$1,241,910 is the monthly bill paid by the government to 504 advisors working across 13 ministries and other institutions, according to data provided by the comptroller general's office.
The ministry of economics and finance confirmed to Panama America that it is ministers who are in principle responsible for overseeing the activities of advisors across each and every ministry.
However, political analyst Edwin Cabrera believes that the comptroller is general's office also has a constitutional obligation to oversee the use of state resources.
Mr. Cabrera explained that the latter can scrutinize the number of advisors that operate across different offices as well as the nature of the services for which they have been hired.
Ministers, assembly members and directors are responsible for ensuring that all the relevant output required of the advisors is actually being produced.
Across state institution, the national assembly is the body that spends most money on advisors, followed by the comptroller general, the ministry of finance and the presidency of the Republic.
In 2010, the national assembly relied on only 81 advisors. Since then, an additional 55 have been hired.
Mr. Cabrera explained that a significant number of advisors can be justified given the variety of laws that the national assembly discusses and the diversity of subjects those laws span. According to the political analyst, the issues is not so much the actual monthly bill, but whether the mass of legislative work produced is commensurate to the amount of money that the advisors cost in aggregate.
Under the current administration, there exist permanent and temporary advisors, with salaries ranging between $1000 and $6000. Most frequently, advisors are paid an average $3000 per month.
Roberto Troncoso, former president of the Panamanian Association of business executives (Apede) is critical of that level of remuneration, considering the poor quality of the government's output.
“The population will draw its own conclusions over whether ministers are being well advised”, he declared.
The latest polls published by Dichter & Neira seem to support his skeptical view. A full 59% of the population disapproves of the government of President Juan Carlos Varela.
This represents another 4 point decrease in the president's ratings compared to the previous polls, cementing the poor trend in poll results that has afflicted the president.
A series of corruption scandals, political persecution and politicized use of justice have driven the president popularity to a mere 36%.
According to Mr. Troncoso, ministers are being poorly advised. Referring to the case of Mayer Mizrachi, he criticized the actions of the foreign affairs ministry, who accused Mr. Mizrachi of fleeing from detention in the Picota jail of Bogota, Colombia. This version of events was later contradicted by other sources.
Mr Troncoso equally referred to another issue that was not dealt with in the most appropriate way. Namely, the case of Barro Blanco, in which government failed to involve one of the three relevant parties.
The signing of the agreement with local chief Silvia Carrera of was strongly condemned by the local indigenous population, which accused her of being bribed.
“The agreement could have been improved if some of the decisions made had been corrected”, Mr. Troncoso declared
According to the secretary general of the National Front against Corruption, Enrique “Chito” Montenegro, many advisory positions are nothing short of bribes in exchange for political support in favour of the government.
'How is it of possible that ministers have such a number of advisors and that results continue to be
so poor?" he asked rhetorically: 'what are they being advised over'
Arguing that many advisory positions are nothing short of political patronage on the part of those who hold political power, he sentenced that "in reality, they are of little or no use".
Similarly, economist Juan Jovane believes that most advisory positions are not really necessary, but just another way of paying for political favors. By any stretch of imagination, Panama relies excessively on government advisors.
For her part, Maribel Gordon, an economics professor at the University of Panama, argued that advisors can play an important role when their work addresses real social issues affecting the population, which is currently not the case.
She pointed out how Panamanians are rejecting many of the government policies, which instead of solving problems are making them more acute. What appears to be missing are proper public policies aimed at providing concrete answers to the challenges faced by ordinary Panamanians.
In that light, Ms. Gordon believes that the money spent on advisors could instead be directed to addressing the priorities of the population in critical areas such as housing, health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, drinking water as well as the environment.
What we are instead seeing, Ms. Gordon highlighted, is negative results that do little to promote national development. According to Ms. Gordon, the government needs to reconsider the role of the public administration as a function of the actual needs of the population and of national development.
This could very well mean that many current advisors have no real role to play. “However, those advisors there have been appointed must honor the duty they have towards the Panamanian population”, said the economist.
