Local governments continue with uncertainty regarding the appointment of departmental governors. On March 20, President Bernardo Arévalo rejected 11 of the shortlists that the Departmental Development Councils (Codede) had designated.
According to the president’s statements, it is expected that by this Wednesday, April 3, the new list of candidates will be available. “The delay we have, which is a few days, because we should have, if I’m wrong, tomorrow the shortlists will be complete and the delay that occurs in the appointment will be minimal,” Arévalo assured.
According to the Secretariat of Executive Coordination (SCEP), the deadline to send the shortlists expires this Tuesday, April 2.
In the case of Petén, local media reported that the lists were reinstated yesterday at noon. The three people who were initially nominated remain as possible candidates for governor.
The same thing happened in Jutiapa, the members of the Codede decided to ratify the same people who were initially nominated.
No governor
Last week the president dismissed the governors elected by Alejandro Giammattei’s government, who were still in office. According to the legal regulation that he cited, the Councils had to appoint an interim person; However, this did not occur in several departments, according to some sources close to the Codedes.
Arévalo maintains that such an extreme does not affect the function of the State. “There is a coordination apparatus that is also made up of representatives of the directors of the Councils, by Segeplan and other state representatives who are the ones who will ensure that this continues,” he declared.
Edy Cifuentes, an expert in local governments, maintains the same extreme, because there is a local structure, in which each person involved must execute functions, in this dynamic of projects, the governor is concerned with accountability, he highlighted.
“-The responsibility- lies with the executive directors of the Codede, they have sixty percent of the responsibility for the viability or promptness with which the projects begin to be financed,” Cifuentes explained.
On the other hand, he considers that, if the officials had been dismissed earlier, a certain influence denounced by some members of Codede might have been avoided in the integration of shortlists.
This is not the same vision as Ricardo Barreno, political analyst, because in his opinion the absence of a governor does affect public management. Specifically in execution and investment.
“There is practically no democratic sustainability as such because there is no immediate attention to the needs that are carried out jointly with the mayors and district deputies,” he said.
Although it stands out that in the departments where the substitute figure is appointed, this might rescue the functions to a certain extent.
Furthermore, he explained that the wear and tear and criticism that the process had was normal when it became public.
“These spontaneous actions to some extent that the presidency is forced to do are a product of this poor communication planning, poor procedural management and also poor political sense,” he justified.
Interim
When consulting the SCEP who were the people who would occupy the position on an interim basis, they responded that they did not have such a list. Upon a second query, only the names of those who coordinate in Petén and Chiquimula were provided, who are Roy Flores and René Pinto, respectively.
In Petén, Chiquimula, Chimaltenango and Santa Rosa the process was protected. Which subjects it to the decision of the Court.
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