OFF THE CUFF: PRD infighting infects Assembly

DISSENSION inside the PRD  party has spread over to the National Assembly and, for a second consecutive week, the National Assembly  has left  commissions, discussion of at least 22 pending bills hanging. as members wrangle over  who sits on  the 15 legislative committees.

The delay is due to the division in the PRD, when  six dissident members defected from the caucus to join a coalition With the Panameñistas and some members of the CD to form a ruling coalition.

The remaining 20 members of the PRD have sought to freeze the dissidents out of places on the Assembly’s primary committees  like  the budget, and government credentials, and relegate them to ones such as social development.