Snowballing bureaucracy

[NewsWhore]

Civil society group Participacion Ciudadana says that since taking office on 16 August 2008 President Leonel Fernandez has appointed 320 deputy ministers, while the law only calls for 52. In the same period 53 ministers have been appointed, of whom only 20 have the title of minister of state and the rest are ministers without portfolio. PC attributes this to the culture of clientilism. According to PC the Ministers are paid a total of RD$249 million per year, not including per diems, vehicles, gas and other expenses. PC coordinator Francisco Checo says that these excesses in the administrative payrolls go against the intended rational use of public funds. He asked the rhetorical question, "why are there 37 deputy ministers in the Agricultural Ministry, when the law only calls for three?" Checo also identified the Ministries of Sports, Public Health, Environment, Agriculture and Industry and Commerce as the ministries with the largest number of deputy ministers. According to Checo, the ministers without portfolio represent the culture of clientilism because it is a way of rewarding party members and supporters.

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