OPINION: When the going gets tough

In May, the payroll for public servants cost $ 375.2 million per month, representing an 8.4% growth compared to the same month, but last year. Despite a reduction of nearly 2,000  employees, the terrible trend of increasing State wage expenditures in times of pandemic confirms that a significant amount of scarce public resources are consumed by the state bureaucracy.

There are no efficiency measures, no performance evaluation, and no merit contests. Nor is there a real administrative career that guarantees that the most committed and talented public servants can dedicate themselves to State affairs. The health crisis has served to show that this state bureaucracy is not equipped for the great challenges of the country. The Panamanian State has had to go into debt to cover the payments for this juicy payroll, which contrasts with the limited resources assigned to the population, to face their needs during the quarantine. Without the improvement of state services, it is not being invested, if not squandering everyone’s money.-LA PRENSA JUL.11