The assembly approved $ 214.7 million, but the executive says it has invested $ 450 million.
The legislature has approved $ 214,703,120 to the Nayib Bukele government for the El Salvador School Digital Divide Reduction Program as part of the Ministry of Education’s 2021 public investment projects, according to official data.
However, President Bukele announced this week that they had invested $ 450 million in purchasing computers to “bridge the digital divide” for students and teachers, meaning that spending would exceed the Assembly’s allocation of 235,296. $ 880.
Faced with this announcement, lawyers and members of the Assembly’s finance committee point out that the use of more funds than those in the allocated budget would violate several laws, in addition to the Constitution.
Article 228 of the Magna Carta states that “no amount may be committed or paid out of public funds unless it falls within the limits of a budget loan” and adds that “funds from future fiscal years may be used only with legislative authorization, for works of public or administrative interest or for the consolidation or conversion of public debts. For such purposes, an extraordinary budget can be voted “.
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But, in addition, Article 43 of the Organic Law of the State Financial Administration (AFI) prohibits the allocation of resources outside the budget, because in this case it would exceed the funds approved to invest in the educational program, which includes more than the acquisition of computers.
“Any holder or other official of public sector entities and institutions subject to the rules of this law is prohibited from entering into negotiations, purchasing commitments or signing contracts that engage public funds that are not provided for in the budget, on a temporary basis. or on a recurring basis., for the financial year in progress “, the regulations state.
The same article stipulates that “commitments acquired or contracts signed in violation of the rules of this law are null and void” and adds that “non-compliance with the provisions of this article will be a reason to remove holders or officials, without prejudice to criminal and civil liability.”
The Ministry of Education has a budget of $ 1,320.4 million for this year, of which $ 235.7 million is allocated to investment programs and projects, which includes $ 214.7 million for the digital divide program.
However, when President Bukele reports that they have invested $ 450 million to purchase computers for 1.2 million students and more than 50,000 teachers, it would indicate that the Ministry of Education would have $ 870.4 million for to fulfill the other commitments of this year, including the payment of salaries.
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Under the Government Procurement and Contracts Act (Lacap), the government must make an annual procurement program and, according to the approved budget for education and available on the institution’s website, the $ 450 million investment in computers is not specified as such. .
Article 16 of the Lacap states that “all institutions must schedule annually the procurement and contracting of goods, the construction of works and the contracting of non-personal services, in accordance with their work plan and the institutional budget, which will be public”.
What do those who approved the funds say?
Deputy Rodolfo Parker, a member of the finance committee, reaffirmed that in the 2021 budget the amount authorized was more than 214 million dollars, so the amount above this amount “has no budget support”.
Parker assured that so far the Executive has not made any request to the Assembly to make any budget reform and to allocate more funds, than those already approved, for the purchase of computers. “There was no adequate request, according to the Constitution, because only the Legislative Assembly can reform the budget.”
The legislator said no one is against buying computers, but stressed that the government is doing so with a “populist purpose” at an election time, which in addition to being unethical “is illegal.”
“It violates the Constitution and this is very serious,” he said, adding that if the Executive moved funds between institutions to use more money than was approved without the Assembly’s permission, it would pass the law. “You can’t make transfers without first going to the Legislative Assembly and also to the procurement law,” Parker said.
He also noted that funds that are not in a budget line cannot be committed.
Also, the deputy Rodrigo Ávila, of the finance commission, underlined that the amount of over 214 million dollars approved by the Ministry of Education consists in providing computers to teachers and students, but also their training, purchasing servers and other infrastructures.
Ávila recalled that the law does not allow them to use state resources without an element to support this expense. “I go out to distribute computers like crazy, like bags of beans, but it’s about a screen and having a political show, between improvisation and despair,” the legislator stressed.
But he also stressed the contradictions in which the government fell with the purchase of computers, because he said that it is an agreement with the United Nations, but then that it is an institutional acquisition. For him, the fact that they did it at the gates of the elections was to make an impact by enlightening people, although later they do not comply.
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The legislator denounces that there is “corruption” of the government 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 their versions, bring everything into disarray and look only for the “propaganda impact”, as happened with the vaccines which, according to the deputy, they they were already available and only took them out a week before the election.
“They avoided the controls as they did with food and $ 300, causing embezzlement and misuse of state resources at the gates of an electoral process,” he said.