Transparency concerns regarding election of comptroller general.
| Autor | Reynolds, Louisa |
After the election of Guatemala's new attorney general and new Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ) and appellate court magistrates were mired in corruption allegations, a number of claims have been made regarding the alleged lack of transparency surrounding the election of the new contralor general de cuentas (comptroller general).
On Dec. 2, after ten rounds of voting, the nomination committee in charge of drawing up the shortlist of candidates that will be submitted to Congress for the final selection announced its choices. The six candidates are: Carlos Humberto Echeverria Guzman (17 votes); Carlos Enrique Mencos (15 votes); Sergio Oswaldo Perez (14 votes); Cesar Armando EHas Ajca (15); Thelma Leticia Giron Alvarado (13); and Hugo Ovidio Chacon Cabrera (13).
Echeverria Guzman is the dean of the economics department of the Universidad Rural and served as secretary of the nomination committee to choose the comptroller general in 2010; Mencos served as comptroller general in the administration of President Alvaro Colom (2008-2012); Perez is serving as the Office of Comptroller General's director of audits on the quality of public spending; Elias Ajca is serving as the Office of Comptroller General's director of control and interinstitutional verification; Giron Alvarado is serving as deputy director of internal audits at the Ministerio de Desarrollo Social and formerly served as an internal auditor for the national civil registry (Registro Nacional de las Personas, RENAP); and Chacon Cabrera is a consultant and has worked for various government bureaus.
However, the nomination committee's president Cyrano Ruiz admitted that committee members had based their choices on personal interests rather than on the track record of the candidates and their suitability for the position. "The vote was clearly intended to favor certain candidates. I imagine that, when the votes were cast, personal factors, a sense of loyalty among colleagues, and a certain sense of desperation weighed heavily," said Ruiz.
He added that, although he considered he had competently fulfilled his role as president, he would never again take part in a nomination committee.
Pro-transparency groups say Perez, whose efficiency as the Office of Comptroller General's director of audits on the quality of public spending has been questioned, is the administration's favorite candidate.
Carmen Aida Ibarra, leader of the civil society organization Movimiento Pro Justicia, branded the...
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