Tegucigalpa.
the natural phenomena and corrupt institutions dealt “serious blows” to Honduras, a country that fell from 26 to 24 points out of 100 in the 2020 corruption perception index, its lowest score in eight years, according to a report released on Thursday in Tegucigalpa.
“It is clear that the forces of nature and corrupt institutions dealt serious blows to Honduras. The consequences for transparency were reflected in the score of 24 in the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index, a record low since 2012 “, indicated the Association for a Fairer Society (ASJ), local chapter of International transparency (TI).
It is noteworthy that the arrival of the covid-19 pandemic was the first external force in “marginalizing public and economic health” of Hondurans.
“The ongoing economic and health crises have also intensified poverty by disrupting employment, health care and education,” he emphasizes.
Added to the pandemic, Honduras suffered in 2020 “its worst” natural disasters of the century, the tropical storms Eta and Iota, Which hit the country in November leaving 94 dead, 4 million people affected and destruction of all kinds of infrastructure and agricultural crops, he adds.
“Instead of strengthening Honduras’ ability to recover from these disasters, political and economic elites rejected the rule of law, further threatening the ability of Hondurans to thrive, ”the research indicates.
Corruption will destroy the recovery
He says that the “weakness of the institutions has contributed to the lack of preparedness to deal with disasters to which is added the alarming lack of planning in the purchase of supplies related to covid-19, excessive prices in health care and opaque agreements in the purchase of the seven mobile hospitals, of which only one is in operation “.
In the last decade, Honduras has suffered “millions in losses and major setbacks” in the fight against corruption and impunity, and to cope with the recovery it is “essential” that the fight against corruption “does not lag behind,” he added. .
Stresses the importance of “strengthening the internal audit processes of public institutions, with independence and capacity, as well as ensuring compliance with the State Procurement Act, certification of public purchasers and investigation of acts of corruption “.
Honduras does not yet have a strategy against covid-19 and this lack of clarity “endangers citizens and the recovery of approximately $ 1 billion in economic losses from the pandemic“, Add.
“Corruption will inevitably destroy the recovery by diverting much-needed resources from those who need them to the pockets of the corrupt,” the IT paper said. to the most needy communities “.
The executive director of the ASJ, Honduran chapter of IT, Carlos Hernández, Said it is “urgent” that Honduran officials comply with the State Procurement Law, To “be able to make transparent, efficient purchasing and procurement processes that help reduce corruption.”
“Non-impunity is another element, the corrupt must be sanctioned – and it is important that the Public Ministry diligently conducts its investigations and can be sanctioned within the framework of the law,” he stressed.
He stressed that “no less important is citizen mobilization. Silence makes us complicit, any act of corruption we must denounce, we must organize, we must mobilize. We can not continue to tolerate corruption, because corruption kills.” .
Shady anti-corruption efforts
“The state of anti-corruption efforts is equally bleak” in the Central American country, which experienced “major setbacks” in the fight against impunity with the end of the Honduras Anti-Corruption and Impunity Support Mission (MACCIH), which depended on the Organization of American States (OAS), Adds the report.
Since its “premature” disappearance, Honduran courts have “further undermined the authority of the Attorney General’s Office to investigate corruption and dismissed charges in several cases of the MACCIH“.
Honduran parliamentarians, some under investigation for corruption, also adopted a new penal code that reduced sentences for this scourge and drug trafficking in Honduras, where “accusations of drug trafficking against public leaders, including the current president, persist. , (Juan Orlando Hernández), this codification of impunity is very worrying, “the report notes.