Ya se van... The old administration is going!
Tegucigalpa, December 11 (RHC)-- The government of the outgoing president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández intends to approve last minute laws with the aim of complicating the administration of the elected president, Xiomara Castro, who will take office on January 27th.
According to local media reports, new legislation was introduced to the current Congress to shield public officials and former high-level officials, and another one to leave the general budget for next year intact, making it impossible for the incoming president to revise it.
This maneuver has been questioned by several sectors, in view of the reported levels of corruption and impunity of the current administration. The prosecutor of the Public Ministry, Luis Javier Santos, declared to local media that the legislative project to shield officials "is part of an impunity pact."
The current Honduran parliament has been pointed out for the approval of legislations which seek to protect acts of corruption, such as the law of secrets, which is suggested to be repealed by the incoming government of Xiomara Castro, winner of the elections on November 28th.
Congresswoman-elect Fatima Mena said in this regard that "there is no fight against impunity and corruption that is efficient if we have tools to shield the corrupt, such as the law of secrecy."
"What the secrecy law does is that it limits the possibility that both the Public Prosecutor's Office and the citizens themselves can understand how officials are making use of our resources."
On Thursday, the opposition Liberal Party announced that in the session of January 25th, it will vote for the Board of Directors of the new Congress to be presided by a deputy of the Libertad y Refundación (Libre) party, of President-elect Xiomara Castro.
The Libre party would have some 50 legislators, out of a total of 128 seats in the parliament, while its ally Partido Salvador de Honduras, would obtain 10 seats. However, it would still need five more seats to achieve a simple majority.
