RICO’s Q — Amid the conflicts and insults that unfold every Wednesday in the spectacle known as the weekly press conference, staged by Rodrigo Chaves and Laura, they’re hiding several draft bills.
The head of the Chavista deputies, Nogui Acosta, is quietly pushing these bills through.
The first one would allow the government to purchase airline tickets for its high-ranking officials, but outside the General Law of Public Procurement.
In other words:
- without public bidding
- without market research
- without price comparisons
- without registration in SICOP
That is, Nogui wants the officials to buy airline tickets for their trips directly, through favoritism, and completely outside of any public bidding system.
The second bill would allow school boards and development associations to ALSO contract outside the General Law of Public Procurement, the law that focuses on fair competition, clear planning, and open bidding.
In other words, also:
- without public bidding
- without market research
- without price comparisons
- without registration in the SICOP (Integrated Public Procurement System)
This is simply legalizing corruption and giving certain individuals carte blanche to do everything by favoritism with their family and political cronies, who will be the ones awarded the contracts for the goods and services purchased.
This is a return to the Costa Rican politics of the early years of the last century.
It is a return to a Costa Rica where the Comptroller General and the Public Procurement Law did NOT exist; where the ruler spent public money as if it were the estate of someone who had just died, all to secure votes.