A former senator from Colombia’s last Congress took the sink and carpet from her old office, preventing incoming Senator Alvaro Uribe from being able to move into his office, according to local media.
Colombia’s new Congress is getting off to a turbulent start with several senators complaining and pointing fingers over the offices they have been assigned in Congress.
Former senator Claudia Wilches thought it “appropriate” to take everything from her former office including the sink, carpet, lights, and television mounts because they were investments she made into the office, according to Colombia’s W Radio.
The office was left in unworkable conditions with the holes in the walls, an incomplete bathroom, and a bare floor.
Wilches justified her action on her Twitter account with pictures of receipts of the inventory she had in her office. However, the former senator definitely did not leave the office in the condition it was given to her.
Paz y salvos que prueban que TODO lo que fue asignado fue recibido a satisfaccion (Vehículos, mobiliario, etc) pic.twitter.com/M59X2AQ1dK
— Claudia Wilches (@claudiawilches) July 23, 2014
Apparently, Wilches was motivated to strip the office clean after learning that the office would be given to U Party senator Roy Barreras, and not to a senator from the Democratic Center Party, according to Blu Radio.
Roy Barreras’s refusal to leave his old office has left former president and current Senator Uribe as the only senator without an office in the Senate building.
Alvaro Uribe was assigned Barreras’s office, which is one of the largest and most conveniently located, according to Semana news magazine.
Barreras apparently was not very pleased that his top floor office was given to Alvaro Uribe. Barreras said Uribe took what was his, reported Blu Radio.
Uribe has acknowledged the situation and accepted that Barreras stay in his old office until the situation had been resolved.
Another senator from Uribe’s Democratic Center Party has also voiced complaints about the office she was assigned. Senator Paloma Valencia asserted that her office had poor ventilation and was “in no condition for working in groups,” according to El Tiempo newspaper.
The senator wrote on her Twitter account, “Senate offices should be raffled and not assigned according to friendships with the government.”
Las oficinas del Congreso deberían ser sorteadas y no asignadas según amistad con el gobierno — PalomaValenciaLasern (@PalomaValenciaL) July 22, 2014
Sources
- Pelotera en el Congreso por asignación de oficinas (Blu Radio)
- Paloma Valencia (Twitter)
- Claudia Wilches (Twitter)
- La ‘desvalijada’ a la nueva oficina de Roy Barreras (Semana)
- Hasta el lavamanos se llevó la exsenadora Claudia Wilches de su oficina del Congreso (W Radio)
- Paloma Valencia protesta por su oficina en el Congreso (El Tiempo)