The Assembly approved $ 214.7 billion, but the Executive says it has invested $ 450 million.
The Legislative Assembly approved to the Government of Nayib Bukele an allocation of $ 214,703,120 for the Program to reduce the digital divide in schools in El Salvador, as part of the public investment projects for 2021 of the Ministry of ‘Education, according to official data.
However, President Bukele announced this week that they have made a $ 450 million investment in the purchase of computers to “bridge the digital divide” of students and teachers, meaning that spending would exceed what was allocated by the ‘Assembly at $ 235,296,880.
Faced with this announcement, lawyers and deputies of the Finance Committee of the Assembly point out that using more funds than are within what is allocated in the budget would violate several laws, in addition to the Constitution.
Article 228 of the Magna Carta states that “no sum may be committed or paid from public funds, if it is not within the limits of a budget credit” and adds that “they may only commit funds for future years with authorization legislative, for works of public or administrative interest, or for the consolidation or conversion of the public debt. For these purposes an extraordinary budget may be voted “.
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But in addition article 43 of the Organic Law of State Financial Administration (AFI) prohibits committing resources outside the budget, as in this case that would exceed the approved funds to invest them in the educational program, which includes more than buying computers.
“It is prohibited for any holder, or other official of public sector entities and institutions subject to the rules of this Law, to enter into negotiations, acquire commitments or sign contracts that commit public funds not provided for in the budget, on a temporary basis. or recurring, for the fiscal fiscal year in progress, ”the regulation says.
The same article states that “the commitments acquired or contracts signed in contravention of the rules of this law are null and void” and adds that “non-compliance with the provisions of this article, will be causal to the dismissal of the holders or offending officials, without prejudice to the criminal and civil liability incurred. “
The Ministry of Education has a budget of $ 1,320.4 million for this year, of which $ 235,700,000 is allocated to investment programs and projects, which includes $ 214,700,000 for the reduction program. digital divide.
However, when President Bukele reports that they have invested $ 450 million in the purchase of computers for 1.2 million students and more than 50,000 teachers it would indicate that the Ministry of Education would have available $ 870.4 billion to meet with other commitments this year, including payment of salaries.
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In accordance with the Public Administration Procurement and Contracting Act (Lacap), the government must make an annual schedule of purchases and, in accordance with the Education budget approved and available on the website of the institution, the $ 450 million investment in computers is not specified as such.
Article 16 of the Lacap states that “all institutions must make their annual programming of acquisitions and procurement of goods, construction of works and contracting of non-personal services, in accordance with their work plan and their institutional budget, which shall be of a public nature “.
What do those who approved the funds say?
Deputy Rodolfo Parker, a member of the Finance Committee, reaffirmed that in the 2021 budget the authorized were more than $ 214 million, so the sum above this amount “has no budget support.”
Parker said that to date the Executive has also not made any request to the Assembly to make any reform to the budget and allocate more funds, than already approved, for the purchase of computers. “There has been no proper application, according to the Constitution, because only the Legislative Assembly can reform the budget.”
The legislator expressed that no one is against buying computers, but noted that the government is doing so for “populist purposes” at an election time, which in addition to being unethical “is illegal.”
“They are violating the Constitution and this is very serious,” he ruled, adding that if the Executive has made fundraising between institutions to use more money than approved without the permission of the Assembly they would be going over the law. “Transfers cannot be made without first going to the Legislative Assembly and also by law regulating acquisitions,” Parker has delineated.
And he has remarked that funds that are not in a budget item cannot be committed.
Also the deputy Rodrigo Ávila, of the commission of Finance, has pointed out that the game of more than $ 214 million approved in the Ministry of Education is to endow of computers to the teachers and students, but also to train-, acquire servers and other infrastructure.
Ávila recalled that the law does not allow them to use state resources without an item that supports this spending. “They go out to hand out computers like crazy, like bags of beans, but it’s a screen and having a political show, between improvisation and despair,” the lawmaker stressed.
But he also pointed out the contradictions in which the government has fallen with the acquisition of computers, because it has said that this is an agreement with the United Nations, but after that it is an institutional purchase. For him, that they have done so at the gates of the election has been to make an exciting impact on people, even if they then do not comply.
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The lawmaker denounces government “corruption” behind the delivery of computers, the $ 300 royalty and the purchase of food.
Ávila bases his remarks on the fact that Bukele and his officials are not accountable to the population or the institutions, they contradict each other, change versions, bring everything to disorder and only seek the “propagandistic impact”, as happened with the vaccines that , according to the deputy, were already available and were not removed until a week before the election.
“Evade controls as they did with food and the $ 300, incurring embezzlement and misusing state resources at the gates of an electoral process,” he noted.