Contract for Meduca was given a fast-tracked procedure

The lease of 31 offices for the Vice Ministry of Infrastructure of Meduca, still being organized, was approved in record time: 27 days. Advisors and consultants of Mi Escuela Primero (My school is first program), which will be included within the Vice-Ministry in formation, resist having their offices at Meduca headquarters or in one of the buildings of the Clayton reverted area.

A report by the manager of the project My school is first also concluded that these two options were not suitable for installations to donors.

On 27 November 2015, Meduca sent the Comptroller lease agreement number A-07-2015 that they have had signed with Capibara Holding Corporation company for the rental of almost all the spaces of the newly opened Mall Albrook Terraces for a period of 38 months.

The process registered as 0-07-0-130275-2015 was not delayed. The Comptroller's Office endorsed the contract on 24 December 2015 on behalf of the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, entity that still has not been formalized and that is located in the National Assembly building waiting for the second debate under draft law 421.

However, it was not until January this year when officials of Meduca began to occupy 31 shopping center spaces, but they had already wasted a full year in payment for the rent with State resources.

On December 24, 2015, the very day on which the Comptroller, in the middle of the Christmas holiday, proceeded to notify Meduca that they had endorsed the lease agreement.

Faced with this, Diógenes Sánchez, of the Association of Teachers of the Republic of Panama (Asoprof), said that for several months the former officials of Meduca themselves denied the information that those rentals existed and the Minister of Education Marcela de Paredes, when asked replied that it was not true that they were paying for the spaces, since they had not moved.

"I asked her this question, and she told me that it was not true, but I do understand that they had intentions to relocate the Directorate of Engineering and Architecture there", said Sanchez, who questioned that it is still unclear whether this Directorate actually needs a physical space, as they are not    solving the problems within their competence.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the national front of independent educators, Luis López, argued that in some cases rentals were found that benefit the relatives of Government members that were for long leased properties.

"That is despicable because it can be interpreted as influence peddling in benefit of families or friends; It is speculated that even before building these centers the prior commitment was made that the Government would be going to lease and this is a shameful act that needs to be investigated", the leader explained, who called for the intervention of the appropriate authorities.

"We reject all this amount of money being used not only for rents of offices, but also for schools," Lopez said.

For lawyer Ernesto Cedeño, the rent that Meduca would be paying for a directorate which has not yet been created deserves a good investigation.

"A lease for a vice-ministry that has not yet been created generates suspicion; if you need a structure, you must justify its functioning, but if it is not yet created, it does not seem appropriate from an economic point of view", he stressed.

He added that if this lease was endorsed by the comptroller, he should step forward and justify why he did it, since it would not be logical to pay for a lease for a vice-ministry which has not been created. Cedeño said that the State must be by now thinking about a city government, because rent is being paid to private individuals. 'There must be a general State plan aimed to save'.