How does the suitability law for public officials work?

At the beginning of the year, the legal requirements were established to guarantee the suitability in the access and exercise of public officials and managers of free appointment and removal. This regulation was approved by the plenary session of the Congress of the Republic, and formalized through its publication in the newspaper El Peruano.

Alfonso Garcés, Partner at Guzmán Napurí & Segura Abogados, maintains that “Given the situation, the initiative was essential and urgent to prevent the institutionality from being perforated, by appointing people who had no experience in managing public affairs to different key positions. We must remember that these officials are in charge of directing and implementing public policies for the benefit of citizens.”. This law would help to fight against the corruption given in these spaces.

LOOK: Law enacted to improve the quality of public officials

Public officials (deputy ministers, general secretaries, heads, deputies, presidents and collegiate bodies) must meet the requirements of the Civil Service Law; in addition to having completed higher education, eight years of general experience and five years of specific experience in managerial positions or of a similar hierarchical level in the public or private sector. As far as regional and municipal managers are concerned, they must comply with full higher education, apart from five (or four in the case of municipal managers) years of general experience and three years of specific experience in similar positions.

For those who wish to remain in their positions, they must have adhered to the requirements of the law, within a maximum period of thirty calendar days from its validity. Alfonso Garces comments “Once the term has expired, they are prevented from continuing to exercise the position, under functional responsibility. All public institutions are obliged to guarantee the continuity of public sector policies. The Ministers, although the norm does not expressly mention it, could assume some responsibility if the impeded officials carry out acts or sign official documents that, due to the loss of competence, harm the State in any way”.

Garcés believes that it is necessary to promote meritocracy in the new delegations, and not only by appointments based on trust. “Although the technical requirements specified in the law do not ensure that the best official is available, it does mitigate the risk that the strengthening and sustainability of public policies in favor of citizens will continue to be destroyed.”

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