Is the second election of Carlos Hernán Rodríguez as comptroller a message of unity from Congress?

The choice, again, of Carlos Hernán Rodríguez as comptroller was sung. Although the political moment was very different from that of August 2022, Congress once again gave him its confidence to assume the State’s fiscal control body. Not only did he repeat victory, but he obtained a better vote than two years ago: 265 against 260 votes.

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As soon as the historic result was announced, Such a large vote had never been achieved according to Senator Efraín Cepeda, the once again comptroller took the microphone to deliver his victory speech. Among the many topics he touched on, what stood out was his emphasis on his election as a sign that Congress could make agreements.

“Yes there can be points of agreement“said Rodríguez, who asserted that his election is a sign of unity at a time when there is pugnacity between the branches of power. It was this point that he reiterated in the closing of his speech, in which he questioned the differences between the different parts of the State.

The return to the comptrollership of Carlos Hernán Rodríguez can be seen as a message of unity from Congress, or at least that is how the person who returned to his position interpreted it.

And in a certain way it is true, because at a time when the processing of Gustavo Petro’s government projects has become difficult, the majority of the Legislature agreed to reissue a decision that had already been made in 2022, when the relationship with the Executive was at its best.

The messages from a good part of Congress show this. Not only was it their vote, but through social networks they have agreed to celebrate the arrival of Rodríguez. There are few who have questioned the election, as is the case of representative Jennifer Pedraza, a critic of Rodríguez and who filed the lawsuit that removed him from the Comptroller’s Office in the first place.

Except for Pedraza and one other, supporters and opponents of the Petro government highlighted the election of comptroller. “I salute the election of Carlos Hernán Rodríguez as Comptroller General. We trust that his management will contribute to the Colombian people knowing truthful reports in cases of misappropriation of resources and corruption that have gone unpunished in our country,” Senator Gloria Flórez said on her networks.

Faced with this scenario, Gonzalo Araujo, founding partner of Orza, a company in charge of monitoring parliamentary activity, pointed out that: “Moderate cooptation, a mechanism established by our institutional design for the election of various positions, is proof that it is possible to do political agreements to build majorities. This is the case of the election for the second time of Comptroller Carlos Hernán Rodríguez, who, despite having to step aside from his duties, is elected again by an overwhelming majority in the Plenary Session of Congress.

However, The message of unity given by Congress this Wednesday does not automatically translate into a good omen for government projects, which are awaiting approval in Congress. This was stated by the professor at the Externado University Jorge Iván Cuervo.

“The consensus around Rodríguez predates the Petro government,” the academic noted. He even indicated that this agreement has been beyond the President’s control. “I don’t think it can be understood as a message to the government to build bridges,” he added.

Even Cuervo pointed out that it is striking that an agreement for comptroller has been maintained for so long regardless of the changing political landscape. For the teacher, it is a “message of unity from Congress” that cannot be understood as functional to the Petro government.

At that point, Gonzalo Araujo began to complement by saying that the feeling of alleged clientelism may also remain in the air mediating the election – re-election – of the new comptroller.

“Today we Colombians have to ask ourselves: what interests does the election of the Comptroller serve? That of the political and bureaucratic agreements of the cvy -How am I doing?- or those of the care of the resources coming from Colombian taxes,” indicated the expert, to which he added: “the election of the Comptroller seems to respond more to The first and the second, hopefully in the two years of his remaining institutional period, he will demonstrate that the control bodies are institutions that prevent the misuse of public resources and fight against corruption.”