NEWS
AND FEATURES ON THE SOLIDARITY 2000 CAMPAIGN IN COPENHAGEN
Nicaragua
Poverty, Corruption Jeopardise Fragile Democracy
By Scarlet Cuadra
MANAGUA, June 2000 (IPS) - Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Alemán came to a May 23-24 meeting of donors in Washington buoyed up by the success of his macroeconomic programme, and an apparently viable proposal to cut poverty levels by 25 percent over the next five years.
Nicaragua posted over six percent growth last year, and projects a similar level of growth this year.
The Consultative Group for the Reconstruction and Transformation of Nicaragua, comprised of countries contributing towards efforts to rebuild Nicaragua in the wake of the late 1998 hurricane Mitch, applauded those achievements and plans in Washington and promised to uphold the 800 million dollars pledged at an earlier meeting in Stockholm.
But Alemán also heard reiterated demands for transparency, accountability and participation by civil society, from an international community concerned over the steady stream of corruption scandals implicating government officials and complaints of lack of transparency and ungovernability.
Although the Nicaraguan government had underestimated the urgency with which the demands would be voiced, foreign minister Eduardo Montealegre admitted in Washington that ''we cannot win the fight against poverty if we lose the fight against corruption.''
His remarks, however, failed to satisfy donors, who lamented that Alemán did not take part in the sessions where the issues of corruption and transparency were discussed, which they said would have led to a more frank and open dialogue.
The director of Sweden's international development agency (ASDI), Eivor Haikjaer told the Managua weekly 'Semanario Confidencial' that if there was confidence that a political will to overcome such problems in Nicaragua did indeed exist, ''the doubts would have been expressed in another manner.'' Nevertheless, Haikjaer said donor countries had confirmed their willingness to walk alongside Nicaragua, and not to leave it on its own.
''I believe the international community fears as much as we do that the poverty, corruption and lack of transparency and credibility of public institutions jeopardise the future of this country's fragile democracy,'' said legal expert Gonzalo Carrión, with the Nicaraguan Human Rights Centre (CENIDH).
According to Carrión, the so-called ''second generation'' human rights - the right to employment, health, housing, education and social security - have been violated in Nicaragua by the privatisation of public services over the past 10 years.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 1999 human development report, 17 percent of Nicaraguans - mainly in rural areas - lack access to health care of any kind, 65 percent lack adequate sanitation services and 38 percent have no clean water.
Furthermore, over 50 percent of the economically active population of this Central American nation - the poorest country in Latin America - is under-employed. Around 90 percent of the population of four million live in poverty, and at least 500,000 Nicaraguans have emigrated in the past 15 years for economic reasons, sending home remittances of more than 200 million dollars a year.
The privatisation of the social security system and implementation of privately-managed pension schemes has pushed up the age of retirement, as well as the cost of benefits. CENIDH reported that the educational system is also in crisis.
Every year, one million Nicaraguans of school-age remain outside the school system, while one out of four Nicaraguans above the age of six are illiterate. But not only social and economic rights are in sharp decline in Nicaragua.
Under the conservative administration of Alemán, political and civil rights have been similarly threatened, due to the president's ''authoritarian governing-style,'' said Carrión. ''The number of citizens who mistrust the administration of justice in this country is growing day by day,'' he said.
''The same thing is occurring with respect to the independence of the branches of power, which to a greater or lesser degree have demonstrated their submission to the executive branch.'' The political pact between the governing Liberal Constitutionalist Party and the left-wing Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which introduced major changes into the electoral system, has led to a reduction in the level of citizen participation and the imposition of a two-party model.
The study ''Nicaragua's Electoral Reform: Governability or Exclusion?'' financed by the ASDI reported that the new electoral laws did not contribute to strengthening the democratic system because they set up obstacles to political participation by organisations aspiring to compete in elections. The situation in the country is alarming, said Carrión.
''The majority of Nicaraguans are excluded from the system of distribution of wealth, jobs, access to basic services, the administration of justice and civic participation, which jeopardises governability. ''This situation can lead to protests and civic unrest among those who are excluded, triggering repression and giving way to violence and political instability,'' he warned.