NewsWhore
10-22-2010, 04:30 PM
Several commentators have spoken out against the statements by President Leonel Fernandez who downplayed the findings of the diagnostics commission made up of multilateral, international and civil society organizations. President Fernandez described cases of government corruption as individual and isolated, saying that there was no institutionalized corruption in his government.
Foreign governments and multilateral institutions recently released the findings of a diagnostic exercise and made 30 proposals to help the government combat corruption. Eleven public and private sector bodies and civil society organizations joined forces to work on the Participative Anti-Corruption Initiative (IPAC).
The group includes the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the governments of the US, Spain and Canada.
In response to the comments by the President, Reverend Reynaldo Franco of the Dominican Evangelical Confederation (CODUE) said: "There are studies that have shown the thousands we are losing, money that could be used in social actions, to build houses, feed the poor, and that is slipping away to corruption. We cannot speak of micro-corruption. We have to speak of macro-corruption in government", he said.
He was not optimistic about the prospect of the government supporting the IPAC and going ahead in implementing recommendations to curtail corruption. 30 proposals were made with a cost of US$18 million, of which international organizations would cover US$12 million.
PRD deputy for the National District Alberto Atallah reminded the President that the World Economic Forum placed the Dominican Republic in 131st place of 133 countries ranked according to levels of corruption in government, as reported in Diario Libre.
Meanwhile, PLD senator for Peravia Wilton Guerrero speaking on the level of corruption in government said it is there for everyone to see. As reported in 7dias.com.do, he said that people know that corruption is rampant when everyone can see that government officials who used to live a modest lifestyle, in rented houses and with children enrolled in public schools, now live in luxury mansions, with luxury vehicles and displaying all sorts of wealth.
"People then reject and repudiate the corruption in society, and mainly in government," he said. "And more so when that corrupt official is not penalized, enjoys impunity, and becomes a bad example".
Guerrero said that when citizens see that the corrupt are not penalized, and their impunity continues, then that situation becomes a stimulus and promotes more mismanagement of public funds. Guerrero also said that drug trafficking takes place at the macro and micro-level. He says that everyone can see this and that it continues because there is impunity in the persecution, combating and punishing of the guilty. He said that the bosses in most big drug trafficking cases are neither identified nor processed.
Pelegrin Castillo of the FNP, a small party allied to the PLD, said that the political and business systems give lots of space to corruption, mainly due to the concentration of power, discretionality and lack of transparency. He said there is no justification for the government purchasing the same goods from so many suppliers. "The government needs to use its purchasing power. If it is going to buy vehicles, then it should standardize the vehicles, which should be utilitarian, not luxury, with minor exceptions". He also questioned the quality of construction of school classrooms, during an interview on the El Dia TV program.
www.ipacrd.com (http://www.ipacrd.com)
www.ipacrd.com/Material-de-Apoyo (http://www.ipacrd.com/Material-de-Apoyo)
The report presents multiple international and national studies pointing to the high levels of rampant corruption in the Fernandez administration.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)
Foreign governments and multilateral institutions recently released the findings of a diagnostic exercise and made 30 proposals to help the government combat corruption. Eleven public and private sector bodies and civil society organizations joined forces to work on the Participative Anti-Corruption Initiative (IPAC).
The group includes the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the governments of the US, Spain and Canada.
In response to the comments by the President, Reverend Reynaldo Franco of the Dominican Evangelical Confederation (CODUE) said: "There are studies that have shown the thousands we are losing, money that could be used in social actions, to build houses, feed the poor, and that is slipping away to corruption. We cannot speak of micro-corruption. We have to speak of macro-corruption in government", he said.
He was not optimistic about the prospect of the government supporting the IPAC and going ahead in implementing recommendations to curtail corruption. 30 proposals were made with a cost of US$18 million, of which international organizations would cover US$12 million.
PRD deputy for the National District Alberto Atallah reminded the President that the World Economic Forum placed the Dominican Republic in 131st place of 133 countries ranked according to levels of corruption in government, as reported in Diario Libre.
Meanwhile, PLD senator for Peravia Wilton Guerrero speaking on the level of corruption in government said it is there for everyone to see. As reported in 7dias.com.do, he said that people know that corruption is rampant when everyone can see that government officials who used to live a modest lifestyle, in rented houses and with children enrolled in public schools, now live in luxury mansions, with luxury vehicles and displaying all sorts of wealth.
"People then reject and repudiate the corruption in society, and mainly in government," he said. "And more so when that corrupt official is not penalized, enjoys impunity, and becomes a bad example".
Guerrero said that when citizens see that the corrupt are not penalized, and their impunity continues, then that situation becomes a stimulus and promotes more mismanagement of public funds. Guerrero also said that drug trafficking takes place at the macro and micro-level. He says that everyone can see this and that it continues because there is impunity in the persecution, combating and punishing of the guilty. He said that the bosses in most big drug trafficking cases are neither identified nor processed.
Pelegrin Castillo of the FNP, a small party allied to the PLD, said that the political and business systems give lots of space to corruption, mainly due to the concentration of power, discretionality and lack of transparency. He said there is no justification for the government purchasing the same goods from so many suppliers. "The government needs to use its purchasing power. If it is going to buy vehicles, then it should standardize the vehicles, which should be utilitarian, not luxury, with minor exceptions". He also questioned the quality of construction of school classrooms, during an interview on the El Dia TV program.
www.ipacrd.com (http://www.ipacrd.com)
www.ipacrd.com/Material-de-Apoyo (http://www.ipacrd.com/Material-de-Apoyo)
The report presents multiple international and national studies pointing to the high levels of rampant corruption in the Fernandez administration.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)