The civic organization Participacion Ciudadana expressed its concern to President Leonel Fernandez yesterday for the government’s continuation of the old practice of appointing numerous ministers without portfolios and deputy ministers and vice-consuls without definitive roles and in positions that do not appear in the administration’s formal structure. In his inaugural speech, Fernandez had promised to abandon the practice of appointing deputy ministers beyond those whose roles are listed in the statutes of each ministry, as part of a government general austerity program.
Participacion Ciudadana mentions that President Fernandez had promised to curb the surplus government jobs and disallow additional budgets for vehicles, telephone calls, diet and other expenditures related to the functionaries.
“With surprise we have been watching the appointments to public positions of individuals with cases of corruption pending against them in the Dominican justice system,” admonished Participacion Ciudadana.
Furthermore, as reported in Hoy newspaper, the organization emphasized that certain decrees have been issued recently regarding social policies that have only served to brew corrupt practices and divert resources to private individuals in the past.
Participacion Ciudadana says that Law 200-04 on the freedom of information act has failed its first test with the National Police’s refusal to provide the list of names of those agents who accepted stolen vehicles for their personal use.
See http://www.pciudadana.com/noticias/09212004_acciones_gasto_publico.htm