Tegucigalpa.- The President of Honduras, Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura, announced this Wednesday that he will send to Parliament a draft Anti-Corruption Law, prepared together with the private sector and the judiciary, with the aim of strengthening transparency and the institutional framework of the Central American country.
“Soon we are going to present the Anti-Corruption Law, a law that we all have to strengthen“, indicated Asfura in a statement released by the Executive branch.
The initiative is being worked on in conjunction with the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (Cohep), the main business association in Honduras, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office) to structure mechanisms for prevention, control, and combating impunity, he noted.
The president pointed out that the proposal seeks to guarantee respect for the independence of the branches of government (Executive, Judicial, and Legislative) and oversight bodies, such as the Superior Court of Accounts and the Institute for Access to Public Information.
“If we respect that independence and the oversight bodies, the country will change”, emphasized Asfura, who also defended the need to achieve political stability to generate legal certainty and attract confidence to the country.
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In that context, he highlighted that so far in his administration, which began on January 27, 16 state institutions have been closed as part of a budgetary and institutional reorganization process.
“If we, the politicians, do not understand that we must channel ourselves into that political security (…) from which legal security and everything we want in terms of security is derived, it will be very difficult for Honduras to move forward,” he emphasized, while reiterating that institutional strengthening, the fight against corruption, and the reorganization of the State must be long-term policies.
“It is not built in four years, it is built over a long time. But for that we need everyone, especially us politicians, so that we can organize and see a clear future for Honduras,” he concluded.
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Public and private corruption in Honduras is a long-standing scourge that, according to sectors such as the Catholic Church, is one of the main causes of the poverty in which more than 60% of the country’s ten million inhabitants live.
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The corruption, which does not cease in the country, has splashed past governments, and its levels are so high that international help must be requested to reduce it, which has not been achieved, as analysts point out, due to a lack of true political will.
Former President Xiomara Castro, who concluded her four-year term on January 27, came to power with the promise of installing an International Commission against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (CICIH), a mechanism that ultimately failed to materialize with the United Nations (UN).
The negotiations were marked by various obstacles, including the lack of approval by the Honduran Parliament of reforms to the Code of Criminal Procedure demanded by the UN, including the revision of provisions on parliamentary immunity.
