On 13 May 2021, the Transparency Secretariat held a virtual event that sought to answer the question: “How can we tackle corruption? Legislative initiatives that seek to block access for the corrupt”. Amongst the different discussions that took place, a panel debate was held on Bill 341, part of the Law on Transparency, Prevention and Fight Against Corruption. Our public affairs researcher, Adriana María Romero Barreto, participated in the discussion on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Institute, where she was accompanied by the Dean of Law, Political and Social Sciences at the University of Cauca and Camilo Jaimes, advisor to the Transparency Secretariat at the Presidency of the Republic.
During the panel discussion, Romero highlighted one of the most important considerations in terms of legislative initiatives that could be implemented in a bid to combat corruption, is the way in which the private sector could be compelled to reveal the final beneficiaries from any contracts signed with the public sector. This will allow for any possible conflicts of interest that might exist between the government of the day and contractors to be rapidly identified.
Additionally, she also referred to the importance of the role played by members of the public in a democracy, particularly one with such a complex situation as Colombia is currently experiencing: “Democracy is a ‘delegative’ power that citizens get to exercise when we go out to vote,” she said.