The Minister of Interior and Justice said that seven governors have not yet provided details of how they plan to use relief money to help those affected by the rainy season, RCN Radio reports Thursday.
German Vargas Lleras stated that the governors of only 21 out of the 28 departments affected by the torrential rains have completed the agreements with the government’s Calamity Fund.
He had said that if the remaining seven, who he did not name, do not complete their obligations by midnight Wednesday, then they will be removed from the responsibility of allocating relief resources, according to Semana Wednesday.
“We regret having to do it in a coercive manner, but the national government resources have already been placed in the trust of each governorship/department for 15 days.”
“They are all the resources that have been requested. Each governor sent a census and an estimate of what is immediately required to fully attend to the entire population in the affected regions. We are concerned that it has taken 15 days to begin to operate,” he explained.
Those who do not comply with the requirement to present a coherent plan to distribute funds will lose the privilage of distributing the funds. Governors must appoint an operator to channel and administer the money to those affected.
These operators will be in the form of international aid groups like the Red Cross, or other similar “entities of recognized reliability and excellence.”
Vargas Lleras has previously said that the government will be closely monitoring the distribution of relief funds for any sign of corruption, particularly with as regional political campaigns get underway.