Francisco Rivas Ríos.
Saturday,
January 2, 2016, presented the report to the nation, before the National
Assembly, the President of Panamá Juan Carlos Varela met 18 months of
government management.
Successful
background in the dialog.
According to
the President Varela, 3 a history of successful dialogues during his
administration.
1. The Summit of the Americas (April, 2015). In his opinion, during the seventh
Summit of the Americas, showed the successful nature of the policy of dialogue
and consensus.
2. The decentralization of the public administration.
The Varela, President highlights the dialogue which
convened and promoted at the National Assembly of Deputies, to approve the law
66 of 2015. This law will allow to transfer $ 200 million from the Central
Government to the 78 municipalities in the country that works community.3. sector
health.
The President
believes that he managed to successfully conclude the first stage of the
national dialogue for the transformation of the public health system, with
important agreements to improve the working conditions of health workers and
move towards the effective coordination between the Ministry of health and the
Social security box. This will ensure that all Panamanians, have access to
comprehensive health care, treatments and medicines of the highest quality.
The
presidential dialogues in 2016.
1. National
strategic plan 2030.
The President
reported that he made the decision to summon all political and social forces to
that country through the national consultation for the development, start a
dialogue with a view to the adoption of a National Strategic Plan with a vision
of State "Panamá 2030" to realize the 17 objectives of development
(ODS), adopted within the framework of the last Assembly of the United Nations.
2. Ratification
of the Convention 169 of the international organization of the work on
indigenous rights.
The President
expressed willingness to move forward on ratification of the ILO Convention 169
"... but before you take that step, ask that we dialogue to reach
agreement on how to move forward together towards the implementation of the
plans of development of each region".
3. Educational sector.
The Varela, President invited the teachers unions in the
country to start a national dialogue to define together the public education
system with vision of State demanded by our present and future generations. For
this purpose, he created the National Advisory Council for education, through
the Executive Decree 449 of 2015. The dialog will have the support of the
United Nations programme for development (UNDP).
The change in
strategy of the Varela, President with regard to the administration
of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), is now the main interlocutor magisterial
guilds, as it while with Martinelli the main direction of the effort focused on
organizations of educators, supporting the business sector with more
conservative.
4. Expansion of the Panama Canal.
The Varela, President called Grupo Unidos por el Canal
(GUPC), which builds the expansion of the Panama Canal, "a dialogue with
the authority of the Panama Canal, allowing to conclude the works, leaving
legal claims in the hands of the competent bodies and avoid differences media
contributing nothing to the image of the contractors the Panama Canal Authority
and the Republic of Panama".
5. Electoral
reforms.
The President
asked the Committee on electoral reforms that keep the respectful dialogue and
not allow internal political strife to prevent consensus.
6. in
addition, he said the National Assembly of deputies need to work together on
reforms to the law on public procurement, and a law to unify the purchase of
medicines on the basis of the agreements of the health dialogue.
The viability
of the dialogues of the President in 2016.
Viable dialogues.
The 2030 National Strategic Plan. This is a theoretical exercise to meet the
commitment made by the United Nations, so it will be without
difficulties.
Reforms to public procurement law, and a law to unify the purchase of
medicines, will be major problems for its approval in the National Assembly.
'Difficult'
dialogues.
• The
ratification of the Convention 169 the Organization International of the work on
indigenous rights.
The approach
of the President Varela is unclear in this case for two reasons. First, the
ratification of any International Convention is under the authority of the
National Assembly, and this is not mentioned in the speech. Second, conditional
ratification of Convention 169/ILO for the implementation of regional
development plans, let the ratification in limbo. A conflict with the
indigenous leadership on this methodology is expected to ratify ILO-169.
• The
electoral reforms.
So far, the
dialogue has been done in a National Committee on electoral reforms, without
decision-making, integrated by various actors, not always relevant. The process
becomes crucial when the recommendations of the Committee passed by the
National Assembly, which has the ability to approve or reject them, or propose
new reforms.
• Dialogue on
the education sector.
The shift of
the Varela, President becomes main interlocutor with the unions of
teachers, is a positive step. However, occurs in a context of growing conflicts
as a result of: a) arrears of wages to a sector of educators; and (b)
difficulties to maintain the infrastructure of the schools. In addition, the
project of increasing the number of hours was rejected by various guilds.
The problem
is that there is a perception that the current administration of the MEDUCA is
a continuation of the previous Minister (Lucy Molinar), which is currently
facing charges of corruption. It is little credible to some leaders
who an officer's confidence of the former Minister, characterized by its enmity
with the teachers unions, now you can be at the forefront of a dialogue.
Possibly the Varela, President will have to assess this situation.
• GUPC - ACP
dialogue.
GUPC (Grupo
Unidos por el Canal) is integrated by Spain's Sacyr, the Italian Salini
Impregilo, Belgian Jan de
Nul and the Panamanian urban construction, and is the consortium which builds
the third set of locks for the Panama Canal, which must be finished the second
quarter of 2016 after almost two years of delay.
Business
Panama cupola has spoken against delays in the work and especially for
millionaires claims the GUPC arguing cost overruns.
In a statement, the business Guild said that it is "unacceptable" to
end one year more with surprises in the project of expansion of the
inter-oceanic route, product of "not conclusive" claims by Grupo
Unidos por el Canal (GUPC). The ACP meanwhile, announced that if GUPC doesn't end Canal
expansion, the ACP will assume works.
In this
climate of confrontation, President Varela has suggested the path of dialogue.
The reason seems to be that the DAB (Dispute Adjudication Board), has returned
to give the reason on 31 December 2015, GUPC in two new resolved complaints
about costs on vacation to additional national and disturbances produced on the
Atlantic side in 2012. I.e., although the ACP to achieve complete works of
enlargement (only missing 4%), risk of placing GUP strong economic demand
before the DAB with odds of winning it.
Those who
participate in the dialogues?
To ensure the
success of the dialogues the Government of Panama has generally resorted to the
United Nations program for development (UNDP). This is a respected and credible
entity for the whole of the economic actors, social and political. But UNDP
participation has not been enough to guarantee success in the past.
If the Varela, President convenes various dialogues is
because it perceived that it is has eroded the social and political basis of
support to his Government. To make these efforts successful required inclusive
dialogue, seeking to incorporate organizations expressing critical opinions.
Currently the "civil society" is reduced to a small group of
journalists and representatives of non-capacity mobilization, but great media
exposure. The agenda and discourse of this small sector have become repetitive
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