The administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderón is considering transforming the Secretary of Public Function into a branch that is directly under the control of the Office of the Presidency. Critics say that this will be a step backwards in controlling corruption by creating a conflict of interest and reducing transparency.
Gustavo LópezMontiel of the InstitutoTecnológico y de EstudiosSuperiores de Monterrey, said that the move fails to follow a general global tendency to create autonomous government organisms to oversee the proper use of public funds.
The Secretary of Public Function was created in 1982 under a slightly different name: the Secretaría de Contraloría General de la Federación. It has undergone other name changes over the years, but its basic mission has been to provide a means of ensuring that public funds are being used properly in the administration.
SOURCE:
Brito, Omar. “’Restroceso’, la creacion de la controlaria.” El Economista September 13, 2009.
