To date, 13 corporate directors have been elected, of which six are re-elected. On alert CARthe Ministry of the Environment has reported that nine election processes are suspended due to different citizen actions.
The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development has raised two alerts so that the election sessions are carried out in compliance with the principles of transparency, maximum publicity, access to information and participation, as well as the agreements that regulated these procedures in each CAR.
In the first case, as president of the Board of Directors of Corpomojana, the Ministry announced that it will electorally demand the selection process of the director of this Corporation for evidencing flaws in the development of the election session held on October 27, called without approval. of the president.
“Citizen contributions have been vital importance in the development of these elections. We continue to listen to Colombians, receiving comments from all over the country and concerns from people about access to information in corporations. We continue to accompany the oversight bodies and raise alerts as members of these councils,” said Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development.
The delegate of the Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, stated the inconvenience of holding the election without previously modifying the initial schedule, affected by the protection action instituted due to non-compliance with a protection ruling from 2022 (which ordered to recognize the participation of representatives of black communities in the board of directors of the Corporation); protection that was accompanied by a request for a precautionary measure to suspend the process, which was initially granted and later revoked, making it necessary, as already indicated, to modify the schedule and its subsequent publicity in observance of the principles of transparency and maximum publicity.
On October 26 at 9:30 am, the secretary of the board of directors of Corpomojana, without consulting with the president of the Board of Directors, sent an email to the members of the board of directors summoning them to October 27 at 9 am to resume the election session suspended on October 25 on the occasion of the notification of the admission of the guardianship and the order to suspend the election process until the constitutional action was resolved.
The actions of the secretary of the board are completely irregular because in accordance with the Corporate Statutes the call for board sessions and in this case to continue with the suspended session, at least in terms of date and time for it, guaranteeing that everyone members of the board of directors could participate, it must have been made or ordered by the President of the Board, the director of the Corporation or four members of the board of directors for which there must be a written request for it to be official.
However, the six members of the Corpomojana board of directors who attended the session in person elected a director, ignoring the alerts issued by the National Government.
On the other hand, the Minister’s delegate to the Board of Directors of the CAS warned about the need to process and resolve in accordance with current legislation, the challenge presented against eight directors of that corporation. In that sense, the delegate transferred the citizen arguments to the Board of Directors, which led to their referral to the Attorney General’s Office so that it could decide in accordance with its powers; Additionally, he pointed out that the experience endorsed by the board of directors of the CAS to the governor’s private secretary as a candidate for the position of director of the Corporation is not clear because the functions of the governor’s delegate to the CDMB and before the CAS as if said functions were carried out permanently, despite having as the Governor’s private secretary the functions of her position, which are not environmental.
How are the elections going?
Currently, of the 33 corporations in the country, 12 have elected directors and only one, director, the CSB (Bolivar). In the process of monitoring the elections, the Ministry of Environment has established that nine election processes are suspended due to different citizen actions. The Corporations with suspended elections are:
- Carder: Regional Autonomous Corporation of Risaralda
- CAS: Regional Autonomous Corporation of Santander
- Codechocó: Regional Autonomous Corporation for the Sustainable Development of Chocó
- Cormacarena: Corporation for the Sustainable Development of the Macarena Area
- Corponariño: Nariño Regional Autonomous Corporation
- Corporinoquia: Orinoquía Regional Autonomous Corporation
- CRQ: Regional Autonomous Corporation of Quindío
- CVC: Autonomous Corporation of Valle del Cauca
Through the email electionscar@minambiente.gov.co, citizens can send their comments and questions about the processes of election of directors of the Regional Autonomous and Sustainable Development Corporations. Likewise, the Attorney General’s Office established the following channels to report irregularities: electionsdirectorescars@procuraduria.gov.co and complaints@procuraduria.gov.co.
