Overpaid, workshy deputies

ELECTION campaign promises to change the laissez faire attitude of Panama’s legislative deputies, quickly disappeared once they had been elected to the gravy train, which is not surprising as  hot air rises quickly and disappears.

Many of them, with limited qualifications  earn more than they would in  the national  job market, or  if obliged to return behind the wheel of a taxi , and far more than the average person who voted them into office.“Earn” is perhaps a pejorative term when applied to those work shy figures elected to take care of affairs of state. Figures revealed by La Prensa this weekend, show that a large number of those receiving tax-payer funded emoluments and benefits have an attendance record that would see them fired from any job in the real world.

Meanwhile our dishonorable legislators continue to wrap themselves in an immunity shield protecting them from prosecution for any other sins they might have committed other than  lack of attention to duty.

In the legislative session from July 1 to October 31 this year, some of the deputies elected for the first time topped the list of absentees.

In the 71 sessions held between July and October, one rookie deputy of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) Alfredo Perez, Chepo, accumulated 41 absences and did not take the time to empower his deputy.(Panama has a quaint custom of electing and paying for a stand-in for a person who has already been paid to do a job but doesn’t plan to appear).

Panamenista deputy   Juan Serrano, Chiriqui. came second on the laggard list with 25 no-shows.

Maria del Carmen Delgado, PRD,  from Colon, managed to miss 23 sessions and Dana Castañeda, Democratic “Change” ( a much misused word)

ABUSE OF LICENSE
A mechanism used by deputies not to attend work  is the licensing procedure that can empower their alternates. However, La Prensa noted, many alternates followed the lead of the deputy and did not appear, but st ill claimed their monthly allowance.

Deputies who have applied for most licenses are Edwin Zuniga, 56; Sergio Galvez, 55; and Ruben Frias, 54; all of Democratic  “No Change.” Why change when you can line your pockets with the status quo?

Another deputy not turning up for work 49 days out of 71  between absences and licenses, was Carlos Motta, PRD, Chiriqui.

THE BRIGHTER SIDE
 Not all is bad. Juan CARLOS ARANGO, of the Popular Party never missed a session  while Juan Moya, Panamenista, and independent Ana Matilde Gómez, were absent only twice. Miguel Fanovich, the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement (Molirena) called four licenses and  had no absences.

Horacio Icaza,  of the Independent Movement (Movin), says  these levels of absences “are a symptom of institutional disaster”  that have to change  through public pressure.

“We cannot expect change to come from the deputies. They will not voluntarily change the rules ” he said. ‘’ This is a failure of the system and  also a personal failure of those deputies, who deceive their constituents who  at the end of the day    are not represented in the Assembly.”.

Unsurprisingly Perez is not available for comment.