BRIEFS. politics

Government workers to receive food bags

la prensa

old tradition: Opposition leaders criticized the government for using public funds to gift officials with $50 holiday food bags. 1137812

The National Charity Lottery will give away about 2,000 bags of food to the families of its employees today, said representatives of the entity.

The holiday food bag, replete with ham, fresh fruit, Compita brand rice, traditional egg bread and various dry goods, was bought by the organization at the Institute of Agricultural Marketing. Valued at $49, the total cost bill came to roughly $98,000, a figure that includes the estimated to cost of packaging.

Opposition parties looked with suspicion on the gifts, noting “with concern” that the food items were acquired with the use of public resources during a critical period leading up to next year’s elections.

Vice President of the Partido Panameñista, Alcibiades Vásquez, said that measures should be taken to put an end to the government’s long-standing tradition of giving gifts to officials at the public’s expense.

Vásquez added that if the government insists on continuing to utilize public funds for the tradition, the food should be donated for the country’s needier functionaries, and not for everyone across the board.