Bad government, work and poverty

It is February 10, 2023The Panamanian Maritime Authority hosted a party at a luxury bar in Panama City. A reminiscence of the great party of Posidonia, where the institution also threw the proverbial house through the window. However, if we think about the executions of this entity during the current administration, it is easy to wonder, between drinks, what it is AMP goes to celebrate.

The entity has not been modernized. Reforms of Law no. 89 from 2013. they allowed The General Director, leads the Board of Directors in the absence appointed by the ministry of the presidency, remaining at the same time, asor secretary. So, with astonishing frequency, the general administrator, judge and party, supervises himself in these discussions, using with a big spoon various powers which, according to the constitutive norm AMP, answer to the Board of Directors and not him, which seems to be a clear example of abuse of power.

If you decided to report it President of the Board of Directors of AMP, he will kindly direct you to secretary of the board of directorsthat is, AMP, which either buries the complaint, or simply does not put it on the agenda as the secretary.

This is dangerous because distorts the will of the legislator considering the balance that exists in the mentioned autonomous management structure. The members of the civil sector are left out in the open before her, witnesses of the monumental deviation of power of which they are a part, but without the possibility to do much more than not to sway them.

Measures of abuse that may be known, since updated logs have not been published, include payment authorization extraordinary for performers, those called by phone, thanks to the miracle of exceptional contracting, before the mysterious bunker spill, for which no one is usually responsible, before the secrecy of the rest of the entity structure; or cut up a ship at sea, for a contractor who is being prosecuted, precisely because of that.

Control of the maritime sector This is impossible in this structure. One of them is part of the maritime sector, and at the same time Minister Advisor in the Government Cabinet. Is it possible that he is immune to conflict of interest?

the lack of internal democracy within such an important institution as AMP, It is a symptom of the lack of a democratic call in an entire government, even in a society that allows itself to be dominated by such harsh attitudes. The public treasury without the supervision of civil society is like a secret loot that is spent in such a way that today it cannot honestly be said that shipping is important for reducing poverty and guaranteeing the prosperity of the country, but which, rapidly, is perceived as one of the most important profiles in the perception of corruption, which inevitably affects the entire Republic.