If he Union Congress approves the initiative of the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador to extinguish the Executive Secretariat of the National Anti-Corruption System (SESNA), the participation of citizens in State actions to attack corruption would be weakened and it would be granted to the Ministry of Public Administration (SFP) a weight greater than the one that corresponds to it in this institutional framework, I propose Jorge Alberto Alatorre Flores.
In the National Anti-Corruption System (SNA) there is an important citizen participation, which converges with the different members of the system in the Executive commission (SE), where the inputs that are made available to the Coordinating Committee (CC) are worked on, which is the highest instance of union of forces in the system
In an interview, the president of the Citizen Participation Committee (CPC) and the Coordinating Committee (CC) and, therefore, of the National Anti-Corruption System explained that without the SESNAthe citizens who participate in the system (through the Citizen Participation Committee and the Executive Commission) would find themselves in a complex situation to be able to contribute on equal terms with the other members of the CC who have not only more structure, budget, but also political weight and a perspective depending on the field from which they come, for example the Public Function Secretaryof the federal government, or the Council of the Judiciary, of the Judiciary.
“The Executive Secretariat provides the possibility that in a place of equal conditions we contrast the different points of view of all these institutions and in an environment of exchange we manage to agree on things in common such as the National Anti-Corruption Policy or the design and implementation of specific metrics. in matters of corruption. The moment you take this place of convergence to one of the powers, you unbalance the table, you make one chair heavier than the others and it is no longer a table of equals”.
Alatorre Flores stressed that the section of control that corresponds to the Public Function Secretary it is only one of seven or one among all the other players in the system.
As an example of what would happen if the proposal to extinguish the SESNAmentioned that the National Digital Platform, which contains asset declarations of public servants throughout the country, information on government contracts and the data of those who participate in these procedures, as well as officials and individuals sanctioned by the SFP, would pass under the control of the SFP. commission of administrative faults.
If this does not happen, then, all the other participants will surely question whether in those hands there will be conditions of impartiality and protection of all this sensitive information and if there will be a willingness to deliver this type of personal data.
In accordance with the initiative, which must be discussed in committees and, where appropriate, put to the consideration of the Plenary session of the Chamber of Deputiesthe merger, integration or extinction of at least 16 decentralized bodies, trusts or administrative units and the transfer of their functions to State secretariats is intended.
In the specific case of the Executive Secretariat of the National Anti-Corruption System the intention is to extinguish it and its functions, budget (of 123 million 197,179 pesos) and its 75 employees, transfer them to an administrative unit of the SFP. No savings anticipated.
For the official, doing so constitutes going against the spirit of the SNA, which is the space for coordination between the authorities of all levels of government in the prevention, detection, and punishment of administrative offenses and acts of corruption, as well as in the inspection and control of public resources.
He SNA It has a Coordinating Committee made up of the SFP and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (of the Executive Branch); the Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF) (of the Legislative Branch); the Federal Judicial Council (of the Judiciary); the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (Inai) and the Federal Court of Administrative Justice (TFJA) (constitutionally autonomous bodies) and the Citizen Participation Committee.
The Coordinating Committee has SESNA, which is the only technical support body dedicated 100% to the SNA, which is an inter-institutional framework, proposes public policies, designs evaluation methodologies, and manages the National Digital Platform.
It is a State, technical and neutral institution
Jorge Alberto Alatorre Flores stressed that the SESNA It is a State institution, technical and neutral to the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers and autonomous organizations represented in that institutional framework, which must remain.
Likewise, it rejected that SESNA incurs in duplication of functions with the Public Function Secretaryas stated in the explanatory statement of the initiative on organic simplification sent by the head of the federal Executive, on April 12 to the Chamber of Deputies.
The initiative considers that with the extinction of the SESNA the nature and powers of the SNA would not be modified. However, Alatorre Flores assured that it would happen because the way the National Anti-Corruption System it is a state effort where the three powers of the Union converge and what is determined there has consequences for the three levels of government, that is, federal, state and municipal.
When sending the Executive Secretariat of the National Anti-Corruption System A conflict would be created to the SFP because that secretariat cannot transfer the powers or lands of other powers or of other levels of government.
“It cannot replace the meeting place, for the design of public policies” carried out by SESNA, which concerns the three powers and the three orders of government.
The president of the National Anti-Corruption System He said that if this proposal is approved in Congress, the spirit of the organization is disrupted.
In this sense, the Executive Secretariat of the National Anti-Corruption System stated that calling into question the existence of this instance is an action that, in fact, would put an end to the SNA and its counterparts in the states. “Therefore, the Federal Pact would be compromised and an anti-corruption federalism would be considerably weakened.
In addition, it considered that, if the initiative is approved, which implies the modification of the General Law of the SNA, it would have a domino effect on the secondary laws that materialize article 113 of the Constitution.
Alatorre Flores stressed that the SESNA provides invaluable support to the executive secretariats of the state anti-corruption systems, with which there is an exchange of experiences, ideas and policies in the fight against corruption. It provides them with technical assistance and alerts them to steps being taken at the national level to support them in their work.
He said that, although there could be legal resources to defend SESNA, the bet today is to present the arguments before the legislators and hope that the discussion is carried out with equanimity and without haste.
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