The Polo Democratico said that the government’s continued delays in choosing a new Bogota mayor are driven by private interests in the sale of the currently state-owned telecommunications company ETB.
Party members said that the background to President Juan Manuel Santos’ decision to keep Education Minister Maria Fernanda Campo in the position of interim mayor of the Colombian capital has to do with the privatization of the ETB for economic reasons, local media reported Friday.
The sale of the ETB has been attempted by a series of Bogota administrations, including that of former Green Party Mayor Antanas Mockus, but the project has never reached completion.
House Representative Wilson Arias said that Santos’ administration is pushing to sell the company, and that Campo owns shares in the company.
The representative maintained that the rush to sell the ETB is what has motivated the government not to designate a new mayor belonging to the Polo Democratico, a fact for which the party has repeatedly criticized Santos, stating that the selection of a Polo mayor is stipulated by law.
Santos placed the education minister in the position of interim mayor after former Bogota mayor Samuel Moreno Ocampo, of the Polo Democratico, was suspended from office on corruption charges.
The former mayor’s party brought complaints against Santos Thursday with the House of Representatives Accusations Commission for alleged intentional delays in the process of selecting a new mayor from Moreno Ocampo’s party.