Expert in Dominican politics, Rosario Espinal writes in Hoy that in this little three-quarter or half-island there are too many politician-government officers, and what is worse, too many people accustomed to living off politics. All these politicians in a country where the traffic chaos, nor the collecting of garbage, garbage dumps, holes in the sidewalks, basic matters seemingly cannot be solved.
Rosario Espinal is a professor of Sociology at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and a highly regarded analyst of Dominican politics.
She mentions the deputies who were named to the Ministry of Foreign Relations making RD$150,000 a month as advisors to this Ministry – and let’s not forget about the VIP retirees of the government with exorbitant retirement checks for having worked a few years at a government post.
She writes: The Senate is useless and costs millions. Its role? To fill up the treasure chests of the senators, who all aspire to be forever on the job.
She highlights that in the rest of Central America there is only one legislative house. The reason: they are not federal republics, and neither is this country, but we are tiny nation with a thousand provinces.
She says that half of the 31 provinces do not produce much, have little population, and are poor. Increasing the number of provinces has only served to make more political positions available for political activists.
“Ten provinces would be more than enough for a country with 48,000 square kilometers,” she writes.
She observes there are 158 municipalities, most unnecessary, deficient and precarious. She mentions that there are cities in the world that have the population of the entire country. New York, for instance, has a single mayor. She stresses that the Dominican municipalities have been created so that more elective and administrative jobs are available for politicians, so that these “employees” become loyal supporters of local, regional and national politicians.
She writes that in the central government there are 23 ministries, and a large number spend so much on payroll that there is little left over for programs to benefit the people.
“Alas, small countries as this one, could perfectly manage with much less personnel at all government levels, and of course, with less resources. But the opposite is done, departments and departments are added and the demands to employ more people are inexhaustible, and the demands for pension payments, even of people who have not worked in the state are uncountable. Soon the Dominican State will swallow the Dominican collectivity, and both will be shipwrecked. Meanwhile, let the party continue!”
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Hoy
24 August 2017
