This article first appeared in Cooperativa.cl on August 29, 2017.
Pensions, education, health, housing, transportation? And so many other areas. Long etcetera. These are issues that undoubtedly generate a feeling of dissatisfaction because unfortunately, they are not evolving in the country as we would like. Moreover, with the short time left to the government, it seems that none of these matters is going to improve visibly in the daily life of each one of us. I insist, there are so many points that remain to be done, that even others that were left halfway and that could be perfectly improved, or rather, that could simply be finished, are being neglected. A tangible case is the Probity agenda.
My question is, what are we waiting for the authorities to dust off the more than 100 measures that were left pending from the Engel Commission?
Are we waiting for it to be discovered – hypothetically – that Odebrecht also knocked on Chilean doors and that there are millionaire bribes to act? Our rulers must put to the test what they have learned and leave behind the reactive attitude towards corruption cases, even more so if the solution has already been worked on and is there, within reach.
It is true, there are many priorities to be addressed, but a wake-up call is needed: if an initiative was started, it must be finished, not because the legislation is stopped, irregularities will stop occurring.
The fraud in Carabineros left the bar high, we must be prepared if worse crimes come. The citizenry is vigilant.
In fact, according to the last survey of the Perception of Corruption of Libertad y Desarrollo, the feeling of corruption of the uniformed increased by almost 100%, if compared to the last measurement. Let’s not let this type of irregularity cease to surprise us. We are waiting for concrete resolutions.
Of these pending issues of the Probity agenda, where the greatest efforts must be concentrated is to criminalize corruption between private individuals. It is the citizens who are harmed and this has been demonstrated by the cases of collusion.
To close these loopholes we need the will of our parliamentarians. It is understood that many matters need to be discussed and that time is short, but as all Chileans, when there is a lot of work, we need to organize ourselves and fulfill all our duties. Let us be consistent.
By Susana Sierra
