Transparency, or the sore lack of it, is one of the main weaknesses of President Varela’s administration. According to the latest polls published by Dichter & Neira (D&N), a full 76% of respondents have a negative view of the government, compared with only 20% that consider it to be acting with transparency. This, coupled with the 20-point fall in the general approval ratings of the President – from 66% to 46% in the year to April 2016 – delivers a damning verdict on the government’s constant improvisation, whether dealing with the day-to-day problems of ordinary Panamanians or with international scandals, like the infamous case of the Panama Papers.
In relation to the latter, and in her trademark make-believe style, Vice-President Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado poignantly remarked that “every crisis is a source of opportunities” and that “Panama should now lead globally on the issue of transparency”. In fairness, those words sound somewhat hollow, given the constant, unwarranted intromission of the executive in the supposed investigation against law firm Mossack Fonseca. According to D&N, 50% of Panamanians do not believe that the disgraced law firm will be properly investigated – at least not in Panama – while a full 81% is convinced that the scandal will badly hit the economic prospects of the country. They may be right. Following the physical raids carried out by the PM on the Panamanian offices of Mossack Fonseca, no one from the firm has yet been called to testify; no charges have been put forward; and no preventive detention measures have been announced. And while Alvaro Aleman, Minister for the Presidency, candidly admits that the sharp fall in the ratings of the government can be attributed to this global scandal, President Varela’s main contribution on the subject was to repeat his mantra that “transparency is irreversible”. Unfortunately, the facts would appear to indicate otherwise.
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