NewsWhore
07-27-2009, 05:40 PM
The Dominican Republic has by far the highest number of legislators in relation to its population in the Americas. The Constitutional Revisory Assembly is proposing to increase the number of members of the Chamber of Deputies to 190, up from 178. There are an additional 32 senators.
A report in today's El Caribe describes this as a heavy economic burden on the state. "And worse, still, it marks the continuation of a clientelism in government, perpetuating the old models due to the amount of power and money.
El Caribe reports that the increase will just serve to feed the expectations of those who want to get rich through their government jobs that enable them to handle large sums of taxpayer money at their discretion, despite the current financial crisis.
There had been a move to reduce the number of deputies to 150 or at least leave it at 178, but this was not considered. In his constitution revision bill, President Leonel Fernandez had proposed that there should be a minimum of 175 or a maximum of 250 members.
Fernandez also proposed an additional seven deputies to represent Dominicans abroad.
El Caribe reports that 12 more deputies will mean an increased monthly expenditure of RD$2,286,270 for the government. This brings the total the government will have to pay in cash to the legislators to RD$36,199,275 in cash payments alone. Reporter Oscar Quezada makes the point that this amount does not include money handled at discretion by the legislators for social commitments with the communities they are supposed to represent, or the staff they are assigned, such as chauffeurs, secretaries, personal assistants and PR staff.
Only Brazil with 513 deputies (pop 194 million), Mexico with 500 deputies (pop 108 million) and Argentina with 256 deputies (pop 43 million) have more deputies than the DR, with its population of 10 million.
The reporter also makes the point that a deputy makes 74 times the minimum wage in the DR, at RD$175,474.65.
Javier Cabreja of the civic society group Participacion Ciudadana says: "All this responds to a clientelistic practice that has taken hold of the Dominican political system. Government institutions are used as a way of contributing to certain people who participate in politics and these positions are created to cater to the needs of political parties."
In addition to the 178 deputies, at present there are 32 senators.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)
A report in today's El Caribe describes this as a heavy economic burden on the state. "And worse, still, it marks the continuation of a clientelism in government, perpetuating the old models due to the amount of power and money.
El Caribe reports that the increase will just serve to feed the expectations of those who want to get rich through their government jobs that enable them to handle large sums of taxpayer money at their discretion, despite the current financial crisis.
There had been a move to reduce the number of deputies to 150 or at least leave it at 178, but this was not considered. In his constitution revision bill, President Leonel Fernandez had proposed that there should be a minimum of 175 or a maximum of 250 members.
Fernandez also proposed an additional seven deputies to represent Dominicans abroad.
El Caribe reports that 12 more deputies will mean an increased monthly expenditure of RD$2,286,270 for the government. This brings the total the government will have to pay in cash to the legislators to RD$36,199,275 in cash payments alone. Reporter Oscar Quezada makes the point that this amount does not include money handled at discretion by the legislators for social commitments with the communities they are supposed to represent, or the staff they are assigned, such as chauffeurs, secretaries, personal assistants and PR staff.
Only Brazil with 513 deputies (pop 194 million), Mexico with 500 deputies (pop 108 million) and Argentina with 256 deputies (pop 43 million) have more deputies than the DR, with its population of 10 million.
The reporter also makes the point that a deputy makes 74 times the minimum wage in the DR, at RD$175,474.65.
Javier Cabreja of the civic society group Participacion Ciudadana says: "All this responds to a clientelistic practice that has taken hold of the Dominican political system. Government institutions are used as a way of contributing to certain people who participate in politics and these positions are created to cater to the needs of political parties."
In addition to the 178 deputies, at present there are 32 senators.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)