The decision of the comptroller Gerardo Solís Eliminating mobilization expenses for 669 mayors and representatives means that local governments will stop paying some $12,300,000 a year for this concept.
After months of controversy between the Attorney General’s Office and the Comptroller General of the Republic, Solís announced last Thursday the definitive suspension of these payments. In a statement, he indicated that the figure for mobilization expenses dates back more than 15 years, but his administration is the first to investigate and review it.
Previously and for months, Solís defended the autonomy of local governments regarding these expenses. He reiterated, over and over again, that the councils are empowered by law to dispose of their budget and allocate this monthly income for mobilization.
The citizen questions to the mobilization expenses are based on the fact that, in certain cases, the municipalities and community boards have assigned vehicles, drivers and even a budget for fuel.
After weeks of citizen pressure and legal appeals filed, Solís announced on January 24 that he would provisionally suspend the payment of these expenses to carry out an investigation. A month later, personnel from the Comptroller’s Office concluded that the correct thing to do was to cancel them definitively.
During his most recent appearance before the National Assembly, the comptroller spoke of the “culture of correction” that he is implementing in that entity.
“It means doing the right thing as the Comptroller’s Office… The officials of the Comptroller’s Office have the task, the mission of doing the right thing,” he said last January 5 before the plenary session of the Assembly. “If there’s something that comes up that’s wrong, we fix it.”
For the lawyer Ernesto Cedeño, whose requests for formal information and complaints before the Administration Attorney’s Office triggered the questioning and investigation of these mobilization expenses, Solís’ decision is correct. However, yesterday he filed a request with the Administration Attorney’s Office to ask the Comptroller’s Office for the report of the inspection staff that recommended the suspension of payments.
“We want sustenance. An audit of the Comptroller is required to determine if there was a patrimonial injury, ”she said.
He added that he would be willing to present resources to recover the funds, for which he needs the report on the Comptroller’s findings.
According to the database compiled with the information that the Comptroller’s Office initially delivered to Cedeño, 669 mayors and representatives at the national level had some type of mobilization expense that was paid to them on a monthly basis. The most onerous amounted to up to $5,000 per month. This was the case of corregimiento representatives in districts such as La Chorrera, Panamá, Arraiján and Colón.
The lowest amounts assigned to mobilization were $50 per month. Representatives in districts such as Macaracas and Tonosí, in Los Santos, had low mobilization income. In the country, the average amount was 1,500 dollars per month for mobilization.
Meanwhile, the Association of Municipalities of Panama, the Association of Mayors of Panama and the National Coordination of Corregimiento Representatives reported yesterday in a joint statement that they will abide by the provisions of the Comptroller, despite the fact that they are “legal” payments.
They highlighted that only “some” mayors received this type of payment. According to data from the Comptroller, 66 of the 81 mayors in the country received travel expenses.
