NewsWhore
06-28-2012, 04:10 PM
In Diario Libre's editorial today, Thursday 28 June, editor Ines Aizpun challenges the "it's only pennies," argument being used by government officials to justify political patronage and wasteful spending. She makes the point that in other countries public spending is debated and analyzed to the last penny, but in the Dominican Republic, "public spending, especially spending that sustains political patronage, is a brake against growth in the country." "Simply, hundreds of millions of pesos, thousands, are taken out of the pockets of taxpayers to be used on chapters that do not generate welfare, infrastructure, jobs, education or health..."
She warns that a recently launched media campaign aimed at convincing citizens that this is not a problem in the Dominican Republic should be a general cause for concern.
"Yes, there is waste. There is a government payroll that is not related to the real needs of the administration, there is waste of the representation expenses of government officials, government jobs that are not even allowed by law, there are excesses in the delegations that travel abroad on official visits, there are government departments and institutions that only survive because they are there to justify the "bottles" (government jobs with no purpose), and payment of commissions that make works more expensive..."
She asks why the new government would want to hide the obvious, instead of applying the Danilo Medina campaign slogan of "correcting what is wrong?" She asks out loud why start a campaign to deceive public opinion when this is the perfect occasion to make this a fairer country, more productive, more competitive?
"But they insist those are 'only pennies'," she writes.
She comments that everything is about pennies; the national budget is pennies. Aizpun ends by commenting that eradicating illiteracy costs RD$3,135 per person. "Imagine the extent to which we could reduce the number of illiterates if we complied with the law of the deputy ministers and the deputy consuls!"
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)
She warns that a recently launched media campaign aimed at convincing citizens that this is not a problem in the Dominican Republic should be a general cause for concern.
"Yes, there is waste. There is a government payroll that is not related to the real needs of the administration, there is waste of the representation expenses of government officials, government jobs that are not even allowed by law, there are excesses in the delegations that travel abroad on official visits, there are government departments and institutions that only survive because they are there to justify the "bottles" (government jobs with no purpose), and payment of commissions that make works more expensive..."
She asks why the new government would want to hide the obvious, instead of applying the Danilo Medina campaign slogan of "correcting what is wrong?" She asks out loud why start a campaign to deceive public opinion when this is the perfect occasion to make this a fairer country, more productive, more competitive?
"But they insist those are 'only pennies'," she writes.
She comments that everything is about pennies; the national budget is pennies. Aizpun ends by commenting that eradicating illiteracy costs RD$3,135 per person. "Imagine the extent to which we could reduce the number of illiterates if we complied with the law of the deputy ministers and the deputy consuls!"
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)