???? The central axes of Bernardo Arévalo’s government plan for his first 100 days

2023-08-10 04:25:00

The Seed Movement party, which promotes the presidential candidacy of Bernardo Arévalo, presented its plan for the first 100 days of government, which focuses on four axes: combating corruption, rescuing the economy, building a “present” government and curbing crime .

The first point of the plan is the presentation of corruption complaints identified and documented by the Anti-Corruption Surveillance Commission, an instance that would not differ from the one created by the government of Alejandro Giammattei.

General view. The presidential candidate has an “ambitious plan, but with budgetary restrictions in some points that could complicate its implementation,” according to sources consulted.

The group offers, for example, a productive transformation fund, to which they would inject Q1 thousand 800 million. Amounts that would have to be included in the budget for the next year.

This legislature, which includes 99 deputies who were not re-elected, will be in charge of approving the 2024 Budget. The deadline for approval is November 30, 2023 and the Seed Movement party would not have any weight to influence the budget for the other year.

If the deputies do not approve a new budget, the next government will have to work with the current one that amounts to Q115,443.7 million.

What to highlight Arévalo promises to lower his salary. The salary plus representation expenses and others, of the President of Guatemala, amount to Q148,838.00 per month (About US$18,900.00) and is one of the highest in Latin America.

Although the plan contemplates a reduction, it does not establish how much it would be.

It offers to appoint officials under meritocratic criteria, honest, capable, oriented to results in the institutional framework of the State, as has been offered by all the politicians who aspire to lead the country.

It establishes the creation of a new Code of Ethics and Transparency for the public service, with which all officials will be evaluated.

Data (I). To curb crime, it offers to create a police command with intelligence functions, despite the fact that the National Civil Police (PNC) already has a Specialized Criminal Investigation Division.

They plan to build a maximum security prison for serious offenders, with high-tech controls. Guatemala has 22 prisons, four of which are considered maximum security.

They offer to promote a police training program and create a new recruitment system, although the PNC Academy already exists.

They promise a prison management reorganization plan that seeks to limit criminal actions within prisons, but without specifying how they will do it.

Data (II). The group defines, among others, these points to reactivate the economy: Access to medicines and public pharmacies, lower the cost of electricity service by defining that the National Electric Energy Commission will review the rate of public lighting. Action that the Commission is already carrying out, but has been stopped by the municipalities through amparo actions.

It offers to sign an agreement with Intecap to train people and facilitate their job placement, despite the fact that several government institutions already have signed agreements to improve skills.

He proposes creating a dialogue table to prepare a bill on competition and one on investment. Currently, there are at least two competition law initiatives in Congress, which have not reached consensus. In addition, in 2022 the Foreign Capital Investment Promotion Law was approved.

It proposes to strengthen the Directorate of Attention and Assistance to the Consumer for the supervision of prices and to create a special line of support for the agricultural sector in the Crédito Hipotecario Nacional bank.

Voices. The Master in Economics, Edgar Ortíz, opined that “the plan is ambitious, not in a bad way. It is a program that has several possible points to be made, but it will be difficult given the budgetary restrictions; they will have to be very skilled to make it a reality.” .

In conclusion: Arévalo and his group will have to demonstrate a lot of political skill to promote their legislative proposals, because when they need to be approved by Congress, they will need the votes of the opposition, since the Seed Movement party will only have 23 deputies.