NewsWhore
07-01-2010, 03:00 PM
Only a few government departments meet the requirements of the Procurement and Public Works Contrating Law and then only half way, reports El Dia, with observations made by civic group Citizen Participation. The point is made that while some tenders are announced, the winners are rarely made public.
Isidoro Santana, coordinator of the Dominican chapter of Transparency International, touched upon the topic during a weekly luncheon meeting with the Corripio Communications Group. The meeting focused on corruption, drug trafficking and other challenges.
"Nobody knows who benefited nor how the tender or contract was awarded," reports El Dia.
Visiting were Andres Hernandez, Transparency International's senior program coordinator for the Americas, Marcela Restrepo, TI director in Colombia and Eduardo Bohorquez for TI in Mexico, Alejandro Urizar for Guatemala and Federico Arenoso for Argentina. The group works to combat corruption through collective international pressure. The visiting mission is urging citizen commitment to fight corruption.
"The issue of corruption is a priority that no one can deny at these times. And in second place, we have knowledge that is helpful when making decisions within a constructive perspective," said Andres Hernandez. He said that they seek to promote community leadership and encourage journalists to find solutions to corruption that reduces people's quality of life.
Eduardo Bohorques, director of Transparency International in Mexico, says the problem is not in genetics but in the institutions. He said that part of their work has been to dispute the myth that corruption is embedded in the Latin American genetic code, as reported in Hoy. He said this is proved false when Mexicans cross the US border and comply with the law. He said that this shows that there is nothing wrong with Mexican culture, but rather that the institutions are not working. He said that Dominicans and Mexicans who live in the US respect US laws.
He says that Mexicans in Sweden would never dare to bribe a police officer. He said that the public information access law is one of the most important tools for fighting corruption.
Participacion Ciudadana argues that from 2008 to 2009, seven government institutions handled RD$90 billion in public works and held tenders for only 10% of this value in violation of Law 340-06 on Procurement and Public Work Contracting.
In an editorial published today, Diario Libre writes that the citizens who are paying for the RD$90 billion "are suffering from a scam, every day, in almost all the public works and that is very bothersome".
"Transparency, dialogue, participation, institutionalism, progress, development? Does that sound familiar? Well it all is forgotten in the name of electoral marketing when push comes to shove," writes Ines Aizpun in Diario Libre. She concludes that anywhere else that would be considered institutionalized corruption... and wonders whether if the government were changed, the next one would do the same.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
Isidoro Santana, coordinator of the Dominican chapter of Transparency International, touched upon the topic during a weekly luncheon meeting with the Corripio Communications Group. The meeting focused on corruption, drug trafficking and other challenges.
"Nobody knows who benefited nor how the tender or contract was awarded," reports El Dia.
Visiting were Andres Hernandez, Transparency International's senior program coordinator for the Americas, Marcela Restrepo, TI director in Colombia and Eduardo Bohorquez for TI in Mexico, Alejandro Urizar for Guatemala and Federico Arenoso for Argentina. The group works to combat corruption through collective international pressure. The visiting mission is urging citizen commitment to fight corruption.
"The issue of corruption is a priority that no one can deny at these times. And in second place, we have knowledge that is helpful when making decisions within a constructive perspective," said Andres Hernandez. He said that they seek to promote community leadership and encourage journalists to find solutions to corruption that reduces people's quality of life.
Eduardo Bohorques, director of Transparency International in Mexico, says the problem is not in genetics but in the institutions. He said that part of their work has been to dispute the myth that corruption is embedded in the Latin American genetic code, as reported in Hoy. He said this is proved false when Mexicans cross the US border and comply with the law. He said that this shows that there is nothing wrong with Mexican culture, but rather that the institutions are not working. He said that Dominicans and Mexicans who live in the US respect US laws.
He says that Mexicans in Sweden would never dare to bribe a police officer. He said that the public information access law is one of the most important tools for fighting corruption.
Participacion Ciudadana argues that from 2008 to 2009, seven government institutions handled RD$90 billion in public works and held tenders for only 10% of this value in violation of Law 340-06 on Procurement and Public Work Contracting.
In an editorial published today, Diario Libre writes that the citizens who are paying for the RD$90 billion "are suffering from a scam, every day, in almost all the public works and that is very bothersome".
"Transparency, dialogue, participation, institutionalism, progress, development? Does that sound familiar? Well it all is forgotten in the name of electoral marketing when push comes to shove," writes Ines Aizpun in Diario Libre. She concludes that anywhere else that would be considered institutionalized corruption... and wonders whether if the government were changed, the next one would do the same.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)