OPINION: The chance to bring Assembly thieves to heel

For the first time in the 115 years of Panama’s  republican history, the National Assembly has been subject to audits by the Comptroller General, which have been revealing all kinds of execrable management: hundreds of millions of dollars of public treasury diverted through communal boards during the last government; so many millions squandered on personnel contracts and in supposed donations in the current administration and, in general, an absolutely shameless lack  of  concern, to  take care of the forms.

The possibility that the Comptroller’s Office could cast a beam of light inside the cave where for years fraud, nepotism and other forms of corruption, has triggered sometimes violent reactions from some lawmakers. Yanibel Ábrego, president of the Assembly, has tried, with an arbitrary,  inadmissible and daring eviction, as well as with legal tricks, to prevent compliance with  the

Comptroller ’s functions. Pedro Miguel González has come out to attack him publicly, adducing that his action has a political intention. The truth is that all these arguments are no more than infamous excuses, given the impossibility of explaining why entire families are hired with State monies, or why checks are given to people who do not even know where the Assembly is  or why an organ whose function is to legislate has more sports and cultural promoters than any other. What they seek is to make noise, attack, distract.

To follow the game, fall into the error of looking for second intentions in the procedures of the comptroller who has had the courage to face them, is to lose a unique opportunity to give a change of direction and to miss a historical moment that will probably take years to return. The kidnapping of the country by the deputies should end once and for all. With the complicity of executive power, which sought to cement the pact of governance, managed to get some forms that came to replace the circuital games. With the complicity of the Supreme Court, more than one has managed to evade justice. They had scored one victory after another until they had an unpublished power. They had reason to believe they were untouchable. Worse still, they have reason to suppose that, once more, the magistrates will be their lifeline and will give them the support they need to neutralize the Comptroller’s Office

Citizens, expressing by what means they can, should seize the opportunity.  The moment has arrived. The moment that we remind the deputies that they are subject to the Constitution that they swore to respect and comply. And the time has come for us to ask the magistrates on which side of history they want to be. LA PRENSA, June 6