Panama lawmakers perverting social fabric

The time has come to stop Panama’s lawmakers from having payrolls and emoluments outside of the National Assembly which pervert the social fabric says Panama’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture.

According to the business association, the use of the add-on payments morally pervert the social fabric,  undermine the credibility of citizens in the institutions and waste the resources generated by Panamanian businessmen and workers.

In a communiqué, issued  Sunday, May 13, the Chamber said that the use of numbered expense forms for every deputy to spend some $30,000 each month provoked indignation among the citizens.

“For reasons not considered in our  constitutional  order during the last administrations and in the execution of the respective general budgets of the State, the deputies carry out different tasks with the discretionary management of public funds “, said the Chamber and in all “calls to clarify these actions they must act in a transparent, firm and agile way “.

They added that the various government entities “are obliged” to observe the transparency imposed by the laws in force in the country.

The Chamber stressed in its statement is that among “the reasons that call for  Panamanians to have a renewed Constitution “is the organic regime of the Legislative Body. “Perhaps no other parliament deals with issues unrelated to the formulation of laws, such as does the National Assembly of Panama. “

In a journalistic investigation of the newspaper La Prensa, it was found that the deputies handle forms dedicated to the hiring of personnel. The forms that deputies manage are 02 (temporary staff); 080 (staff of trust) and 172 (contracts for services).

Media reports have highlighted flagrant abuse, the hiring of relatives, payment for nonexistent services and one report claiming that a deputy acquired a yacht.