Transparency International  condemns Panama government muzzling

The decision of the Government of Panama to restrict access to the minutes of the Cabinet Council (council of ministers) “exacerbates the crisis of public mistrust and is morally incorrect”  said the Panama Chapter of Transparency  International (TI) on  Tuesday, August 24.

The measure is “inconvenient”, especially because since March 2020 and due to the pandemic there is in Panama “a state of emergency due to emergency, decreed by the Executive itself” that exempts “itself from regular controls and accountability and proactive transparency, amid notable indications of acts of corruption by officials ” said  the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Freedom – The Panama Chapter of TI  in a public statement on Resolution 71 of August 4, through which the Executive restricts access to the minutes and records of discussions in the Cabinet or Ministers Council.

The resolution, which came into force last Friday, declared “as restricted access information that corresponding to the minutes, notes, files and other records or records of the discussions or activities of the Cabinet Council, the president or vice president of the Republic .

The Presidency explained that the resolution, which has generated harsh criticism against the Government of Laurentino Cortizo, is based on article 14 of the current Transparency Law or Law 6 of 2002.

This law “exhaustively establishes a list of information considered to be of restricted access, empowering all institutions and organs of the State to declare it by means of a Resolution,” according to official information.

The Panamanian Chapter of TI assured that since 2020 it has warned “the inconvenience of the exceptions in the transparency Law, of the 10-year (veto) extendable, and that the officials who guard the information can declare it restricted without further access “.

“We demand the immediate transparency of all documents related to public assets and resources of the State, in addition to once again urging the Comptroller General of the Republic and other control authorities to fulfill their role as a counterweight to the executive power,” said TI.

The independent deputy Gabriel Silva presented in the National Assembly, with 71 seats and a large pro-government majority, a legislative project to reform the Transparency Law and annul the latest decree.