NewsWhore
08-23-2012, 01:10 PM
In an announcement following his first cabinet meeting yesterday, Wednesday, 22 August, President Danilo Medina outlined measures restricting the use of official vehicles, governmental advertising, foreign travel, expense accounts, credit cards and more. Credit card use is prohibited for all high-ranking officials with the exception of the President and Vice President, ministers, directors and administrators. The expense accounts that are assigned to the high-ranking posts that are covered in the Law of Public Office cannot exceed 15% of the base salary.
The decision was taken during a meeting of the Extended Government Cabinet held at the Presidential Palace. The Code of Ethics that all government officials are being asked to sign was also disclosed. The code is aimed at establishing transparent conduct in the exercise of the public administration.
The austerity measures contained in Decree 499-12 include bans on parties, receptions, luncheons, celebrations or any other similar activities with the exception of events organized by the President or the Ministry of Foreign Relations for heads of state.
The acquisition of vehicles of any kind is suspended for a year, except for a greater cause, and the replacement of vehicles less than five years old is also prohibited.
This Christmas, government officials will not have green light for generous gift-giving as in the past. Christmas baskets (full of expensive imported goods) are banned. The decree also bans the rental of private installations for official acts, and paid notices in newspapers. It instructs rationalized consumption of energy, cell phones, Internet and fuel for use by government officials.
Office remodeling and furniture purchases are prohibited. The Ministry of Hacienda has been ordered to conduct an inventory and establish the necessary policies for assessing the feasibility of selling off the luxury and high-consumption vehicles that belong to the state.
The 16-article decree was read out by Presidential spokesman Roberto Rodriguez Marchena.
The order establishes that the dispositions will be applied to all public agencies, as well as to the autonomous and decentralized organizations, but it leaves the Banreservas and the Banco Nacional de la Vivienda out of this requirement.
Quarterly reports will be presented on the finances of the institutions, which will allow for the evaluation of compliance with these measures, and in cases where lack of compliance is detected, the Controller General will establish civil responsibility.
In article 16, the decree says that these measures will be valid for one year, starting with the date of publication, and the preceding article (15) calls on the legislative branch to make internal readjustments.
"The difficulty is the supervision, but if there is a will, there is a way", said lawyer Pedro Pablo Yermenos on the Carmen Imbert radio talk show this morning, Thursday 23 August. President Leonel Fernandez announced austerity measures on several occasions during his administration but they were not implemented.
The Fernandez administration was ranked as world leader in wasteful government spending in the 2011-2012 World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report on a list of 142 countries. It is also ranked 140th in diversion of public funds in the same report.
www.presidencia.gob.do/app/do_2011/article.aspx?id=15620 (http://www.presidencia.gob.do/app/do_2011/article.aspx?id=15620)
www.cig.gob.do/app3/article.aspx?id=35086 (http://www.cig.gob.do/app3/article.aspx?id=35086)
www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GCR_Report_2011-12.pdf (http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GCR_Report_2011-12.pdf)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
The decision was taken during a meeting of the Extended Government Cabinet held at the Presidential Palace. The Code of Ethics that all government officials are being asked to sign was also disclosed. The code is aimed at establishing transparent conduct in the exercise of the public administration.
The austerity measures contained in Decree 499-12 include bans on parties, receptions, luncheons, celebrations or any other similar activities with the exception of events organized by the President or the Ministry of Foreign Relations for heads of state.
The acquisition of vehicles of any kind is suspended for a year, except for a greater cause, and the replacement of vehicles less than five years old is also prohibited.
This Christmas, government officials will not have green light for generous gift-giving as in the past. Christmas baskets (full of expensive imported goods) are banned. The decree also bans the rental of private installations for official acts, and paid notices in newspapers. It instructs rationalized consumption of energy, cell phones, Internet and fuel for use by government officials.
Office remodeling and furniture purchases are prohibited. The Ministry of Hacienda has been ordered to conduct an inventory and establish the necessary policies for assessing the feasibility of selling off the luxury and high-consumption vehicles that belong to the state.
The 16-article decree was read out by Presidential spokesman Roberto Rodriguez Marchena.
The order establishes that the dispositions will be applied to all public agencies, as well as to the autonomous and decentralized organizations, but it leaves the Banreservas and the Banco Nacional de la Vivienda out of this requirement.
Quarterly reports will be presented on the finances of the institutions, which will allow for the evaluation of compliance with these measures, and in cases where lack of compliance is detected, the Controller General will establish civil responsibility.
In article 16, the decree says that these measures will be valid for one year, starting with the date of publication, and the preceding article (15) calls on the legislative branch to make internal readjustments.
"The difficulty is the supervision, but if there is a will, there is a way", said lawyer Pedro Pablo Yermenos on the Carmen Imbert radio talk show this morning, Thursday 23 August. President Leonel Fernandez announced austerity measures on several occasions during his administration but they were not implemented.
The Fernandez administration was ranked as world leader in wasteful government spending in the 2011-2012 World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report on a list of 142 countries. It is also ranked 140th in diversion of public funds in the same report.
www.presidencia.gob.do/app/do_2011/article.aspx?id=15620 (http://www.presidencia.gob.do/app/do_2011/article.aspx?id=15620)
www.cig.gob.do/app3/article.aspx?id=35086 (http://www.cig.gob.do/app3/article.aspx?id=35086)
www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GCR_Report_2011-12.pdf (http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GCR_Report_2011-12.pdf)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)