Governors, union leaders and party leaders are putting the brakes on constitutional reform on the subject of transparency, claimed the president of the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI), Gerardo Laveaga. According to Laveaga, legislators [aligned with] these groups in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have held back changes, which would force greater transparency regarding the resources they manage.
Interviewed in the context of his participation in the first National Seminar on Training and Liaison, organized by the Institute for Access to Public Information of Mexico City [Federal District] (InfoDF), Laveaga asked elected representatives to show political will and work out the series of changes for transparency.
"I call on lawmakers to get on with this reform as soon as possible and to the greatest extent possible; meanwhile, the more public agencies are held accountable, the more confidence the public will have in them."He argued that the numerous proposals made on the subject of transparency would make political parties, unions and state governments more accountable:
"and that scares many union leaders, and it frightens many political party leaders.
"Many governors are frankly frightened by this reform, because it means that they will no longer be able to control people as they want, to protect them; it turns out that now the IFAI will be able to review decisions of the states, and that has them very worried," stressed Laveaga, who then emphasized,
"The states are great strongholds for keeping things in the dark."
Hence, said the head of the IFAI,
"The governors have driven many of their representatives and their legislators to curb this, as in their opinion it is madness."
... Spanish original