processes.
Both Anam and the municipal leaders representing Conadur warn that the funds received from the central government for projects could go to the common fund due to lack of execution this year.
In this regard, Palomo justified that the budget increase includes funds so that local governments can meet this year’s goals.
“Part of the objective of the budget extension is to provide municipalities with the resources they need to meet their own objectives,” he said.
The budget increase is still waiting to be approved. Last week it was learned that district deputies are lobbying for the approval of a project for Q11 billion, due to the need for works, and not the one presented in May by the Executive that amounted to Q14,451 million. The draft that reached the Finance Commission contains extraordinary funds for the Departmental Development Councils.
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