Panama’s shameful  ‘for sale’ lawmakers

The National Assembly concluded its first year of ordinary sessions for the 2019-2024 five-year period. The promises of more transparency and integrity are already a distant memory. This Assembly premiered more first-time deputies than any other and was accompanied by a vigorous independent bench, but the results and the ways of making laws continued to worsen. The fiasco of constitutional reforms was drowned in the shameful dismissal of the Ombudsman, whose formal replacement is still pending; a dismissal –or execution on the spot– that provoked triumphant laughter, which later turned into judicial grimaces. The majority bench and, therefore, the national government, are hostages to a handful of mercenary deputies, who, in the mist of populism, trade with the highest bidder. Major national issues have no room to be debated in parliament unless games or spreadsheets are available. The Assembly’s response to the pandemic has shown the worst face of the ambition of deputies who lack God and law. Too bad their rest is only two months. – LA PRENSA, May 1.