OFF THE CUFF Varela dithers on procurement law

THE RESPONSE of President  Juan Carlos Varela to a broad swathe of  individuals,  business organizations  and civic groups who have called on him  to  refuse to ratify the recent  procurement law passed by the General Assembly is to  announce the creation of a committee to evaluate the reforms.

“I have some ministers who have made observations of the law as it was approved,” Varela said Friday May 13. “I have been told that there are some areas of the law that they would like to evaluate.”

Parallel to the actions of the committee, Varela said that Vice Minister of the Presidency Salvador Sanchez will be responsible for assessing the legal aspects of the approved standard.

Sanchez will be the link between the government and organized civil societies who have called for changes to the law.

During the past few days, different groups  such as the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (Apede), the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects (SPIA) and associations such as Transparency International have petitioned for the law to be changed. The Chamber of Commerce and Movin had added their voices earlier.

One of the main criticisms of the law is that it fails to include mechanisms to exclude companies and individuals accused of corruption both in Panama and internationally. Meanwhile the Varela administration has handed out over $2 billion in contracts to the Brazilian construction giant, Odebrecht, mired in corruption charges in many countries and whose president is serving a 20-year jail sentence. Go figure.