NewsWhore
09-01-2008, 03:30 PM
While the nation's problems press on, news headlines indicate that President Leonel Fernandez continues to give priority to finding room in government for his political supporters. The pressure on the government for the coveted jobs continues, and President Fernandez himself has complained that there cannot be enough jobs to meet the demand.
Business sector groups see their taxpayer money being put to questionable use. The president of the Association of Herrera Industries over the weekend expressed his concern for the "voracious patronage" that is prevailing with numerous appointments. Manuel Cabrera, president of AEIH, expressed in a press release the organization's concern with the creation of innumerable deputy minister jobs at a time when austerity should be the norm. Just at the Ministry of Youth, 11 new deputy minister jobs were created.
"Patronage has reached scandalous levels in contradiction with the promise of the President to freeze the government payroll to the level of 31 December 2007," says Cabrera. He commented that in almost all the decrees that have been issued regarding the 2008-2012 cabinet the government has created new deputy minister positions that can only be interpreted as 'the distribution of the spoils', and not a showing of politicians with a vocation to serve the country," says the press release.
"Political patronage has overflowed to the point that it is now a true danger to our institutions," said Cabrera. He called on the government to curb the payroll at a time when the Central Bank has had to implement restrictive monetary measures that have spurred an increase in interest rates with their negative consequences on business. Cabrera said that as the government payroll increases, it is becoming more difficult to implement macroeconomic policies to maintain exchange stability and control inflation.
He said what the government should be doing is stimulating the creation of jobs that generate wealth, and not opening the doors of government to hoards of politicians that seek to milk the government and create an exaggerated growth of the administration and an increase in red tape.
He warned that the worse of the financial crisis of the US and the volatility of petroleum prices and their sequels is not over, and 2009 will be a year of great challenges.
He urged the government to instead end the year imposing austerity in government and curtailing its spending.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
Business sector groups see their taxpayer money being put to questionable use. The president of the Association of Herrera Industries over the weekend expressed his concern for the "voracious patronage" that is prevailing with numerous appointments. Manuel Cabrera, president of AEIH, expressed in a press release the organization's concern with the creation of innumerable deputy minister jobs at a time when austerity should be the norm. Just at the Ministry of Youth, 11 new deputy minister jobs were created.
"Patronage has reached scandalous levels in contradiction with the promise of the President to freeze the government payroll to the level of 31 December 2007," says Cabrera. He commented that in almost all the decrees that have been issued regarding the 2008-2012 cabinet the government has created new deputy minister positions that can only be interpreted as 'the distribution of the spoils', and not a showing of politicians with a vocation to serve the country," says the press release.
"Political patronage has overflowed to the point that it is now a true danger to our institutions," said Cabrera. He called on the government to curb the payroll at a time when the Central Bank has had to implement restrictive monetary measures that have spurred an increase in interest rates with their negative consequences on business. Cabrera said that as the government payroll increases, it is becoming more difficult to implement macroeconomic policies to maintain exchange stability and control inflation.
He said what the government should be doing is stimulating the creation of jobs that generate wealth, and not opening the doors of government to hoards of politicians that seek to milk the government and create an exaggerated growth of the administration and an increase in red tape.
He warned that the worse of the financial crisis of the US and the volatility of petroleum prices and their sequels is not over, and 2009 will be a year of great challenges.
He urged the government to instead end the year imposing austerity in government and curtailing its spending.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)