SANTO DOMINGO.- Representatives of civil society yesterday asked that the people chosen to fill posts in the Accounts Chamber (CC) have the capacity and independence necessary to guarantee their work.

Francisco Cueto, of the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences (Flacso), and Francisco Checo, president of the civic group Citizen Participation said the new members should be impartial and the their number reduced.

"The Government has a great opportunity to send a signal clear that in the next four years in office it will decide on transparency and the correct handling of public funds. And in that sense, the selection criterion which must prevail for the members of the CC is that they are people with professional and moral capacity to carry out the post," Cueto said.

He said Congress should be more watchful of the members to prevent situations happen like that staged by the nine outgoing members.  

Checo said the independence criterion and impartiality must prevail in the selection so the organism doesn’t feel inclined to favor with its investigations any other organization with which it feels committed to by political issues. "There is a need to act with transparency and present the audits in the public light."

Both agree that the new CC members should have a greater command of financial management, more than that of lawyers, because as Checo states, "the organization is no longer an arbitration court, and instead of budgetary control."

Interviewed separately, they both agreed that the number must be reduced and to abide by the minimum of five the Law stipulates. "I believe that for the benefit of austerity and good performance, five is an suitable number, because there would be less space for cronyism,” said Czech.

SOURCE: diariolibre.com.do