QCOSTARICA – The government of Rodrigo Chaves has had a “disorderly and rushed” start in its first two days, according to several opposition leaders in Congress, who complained yesterday of a limited work agenda in the Legislative Assembly.
On the other hand, the uncertainty of the decrees that eliminate the mandatory use of the mask and the legal doubts about the obligation that public employees would have to vaccinate against Covid-19, generated criticism among legislators.
“Indeed, in its first two days, it seems to me that the Executive Power has walked without a clear direction. There is no robust agenda convened in the Legislative Assembly for initiatives, despite the requests made by the factions. On the other hand, the management of the first executive decrees has generated a lot of uncertainty, it seems that the experts in each matter were not consulted and they have not communicated in the best way,” said María Martha Carballo, legislative leader of the PUSC.
On Tuesday, legislators adjourned the plenary session since there were supposedly no bills to discuss.
Likewise, the government has yet to disclose the text of the decrees to lift the use of the mask and mandatory vaccination, that it signed on Sunday, and that has generated a strong controversy among the medical community, considering that it is not the time to lift the sanitary measures.
Read more: Publication of decrees on vaccination and masks delayed
Another egregious error was in the name of the presidency of the Inamu and the Minister for the Status of Women. It was announced that Cindy Quesada could not assume the presidency of Inamu, which led the government to appoint Adilia Caravaca for that position and that of Minister for the Status of Women; however, several hours after publication in La Gaceta, the government retracted it and considered it “a material error that would be corrected.”
It gets better. In the May 10 edition of La Gaceta, the government misspelled the president’s name, not one, or twice or three, but twenty-four – yes, 24 – times. The president’s name was spelled “CHAVEZ”, when in fact it is CHAVES with an “s”.
“I think it is a bit of a rushed start and I think this is due to several things, possibly the lack of experience. In the case of the decrees, they have not been transparent and people question their legality. Regarding the call for projects for Congress, it is because it is the first time that the president defines the projects for extraordinary sessions,” said Sofía Guillén of the Frente Amplio
The benefit of the doubt
Despite the fact that they recognize a “rushed” or “disorderly” start, opposition legislators give the Rodrigo Chaves government the benefit of the doubt and hope that the new work team will finish accommodating.
Meanwhile, Kathia Rivera, head of the PLN, hopes that it is “a matter of pure accommodation (settling in) and lack of knowledge and does not refer to major underlying problems.”
