OPINION: Panama’s Presidential dalliance

The current period of ordinary sessions of the National Assembly is only six working days, or eight, if the deputies decide to enable Friday, Saturday and Sunday, an unlikely scenario, taking into account that the Panamenista deputies have their primary at the end of the week. In the twilight of this period, the President of the Republic decides to convene his Cabinet to take a series of decisions, all subject to the ratification of the Assembly: the election of two magistrates, an electoral attorney and a member for the board  of directors of the Canal Authority ; the removal of two others from that same directive, and the approval of the general State budget for 2019. This set of unfinished tasks seems to be an attempt to accumulate things in a sort of shopping list. The sad part is that when someone goes out to buy, it is because they are willing to pay. It is difficult not to describe all this as a sign of irresponsibility, not only because it summarizes the poor performance of the ruler in terms of compliance with his constitutional obligations, but because it shows so much much contempt for the damaged institutionality inherited from the previous administration.- LA PRENSA, Oct. 24