New name for PAN another fleece for corruption wolf?
PANAMA’S renamed Social Assistance program could turn out to be the same corruption wolf decked out in yet another set of sheep’s clothing.
While its aim to help the lower run s of society carries a politically enticing message, critics complain that the newly-created Directorate of Social Assistance (DAS) will operate under the same rules as the entity it replaced, the National Assistance Program (PAN), which could lead to the same allegations of corruption and abuse of state resources.
Former Comptroller Alvin Weeden said there needs to be changes to the public procurement law to address abuses, which have plagued social programs initiated by a number of government administrations.
The administration of President Juan Carlos Varela has prepared reforms to the public procurement law, but they have not yet come to the legislature for debate reports La Prensa.
Aurelio Barría, the director of the Social Emergency Fund, which was created in 1990, said that although Varela has tried to make the DAS an entity that is more transparent, its appointees will all be members of his administration. Barria said the Social Emergency Fund had board members who were outside the government, making it an independent agency.
Weeden and Barría agree that the reforms are insufficient to curb this historical focus of corruption.
Social assistance agencies, which also include the Fund for Social Investment, have received billions of dollars since they were initiated in 1990 to combat poverty, but have been marked by corruption and the wasting of incalculable amounts of resources due to corruption.
The PAN funds under Ricardo Martinelli were the largest in the assistance program’s history, and subject to the largest theft by corrupt officials and businesses connected to he government.