Ley de Transparencia, un debate sobre las falencias y las reformas
Panama’s Transparency Law, while fundamental to the rule of law, faces criticism for its deficient implementation and the lack of effective sanctions for non-compliance. The current debate underscores the need to modernize the legislation to mandate the proactive publication of data on expenditures and appointments, as well as to digitize and ensure access to information held by community boards. Experts agree that, although cultural progress has been made, administrative confusion and structural impunity persist, hindering genuine accountability. The relevance of this text to open data lies in its exposure of the legal and technical gaps that prevent the free and useful circulation of public information. The article illustrates how the absence of clear publication protocols, along with the elimination or disappearance of records, renders data inaccessible to citizens and external oversight. This highlights the urgency of standardizing digital formats and establishing legal pressure mechanisms to ensure that data are not only available but also complete, timely, and auditable. Finally, the arbitrary application of control systems and the slow deployment of technological tools, such as the electronic accountability system, are criticized. This inconsistency in administrative execution demonstrates that technology alone does not guarantee transparency if it is not backed by political will and a robust regulatory framework. The analysis concludes that to strengthen the open data ecosystem, it is imperative to correct these procedural shortcomings and ensure that transparency obligations are enforceable, thereby guaranteeing the integrity and availability of public information for all social actors.
Source: laestrella.com.paPublished on 2024-08-09