The Municipality of Panama, in charge of the PRD mayor José Luis Fábrega, from 2019 to date, has allocated $41.3 million in consultancies in its budgets, according to information from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
During this period, different municipalities in the country have allocated $43.1 million for this purpose, which means that the budget of the capital city covers 96% of those funds.
Fábrega’s figure is even higher than what the Ministry of the Presidency has spent ($36.4 million) on this type of contract. The Presidency is the central government entity that has disbursed the most in this area.
So far, it is unknown what kind of consultancies have been carried out in the capital district, their purpose, their scope, unit costs and the companies that were in charge of developing them.
In November 2021, when the budget of that commune for 2022 was being debated, the opposition mayors Guillermo Bermúdez, from the district of Don Bosco, and Ricardo Domínguez, from Bella Vista, were struck by the increase in what was budgeted in consultancies and temporary staff for this year.
At that time, Fábrega said that “there are no consultancies” and that the item is used to pay for other types of services.
In 2019, for example, the capital’s mayor’s office contemplated $7.6 million for that purpose, (line 171 in the budget). In 2020 and 2021, the most severe years of the pandemic, it budgeted another $8.9 million and $8.5 million, respectively. And in 2022 it budgeted an additional $16.2 million.
In December 2021, while defending the budget for 2022 (of $322 million), Fábrega explained that the consultancy line is used for other issues. “They are not consultancies,” he said then. “Includes the (tax) collection company, of municipal taxes,” he said when questioned by journalists. He added that they are “debts that must be paid.”
From the Municipality of Panama they told the newspaper La Prensa that they are compiling the data with specifications.
The difference between the amounts budgeted by the capital commune in this type of contracting and other municipalities is dramatic. The second that has budgeted the most is Arraiján, in West Panama, with a total of $1.1 million. The amount per year has remained stable: $293 thousand annually. Colón, the third with more funds budgeted in consultancies, accumulates $460 thousand in four years. For 2022, it has budgeted $250,000.
Of the 81 municipalities nationwide, only 18 have allocated public funds for this line.
On average, except for the capital district, which exceeds the others by tens of millions, the other 17 municipalities have budgeted some $104,977 for consultancies, each.
The President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, admitted on Tuesday that “he has not reviewed these expenses.” It was his answer to the question that a journalist asked him during a tour of the City of Health.
From 2019 to date, $213.5 million have been executed to cover this expense. This does not include what is budgeted by the municipalities, but what is executed by 79 entities of the central government, public companies and other decentralized institutions.
Citizens do not have access to that list, since the data provided by the MEF in response to a request for information presented by the lawyer Ernesto Cedeño only has gross amounts in terms of budget and execution by entity.
