Cyclone Yaku: Moving up the performance week is a populist response from Congress

The Third Vice President of Congress, Alejandro Munanteconfirmed that the Board of Directors has directed that the performance week be brought forward for Wednesday March 15, although he also warned that Parliament does not manage a budget to deliver aid to affected areas. Faced with this panorama, it is worth asking what would be the value of the presence of legislators in the regions affected by Cyclone Yaku.

“Members of Congress represent the regions for which they were elected and we all know it” – the constitutionalist told GlobeLiveMedia carlos hakansson – “Therefore, the best way to do it is to be in the capital and in the same Congress. Your help is greatest being where the big decisions are made. The specialist considers that from Lima, parliamentarians can access the necessary resources in their places of origin.

In cases like this, the lawyer understands the work of legislators as a bridge that connects the authorities of the affected localities to the institutions that have the powers that allow them to implement concrete actions. In addition, the access of members of the national representation to the media would serve to denounce alleged irregularities in the process.

A phone call or virtual meeting would be enough for lawmakers to collect information processed by governors, mayors or state officials focused on disaster management. “With this data, they can apply the pressure necessary to get priority attention.” “Coming here to see what we all already know wouldn’t have a major impact,” added Hakansson from Piura, an area affected by Cyclone Yaku.

The regional governors and mayors are authorities with whom each member of Congress can stay in contact in order to know the information collected after the impact of the cyclone, as well as the forecasts disseminated by the specialized authorities. These would also serve as a source of information on possible executive inaction, the same that they could use to control from within the same Congress.

“It’s pure populism,” Hakansson told this news outlet of the board’s decision. He recalled the fire at the Nicolini gallery in 2017 when the authorities arrived who “before worrying about the victims, were waiting for the cameras to focus on them”. A similar scenario is expected to be recorded in the performance week which is about to begin.

From her social networks, the second vice-president of the Congress, Silvia Monteza, pointed out that “after the floods due to heavy rains in various regions of Peru, we have decided to request the advancement of the week of representation so that the members of Congress can travel to their cities and attend emergencies.” The requirement was formalized in an official letter to Congress President José Williams.

Former member of the Podemos caucus and member of the board of directors chaired by María del Carmen Alva, Enrique Wong, regretted that the reconstruction with changes showed no progress, “very little” was done despite the allocated budget . “Members of Congress are doing a great job of monitoring and helping victims,” he said in an interview with RPP Noticias. It is expected that in the next few hours the parliamentarians will announce the regions they will visit in the coming days.

As the current regulations indicate, members of Congress are authorized to visit places other than the one for which they were elected. It was thanks to the former president of Congress who endorsed the measure “on the grounds that members of Congress represent the Nation and as such cannot be prevented from traveling to a different constituency and, by a principle of equality, they must benefit from logistical support.