Off the cuff

07-14-2009 |

Panama Star President Ricardo Martinelli is on the warpath again, striking at those who seemed to have been off the radar during the previous administration as they pushed ahead with development plans, destroyed vegetation and followed the Figali lead in doing landfill whenever and wherever they felt inclined.

The President rightly says that groups of rich men cannot get richer on the backs of their fellow countrymen by handing out a few bribes and obtaining concessions at bargain sale prices, so his promise to stop legislators from arriving with empty pockets, and leaving with them full, has been extended to the business community. There will inevitably be cries of outrage, as a right wing president re-defines what we mean by a free market. His actions are important steps in convincing the rest of the world that corruption can be dramatically reduced given the will, and of course the die benefits will be the gradual reduction of the gap between the rich and the poor.