The governor appointment process reaches the next stage today: President Bernardo Arévalo will review the shortlists and choose his representatives in the departments, or return the lists that do not meet the requirements.
This March 1 is the last day for the president to receive the 44 shortlists for regular and alternate governor.
The nomination and integration phase of shortlists was developed amid pressure on the non-governmental representatives of the Urban and Rural Development Councils (Conadur). In some departments, allegations of payments by applicants arose in exchange for being included in the shortlists.
Although the representatives of civil society argue that they perceived these extremes to the Executive Secretariat of the Presidency, it points out that it was something that had to be done in order to make the process transparent.
Changes in the process
Arévalo reformed the regulations of the Conadur Law to establish deadlines and for objections to be presented against the applicants; However, in the opinion of analysts consulted, more measures must be taken to prevent the procedure from being left in the hands of those who maintain power in each locality.
The specialist in local governments, Edy Cifuentes, considers that the Conadur Law should be modified, specifically article 10, literal k, which gives the power to the Codedes to integrate the shortlists.
In addition, he highlighted the need for the Comptroller General of Accounts and the Executive Secretariat of the Presidency to be able to control the use of funds that are allocated to projects prioritized by non-governmental representatives, which are 5 percent of what the Codedes receive. .
Cifuentes suggests that operative paragraph 5-2014 of Conadur, which grants these funds for their discretionary use, should be repealed because “it constituted a perverse circle.”
In the opinion of the deputy and former president of the National Association of Municipalities (Anam), Miguel Ovalle, the modification of the law could help cleanse the Codedes of de facto powers.
“The situation is that legal principles have to be followed and these are already co-opted by corruption. So, we are going to always continue doing more of the same,” he said.
He also referred to the possibility that representatives of universities and cooperatives could be part of the integration of the shortlists, so that it does not always depend on the representatives of civil society.
“The president must pay close attention to the popular voice, through which this type of situation is manifested—external pressures—because there are two lines of influence here: that of deputies and other powers that grease the hands of those who They make up the evaluator shortlist,” he suggested.
Cifuentes added that the mandates of the representatives in Conadur and the entities that represent them could be revoked, to promote alternation.
“It will generate a bit of controversy, but it will eliminate that perverse sense,” he emphasized.
Ovalle is of the same opinion, highlighting that, sometimes, non-governmental members are part of the groups that maintain power in the departments.
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