On June 29, 2023, Law 2281 was passed, which formalized the existence of the Ministry of Equality and Equity, headed by Vice President Francia Márquez. With its constitution, the Institutes for Family Welfare, the Deaf and the Blind were in charge.
Initially the portfolio created in the Petro Government, It had a budget allocation, for 2023, of $500,000 million, superior to other portfolios such as the ministries of Technology, Justice, Science and Transportation.
For this year, $1.3 billion was assigned to the Ministry of Equality, an item higher than the ministries of Commerce, Industry and Commerce ($949,541 million); Foreign Relations ($703,000 million); Transportation ($523,713 million); Science, Technology and Innovation ($397,875 million); Justice and Law ($211,486 million); and Information and Communications Technologies ($120,000 million).
For September 6 of the same year, The Attorney General’s Office, headed by Margarita Cabello, recognized the constitutionality of the creation of the Ministry, admitting that it did not affect the criterion of fiscal sustainability. The control entity emphasized the processes and compatibility of the fiscal impact study with economic policy projections.
On April 23, the Comptroller General of the Republic warned about the low execution of the General Budget of the Nation for this year, with only 9.1% in the investment category, where the Ministry of Equality showed an execution of 0.0%, the lowest in the cabinet in the first quarter of 2024. Given this, the vice president, Francia Márquez, defended her management by arguing that “The law was signed on January 4, 2023” and, one year and three months later, many procedures have arisen to be able to operate.
This Wednesday, May 8, the Plenary Chamber of the Constitutional Court declared Law 2281 of 2023 unenforceable, which created this ministry, arguing a procedural defect in Congress. The Law that leaves the Ministry of Equality without a floor will take effect after the 2025-2026 legislature.
“It would affect the implementation of public policy that has been designed by the legislator and the executive to guarantee the rights of subjects of special constitutional protection, such as mothers who are heads of households and people with disabilities. The foregoing could, in turn, compromise the validity of the principle of equality and, specifically, the mandate provided for in article 13.3 of the Political Charter,” explained the Constitutional Court.
Regarding the validity of the ruling until 2026, Senator Paloma Valencia, who filed the lawsuit before the Court, indicated that they wanted the validity to be immediate, but that they respect the times of the Court, which proposed effects of the ruling until 2026 to avoid administrative chaos.
And he added, “I want to tell you that the Constitutional Court has just ruled in favor of my lawsuit against the Ministry of Equality. The Government never explained what the fiscal impact of the Project was. A Ministry that was pure bureaucracy; $1.3 trillion of which $900,000 million were for bureaucratic positions,” said Senator Valencia.
The decision has had reactions in favor, who although they welcome the Government’s work for the equality of communities, maintain that the Ministry created mainly represented bureaucratic expenses.
“The reality is that all the actions of the executive must be subject to certain parameters and it must be consulted if there are resources. The management of the public treasury must be very strict. There is a tendency to waste”, former magistrate Nilson Pinilla, former president of the Constitutional Court, told the FM