Global Courant
San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Although the law establishes that all public institutions must publish information ex officio (except for reserve cases) and respond to requests for information, there are 28 municipalities that have not reported information on the salaries of their mayors since 2022.
The LA PRENSA Premium Data Unit carried out a comparative analysis on the salaries of mayors in the previous government and the current administration. The investigation was carried out based on information published on the transparency portal and requests for public information to the mayors’ offices.
Some of these municipalities did not have information on the platform, but they did manage to respond through the Honduran Online Information System (Sielho), which facilitated the analysis.
However, others do not have their payrolls published in the “employee compensation” section and did not respond to requests for information either.
This newspaper, through the search for information, verified that of the 28 municipalities that it could not analyze, 8 do not have information for the current period 2022-2026but yes from the 2018-2022 administration.
While 20 have not published information on the salaries of their mayors in both periods. For the majority of municipalities without information, there are no explanatory notes or notes that justify the absence of data.
In the case of La Union, OlanchoDuring the months that this newspaper carried out the analysis, between May and June, they published a note on the portal in which they clarified that the documents were not uploaded due to the lack of the mayor’s signature. Subsequently, the forms were uploaded, but the stipulated period for collecting information came to an end.
Another case in which the pay slips are published but the reason why the mayor’s salary does not appear is not detailed occurs in Las Vegas, Santa Barbara. This medium contacted the mayor, Víctor Hugo Tejada, to consult him on the issue, but he did not respond.
Obligation
The president of the Association of Municipalities of Honduras (Amhon), Nelson Castellanosdetailed that the mayors have their respective Public Information Officer (OIP) in charge of uploading the information to the portal in the first 10 days of each month.
“The law is very clear. We have to make the respective publications. It is not only about writing on the transparency portal, but also about uploading the documents,” she emphasized.
However, he acknowledged that the lack of publication is not synonymous with possible illegality and is perhaps associated with the fact that there is no personnel for such a task.
In municipalities that do not comply with one hundred percent transparency, the responsibility falls on the mayor, who will have to pay a fine with his own money and not with municipal funds.
The commissioner of the IAIP, Vladimir Mendozapointed out that mayors are obliged to have their corresponding public information officer.
“It’s not an excuse. You comply or you do not comply with the law,” she stated.
Some municipalities entered the portal until 2019 and 2020. However, the commissioner asserted that they have to publish information from previous years and not only from the year in which they entered the portal.
Keys
1. In order to promote transparency in all institutions that receive funds from the State, the Institute for Access to Public Information (IAIP) created the single transparency portal, to publish information, and the Sielho platform.
2. In accordance with article 13 of the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, all institutions are obliged to publish monthly payments and remunerations to employees, detailing their positions.
3. According to article 28 of the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, the fine for an institution for not publishing mandatory or ex officio information can be from half a minimum wage to 50 minimum wages.
