On January 26, President Bernardo Arévalo announced a new procedure for the selection of the 22 regular governors and the same number for alternates. The Executive even modified the Regulations of the Law of the Urban and Rural Development Councils in which it established a procedure to deliver the last shortlists on March 1.
Yesterday the president announced the appointments, although he did not do so for all the departments, in three of them, he appointed the head and substitute, in two only the head, in three of these he appointed only substitutes, in Petén and Chiquimula the processes were pending since there are protections to be resolved and in the remaining 12, Arévalo returned the shortlists to the Departmental Development Councils (Codede), since in his opinion none of the candidates met the “conditions to deposit public trust.”
Observers
The shortlists elected in Guatemala and Quiché, where the president appointed governors, were initially the subject of an administrative complaint before the General Secretariat of the Presidency. This is due to the lack of compliance in the publicity of the process and suitability of the applicants, at the discretion of the Association of Chomija Indigenous Lawyers.
Of the 12 departments challenged by the jurists, only in these three were the officials appointed. “The indigenous authorities and civil organizations of these territories will be monitoring the functions of the governors,” they indicated.
Ana López, lawyer for the association, indicated “there is a very strong disagreement with the president’s decision and the towns do not agree, but in the end what they hope is that these departmental governors really work for the development of each town.” .
He stated that with the administrative resources they fulfilled their civil duty to provide the president with information related to the applicants, but that the decision corresponds to Arévalo by constitutional mandate.
“What the authorities of indigenous peoples and social organizations have argued to us is that they will be observing the actions of each of the governors so that their actions are appropriate under the principles of transparency, focused on human rights for all works and that all services are provided in their territory,” the lawyer warned.
Just some
At the press conference where the president announced his delegates, he commented on the possibility of dismissing one of the governors if necessary.
“People whose performance shows that they do not comply with the conditions will be removed like any other official whose conduct shows attitudes or behaviors that are not in accordance with the government’s commitment,” said the president.
In seven departments, only one of the two positions that correspond to them – regular and substitute – were named. At the conference Arévalo recalled that former president Alejandro Giammattei did it in the same way, he did not appoint alternate governors.
Rony Linares municipal legal consultant commented that it is the first time that such a designation has been made. In his opinion, since the law on the functions of the substitute governor is not clear, some conflict could arise.
The Constitution contemplates the figure of the governor. It is in the law of the Executive Branch where the substitute is mentioned.
The regulations are limited to establishing that they take office when the holder is not active; the remuneration or functions are not clarified until he or she is called to occupy the position. In addition, he recognized the possibility that a substitute may not have political and administrative maturity and seek to displace the incumbent.
“That is an error in the law because at a given moment it can generate some type of conflict and, as they say, the substitute wants to trip up the owner,” Linares said.
Another aspect that he addressed was the options that the Codedes have. The first is to send a new shortlist to the president or send the same one, which could trap the process.
The analyst foresees that the Codedes will meet after Easter to repeat the formation of the shortlists. They have to do so five days after receiving the official notification.
In the case of Petén and Chiquimula, they may be named until the Constitutional Court (CC) definitively resolves the amparos.
Another aspect that he warned is that those who made up the shortlists, but were not named, will be challenged in the CC, which would also put the final decision in the hands of the Court.
The governor is the person who directs and represents a department, this becomes one of the arms of the president. His competence is limited to the department under his charge and they are those that handle official matters.
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