There were many changes that were announced regarding the purge that the Congress of the Republic would have. There was talk of reducing the legislative recess, lowering the salary and the number of parliamentarians, but so far none of these initiatives has been consolidated.
In the first order are the ordinary sessions of the Legislative, which must begin, according to the rules, on March 16. However, every four years congressmen have been summoned since the beginning of February to debate and approve this bill, in which the government’s road map is consigned.
It is worth remembering that article 138 of the Constitution says that the second session of Congress begins on March 16 and ends on June 20. These deadlines have aroused controversy from the moment they were stipulated, because it is considered that there is too much vacation time for legislators.
In this case, the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, has said that the idea of the national government is to summon extra sessions from February 6 and begin the process of this initiative. The final decree in which the summons would be made is still awaiting.
Three topics would begin to be discussed within the extraordinary sessions. The first is the National Development Plan 2022-2026, which according to the Constitution must be in the hands of Congress within six months of the start of the presidential term, a date that is precisely February 7.
Another topic of discussion in the extraordinary sessions would be the controversy health reform which has been announced by Minister Carolina Corcho and the President of the Republic himself.
For his part, he Senator Jota Pe Hernandez, of the Green Alliancestressed that “the bill we are presenting is the most viable, the one that takes the least time to be approved since it only needs four debates and not eight, like the other bills that amend the Constitution.”
“What ours does is modify Law 4 and eliminate a special premium for services that congressmen receive monthly,” he added.
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Congressional and pay cut
In December 2022, the Government authorized the salary increase that corresponds to congressmen that year, of 7.26%, which leaves their monthly salary at $37,900,000; fact that goes against the reduction that is sought in the income of parliamentarians.
Congressmen’s salaries are adjusted each year; however, the measure was not very well received by Colombians, who have repeatedly called for it to be lowered.
In 2022, four projects were filed from the beginning to lower the salary of legislators or make it grow moderately, tying it to the annual CPI.
This cascade of initiatives would be explained because there was a drastic change in the composition of Congress due to the growth of leftist and alternative forces, to the detriment of the traditional parties, which have usually criticized the benefits of parliamentarians, such as high salaries. .
This is added to the fact that several self-reform initiatives sank in the Legislative past, such as reducing the recess after December, limiting the number of terms and, precisely, lowering wages, at a time when many citizens were experiencing the pandemic. bad financially.
One of the most solid projects is that of constitutional reform number 10, filed by the benches of the Democratic Center in the Senate and Chamber, with the objective of reducing the number of members of Congress and making a salary reduction for parliamentarians.
Senator Paloma Valencia, from the Democratic Center, author and speaker of this project, explained that it was modified as a result of an agreement that she reached with senators from different parties, including those from the government bench.
As a consequence, articles 1 and 2, which referred to reducing the number of congressmen and the beginning of the session, respectively, were withdrawn from this reform.
The reason why the first article was withdrawn is that the reduction in the number of congressmen without prior consultation “could affect the special seats of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, which would reduce the constitutional right that was acquired in 1997,” affirmed the Senator Aida Quilcue.