The approach of the new administration, according to Buenrostro, consists of implementing a more preventive than corrective policy, as well as strengthening the honesty and “integrity” of the agencies, a project for which a reform to the Organic Law of Public Administration .
The transformation and the new role that the institution in charge of Buenrostro will have has generated concerns because the new agency will be judge and party: it will combat corruption while having the responsibility of guaranteeing the right to informationwhich is enshrined in the sixth article of the Constitution.
“We are at risk of losing something that we had gained after many years of opacity in this country, during the government of a single party and returning to those times is regrettable,” warns Jacqueline Peschard, former president of the Federal Institute of Access to Information ( today INAI) and also from the first Citizen Participation Committee of the SNA.
(Photo: Presidency of Mexico.)
The Sheinbaum government is also committed to expanding the powers of the Secretariat in the matter, which since the Miguel de la Madrid government has been part of the Public Service, but which will change its name starting next year.
To prevent, investigate and punish corruption, Mexico already has the SNA, but it has been ineffective for six years.
“The National Anti-Corruption System was abandoned,” says Peschard.
Although the fight against corruption was present in the presidential speech during the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in reality the results were meager, according to international indicators.
At the international level, Mexico occupies position 126 out of 180 countries and is the worst evaluated among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2023 prepared by Transparency International.
When the cost of corruption is estimated in pesos, there were also setbacks. According to the National Survey of Government Quality and Impact carried out by the INEGI, the cost of engaging in acts of corruption was estimated at 11,910 million pesos in 2023, a figure 45% higher than the 8,357 million pesos that were calculated in 2021.
