Fighting Corruption in Mexico… With More Corruption and Less Resources

The current Mexican administration has strongly advocated fighting corruption in all bodies of government. Since the election and their astonishing victory in 2018 electoral process, the president, and his party — who controls the legislative power — have tirelessly repeated their number one goal is to end corruption; and we all agree with it no matter our political view or preference. The president himself has argued the coronavirus pandemic plan is: fight corruption. Yes, it is hard to find a connection, but that is how firm their conviction — allegedly — is. Nevertheless, they are failing to achieve their goal dramatically; if any, they are going the other way.

It has been two years since they hold office, with control over not only the federal body but also a vast majority of states’ governments, through governors and local legislators loyal to the president. All of them coordinately advocate the same goals. According to Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad — a well-respected thinktank — “between December 2018 and March 2020 the president referenced acts of corruption 90% of times throughout 667 speeches”. Nevertheless, on all fronts, the discourse has fallen far from the action.

Surprisingly, that same percentage of times the president mentions his fight against corruption is not reflected in the way his government is run. Only during 2019, three out of every four contracts where assigned through direct awards while the law establishes that in — every case — government should work to conduct public tenders instead of direct awards and that the later should only be used in exceptional cases. The president had set the goal to prohibit direct awards at the beginning of his term since it was the preferred mechanism in previous corrupted dealings in past administrations. Still, he continues to act the same way as those he sworn to be different from. Direct awards are less transparent than public tenders by a significant margin and tend to be susceptible to mistake and financial damage for the government.

Words lose meaning if actions do not follow them. The president and his government have not followed their words with actions, and a clear example is a fiscal project for 2021 expenditure, presented to Congress last month. Among different items, those specifically addressing the fight against corruption saw an 8.4% cut in real terms. With fewer resources, it will be hard to observe actions of government exposed to higher risks of corruption, investigate circumstances where there is suspicion of malpractice or prosecute in case there is clear evidence against any public servant act of corruption. From 2017 to 2019, corruption in Mexico was seen to increase 15.7% as the National Institute of Statistics and Geography reflects in their triennial survey, where they ask the population about their experiences with public servants and their perception.

The president inherited this problem, and although he has been a politician for all his professional career holding office in different institutions and parties, we cannot blame him for this profound problem. However, he has not done any relevant action to reduce corruption during the two years of administration and, much worse, there are signs of corruption in his close circle. For instance, members of his cabinet have been signalled in repeated times for having more resources than those that they report on their financial disclosures. A good example is Manuel Bartlett, who has been a cabinet member for different previous administrations — all signalled as corrupted by the current president — and even general secretary of the party the president detests. Bartlett was found last year to have 23 luxury properties not reported in his financial disclosure, and an estimated fortune of 16 times his reported one. A similar situation occurred with the Secretary of Government and the Public Function Secretary — who oversees fighting corruption. How can someone who advocates ending corruption be surrounded by people believed to be corrupt and who have been dishonest in disclosing their personal wealth, a requirement to be a public servant and a public official?

To put it in a nutshell, we are all onboard to fight corruption, and that was reflected in the outcome of the election where the president had an absolute majority. Nevertheless, their obvious failure makes us urge the administration not to pretend to fight corruption and stop their actions:

• excessively using direct awards, instead of public tenders;
• reducing the budget destined to fight corruption;
• surrounding the presidency and filling the most critical political roles with people who have dishonestly acted time and time again.

The fight against corruption cannot be won with less transparency and fewer resources. Less, it cannot be fought only with words and no actions.