Participacion Ciudadana, the leading civic society organization, publishes an open letter to President Leonel Fernandez today expressing concern for the lack of transparency in government contracting and investments, questions the government’s priorities in investments and comments on morally questionable events involving government.
“Eight months into your government, one where there were great expectations of renewal, modernization and progress, we find ourselves with events that have generated scandals and affect the credibility of government, with these much worse due to the scarce faith in investigations carried out into these and the judicial processes,” states the institution. Among the events questioned is “the disproportioned investment of RD$241 million in furniture and ostentatious decoration in the new building of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Attorney General office, with a duplication of contracts”. Participacion Ciudadana says this is an offense to Dominicans given the widespread poverty and the scarcities that affect the judiciary in general.
Participacion Ciudadana is also critical of the purchase at a cost to taxpayers of RD$1 billion of a building for the Customs Department, without the carrying out of a tender, at a time when that institution needs to exercise austerity in order to prepare for a reduction in revenues once the free trade agreement with the United States goes into effect.
Also criticized is the replacement of floors, seating and windows in the brand new library of the state university (UASD) for a yet undisclosed sum.
Furthermore, the investment of US$25 million in a private hospital in Santiago is criticized, especially when this investment takes place at a time when there are serious deficiencies in the public health system. The civic group highlights that the fact that Public Health Minister Sabino Baez is a shareholder in the Santiago hospital makes the governmental investment one in violation of Art. 102 of the Constitution.
Participacion Ciudadana is also very critical that the government has continued with the plans for the underground metro when foreign and national transport experts have stated the proposed costs are grossly underestimated, and the metro will considerably increase foreign debt.
In the open letter to President Fernandez, the institution comments on the relations of civilian and military officers that dealt with the contractor of the furnishing and decorating of the Supreme Court with former army captain Quirino Paulino Castillo, arrested for the largest drug confiscation in the history of the country. “The information that part of the furniture that would have been used was found in a warehouse of Paulino Castillo, strengthens even more the grave rumors that have circulated since December, without clarifications coming from government,” states the document.
PC questions that the Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces Julio Cesar Ventura Bayonet was present at the farm of a Moca businessmen when a cargo of contraband liquor was confiscated. The military chose to relieve Ventura of all responsibility.
In the publication, PC is also critical that the district prosecutor was assigned a vehicle that was a stolen vehicle. PC furthermore states that there is no coherence between promises of combating corruption made by the government, and the discontinuing of the PEME case.
In its recommendations, Participacion Ciudadana urges that the government lobby for the prompt passing of the bill for government purchases and contracting, and that meanwhile, as President Fernandez has announced, a presidential decree be issued setting these norms in order to reduce the margin of clientelism and corruption that is prevalent in government purchases and contracting. PC requests that the government remove civilian and military officers involved in scandals.
PC requests that all audits carried out by corresponding state organizations be published and legal procedures begin following up on findings of the audits, regardless of the hierarchy of those involved.
PC wants the government to revoke the consular invoice, and unify all consular rates with wages instead set for consuls abroad at the levels of those that the rest of the Dominican foreign service receives. In a final point, the organization requests the implementation of the Law of Civil and Administrative Career for Public Servants to confront clientelism and the deficiencies and instability within government.