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A Tool for Strengthening Oversight and Territorial Democratic Governance
In the last few years, the national government has gone beyond
strengthening regulations and tracking systems for public
administration and has expanded its mandate to include the ability
to impose administrative sanctions when there are irregularities in the
use of royalties (Decree 416 of 2007) and resources yielded through
the General System of Shares (Decree 028 of 2008).
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In this way the
national government not only conducts audits, performs oversight
and sets up performance plans, but also administers sanctions that
range from the suspension of financial transfers to the expansion of
municipal mandates dictated by a state government and the national
government. This means that the Department of the Treasury (Office
of Fiscal Support) and the Office of Royalties (DNP) are added to the
existing entities that perform oversight: National Prosecutor General,
Controller General, General Procurator, territorial controllers and legal
representatives.
Under this lens, one can identify two types of sanctions. On one
hand, one finds
intuitu personae
(personal) sanctions for matters
related to disciplinary, fiscal and penal issues which are administered
by the Public Ministry, Comptroller and Public Prosecutor. These
individual sanctions correspond to a model focused on the conduct
of a public servant. On the other hand, there are administrative and
financial sanctions imposed by the national government which can be
perceived as a punishment to the community, entailing the suspension
of investments, in response to the unwillingness of citizens to exercise
a no confidence vote against corrupt and inefficient officials. These
administrative sanctions focus on protecting public resources and aim
to ensure they are spent correctly.
Considering the many oversight models available to analysts it is
worth evaluating the Colombian methodology in order to reflect on
its success and possibilities for improvement. It is hoped that this
process will help establish an improved policy for administration that
allows for the strengthening of democratic governance, meaning the
consolidation of a society’s capacity to build its own development and
well-being in a participatory and legitimate fashion.
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In this sense, the
