Voices calling for a cabinet makeover

In the midst of the social unrest leading to street closures and demonstrations across the country, voices are multiplying for president Cortizo, to renew his Cabinet and remove the country’s comptroller.

The cabinet is made up of 16 ministers with a portfolio and three minister advisers.

The voices calling for change come both from the ranks of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), which led Cortizo -in alliance with the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement (Molirena)- to the presidential chair in 2019, as well as from opposition sectors and civil society.

Former PRD president Francisco Sánchez Cárdenas sent a message to Cortizo’s closest team. “The current ministers must see the political situation to which they are subjecting the President and give him the opportunity to remake his Cabinet,” he said on TVN ‘s ‘Radar’ program.

Thus, he said, Cortizo could name figures that are not necessarily from political parties, but that arises from a kind of “national agreement.”

Something similar has been suggested by the former secretary general of the PRD, Pedro Miguel González, who has stated that “a change in the government team with experienced people and a single table where the underlying issues that generate social inequity are discussed” is required. That, he says, would give the president “credibility and authority to lead the way out at this critical moment.”

Meanwhile, the president of the Movement Another Way, Ricardo Lombana, suggested a series of measures to cut back and contain spending.

He also proposed the renewal of the Cabinet “with suitable people who only respond to the interests of the country”, as well as the immediate resignation of Comptroller Gerardo Solís.

It also recommends cutting spending on government operations by at least 15% by eliminating, among other things, unnecessary advisory, minister-counselor, and consultant positions.

Lombana also asked Cortizo to emphatically and publicly exhort the president of the Assembly, Crispiano Adames, to take immediate “corrective measures” for a “drastic reduction in his budget and other measures with a real economic impact.” And called for an audit of forms 080 and 172 of the Assembly to eliminate  nepotism, and in the same way in the other State dependencies

Lukewarm measures
Former comptroller José Chen Barría considers that in addition to the “lukewarm” and “imprecise” measures announced by the government, such as the 10% reduction in the state payroll, the president must “restructure his government.”

In the protests, citizens have also asked to remove the ministers. They question the actions of the Minister of Public Works, Rafael Sabonge,  the Minister of Tourism Iván Eskildsen, and the Minister Counselors Eyra Ruiz and José Alejandro Rojas Pardini.

The Chamber of Commerce requested the resignation of the rector of the Autonomous University of Chiriquí, Etelvina de Bonagas, and Comptroller Gerado Solís.