Guatemala. It is a very long and difficult fight and it will need the support and cooperation of all political parties, the private sector and civil society sectors.
The first steps the Government has taken on the 19th of August 2008, was to institute The Vice- Ministry of Transparency in the Ministry of Public Finance. The second step is the creation of the Commission for Transparency.
The Commission for Transparency is headed by Vice-President Rafael Espada and represents government and civil society sectors. This Commission will be conformed by Álvaro Mayorga and Armando Boesch, representatives of the Private -Industrial Sector, (CACIF), Comité Coordinador de Asociaciones Agrícolas, Comerciales, Industriales y Financieras.
The Government is represented by Vice-President Rafael Espada, Carlos Pérez and Jorge Barrera. Congresswomen Rosa María de Frade participates as a citizen. The immediate tasks of this commission are to evaluate and analyze the modernization of the fiscal system and the monitoring of the Petrocaribe funds. Vice-President Rafael Espada stated that this commission will provide the Guatemalan public with information of government managed funds.
For the Government to be successful in this effort it needs the prompt and immediate action of the Congress to pass the Law for Free access to public information and transparency in public institutions. The Law for Free access to public information has been presented to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala since 2002. Since 2002 to the present, seven legislative initiatives regulating access to public information have been presented to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala.
None of them has been approved. Free access to public information is an essential element of transparency in public institutions and the main antidote to all types of corrupt practices. Currently, 72 countries -nine of them in Latin America- have passed a law guaranteeing access to information. In 2001 the Republic of Guatemala ratified the Inter-American Convention against Corruption and in 2006 it ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Both international legal instruments include provisions on access to public information, committing states to taking concrete steps towards legislation in favor of this human right.
Access to information law is a unique opportunity for Guatemala to reduce its lag in the fight against corruption and for the country’s congressional representatives to demonstrate political will in favor of transparency.
The approval of the law on access to public information in Guatemala is an urgent priority. Without a doubt, this is the time for the Congress of the Republic to show its commitment to the fight against corruption and to demonstrate their will to improve on the current practices tainted with corruption in the Congress itself.
