July 30, 2010
On May 6, the ASJ-supported (formerly known as AJS) Transformemos Honduras movement publicized a report showing that some $65 million in government funds had been spent on illegally inflated teachers’ salaries. The press conference sparked a storm of media attention and opened the doors of a half-dozen high-ranking government officials to TH members, who were promised that the scandal would be addressed seriously and immediately.
Two months and change later, TH published its first report card on how the government had progressed in relation to its promises. The graphic below was published in all of Honduras’ major newspapers, and the story it tells is, for the most part, a shameful one:
- Only one of five organizations received a passing grade. The National Anti-Corruption Commission earned the equivalent of a C+ for asking for information about the education scandal from the Supreme Accounts Tribunal (the general accounting and auditing office for the Honduran Government) and for passing on what information they had to the Attorney General’s Office.
- The Attorney General’s Office earned a 20% grade—an F. It assigned a prosecutor to the case, but said the prosecutor has done nothing so far.
- The Solicitor General, Minister of Education, and Supreme Accounts Tribunal all got 0%.
ASJ and the members of TH would love to be able to give better grades to these officials. But by publicly revealing these sad progress reports, TH is holding officials accountable for their lack of action, and, hopefully, spurring them to reconsider this lack of action.
