February 8, 2022

10:02

Malu Dacio – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Parliamentarians of the Amazonas showed themselves contrary to the Decree No. 5254, February 3, 2022, in which the Attorney General of the Municipality (PGM) recommends the removal of individual requests from the City Council to the Manaus City Hall, the latter to meet only collective requests on behalf of the entire Legislature.

In practice, the decree, which has been approved by the Executive, has already established within the municipality that only the City Council, and no longer the councilmen individually, may supervise the acts of the executive or request information from the City Hall or municipalities.

“It is understood by the legal impossibility of providing the requested information by means of individual requests by members of the Legislative Power, for violation of the Principle of Separation of Powers, considering that the inspection of the acts of the Executive is of exclusive attribution of the Houses of the Legislative Power, according to understanding firmed by the Federal Supreme Court”, says the opinion of the attorney general of the municipality, Ivson Coelho.

During the plenary session at the City Council of Manaus on Monday, 7, the posture adopted by the overwhelming majority of councilors was silence. Only Rodrigo Guedes (PSC) and Amom Mandel (no party) were against the decree.

Rodrigo Guedes (PSC) said on the rostrum that the decree takes away the prerogative of the City Council of Manaus and the councilors in overseeing the Manaus City Hall. “This is simply silencing the voice of parliament. This decree needs to be revoked urgently”, said Guedes.

“The CMM is not a department of the City Hall. If we are to treat the House this way, it is better to pass the key and close the City Council of Manaus. This is a brutality with the parliament that we can not allow”, said the councilman.

“This decree needs to be revoked immediately. Because the requirements of the City Council of Manaus, despite being initiatives of the parliamentarian, are approved by the plenary here in this House. When it is approved, it is done by the House and by all councilmen”, recalled Rodrigo.

Guedes said he will submit a request to summon those responsible for the decree. “Decree that was signed by the mayor, but was guided by PGM and needs to be explained because the voice of the parliamentarian can not be silenced”, protested Guedes.

Limited work

Councilman Amom Mandel (no party) argued that the decree limits the work of councilors. “One thing is to say that the requests do not have this deadline established by law, according to the Organic Law of the Municipality of Manaus (Lomam), even because they are different tools”, recalls the councilman.

“One thing is the tool used by the parliamentarian, as a citizen, via the Access to Information Act. Another thing is the tool provided in the Lomam. It cannot be admitted by Parliament, it is an unnecessary weakening”, said Amom.

“It is clear that the city management wants to make it difficult to access information. If the information we want access to would have to be disclosed regardless of whether we request it, why prohibit secretariats or servers from responding to requests for information?”, questioned Mandel.

Lack of transparency

The federal lawmaker José Ricardo (PT) affirmed that there is a lack of transparency in the actions of the City Hall and the State of Amazonas. “Now, the mayor surprises by preventing the inspection of the councilors and will provide information only if the City Council, led by his ally, authorizes. An absurdity. What does the mayor want to hide? In his message to the City Council, he spoke of advances, but this attitude is a step backwards”, criticized the congressman.

José, who is also an economist, analyzes that the Lomam establishes that the City Hall must establish mechanisms for popular participation, with inspection and control of public actions, and that citizen participation will happen through their representatives, in this case, the parliamentarians.

“And the Federal Law 12.527/201 itself, in article 10, defines that any interested party may submit a request for access to information to agencies and entities. The law also establishes a deadline of 20 days for the organ or entity to grant the information”, the petista pointed out.

“Mr. Mayor, the PGM’s decision, based on a situation generated by the Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, misleads you and is not in line with the good practice of rendering accounts of actions and giving transparency to public management”, he concluded in a statement.

Transparency Law

The lawyer and political scientist Helso Ribeiro explains that the attorney general of the city prepared the opinion based on a unanimous decision of the Federal Supreme Court, understanding that individual requests from federal lawmakers in the supervision of the Presidency of the Republic do not fit.

Helso also recalls that a large part of the legislative house is formed by the mayor’s supporters. “Of the 41 councilmen, I would say that at least 35 – and being economical – are on his side. I see at first an act of antipathy towards the City Council”, he defines,

“The reason would be a possible clash of attributions of the separation of powers. I understand that the more sunlight in public business the better. We already have the Transparency Law that allows me, you, any citizen, any councilman, lawmaker, senator to request information, and public agencies are obliged to provide this information”, recalls the expert.

CENARIUM sought the City Hall through the Municipal Department of Communication (Semcom), but had no response as of the publication of this article.

Check out the Decree in full: