A Bill Would Let Colombia’s President Redraw the Cabinet by Decree
Key Facts
Colombia’s constitution reserves the power to create, abolish or merge ministries to Congress. A bill filed this week would hand that power to the president for six months.
It has been widely described as a plan to restructure the state without congressional approval. That description gets the mechanism exactly backwards.
What the Bill Actually Does
The bill was filed by Senator Julia Correa and Representative Juan Caicedo, both of the Centro Democrático. It was not filed by the government, though it serves a government objective.
It invokes article 150, numeral 10 of the constitution. That clause lets Congress grant the president temporary power to issue decrees with the force of law, here for six months.
Congress must approve that grant by absolute majority in both chambers, and the government must expressly request it. Congress also keeps the power to amend any decree-law that results.
So the bill removes the need for a separate law per ministry, not the need for a congressional vote. Article 150, numeral 7 is the clause that reserves the underlying power to Congress in the first place.
What Would Be Merged
The finance minister, Miguel Gómez, confirmed on 14 September that the government is studying a cut from eighteen ministries to thirteen. He was speaking at a cooperative sector conference in Cartagena.
No official has said which five would go. No published document names them.
Supporters put the saving at around two per cent of gross domestic product. That figure has not been broken down.
The bill carves out several areas explicitly. The powers could not create taxes, alter the fiscal rule, change public salaries, or reach the judiciary, the control bodies or the central bank.
The Precedent Everyone Cites
Colombia has done this before. Law 790 of 2002, under President Álvaro Uribe, cut the number of ministries from sixteen to thirteen.
That restructuring used the same constitutional route. It was granted by Congress and executed by decree.
The Centro Democrático is Uribe’s party, which makes the precedent a deliberate choice rather than an accident. It also makes the constitutional path a settled one rather than an untested claim.
No named critic or institutional objection had emerged by Friday afternoon. That absence is itself worth noting in a country where executive-power questions usually draw an immediate response.
The Passport Emergency
The foreign ministry declared what Colombian law calls urgencia manifiesta on Friday. The declaration allows direct contracting without a public tender.
It follows a ruling by the Cundinamarca administrative tribunal on 2 September, which suspended the new passport-issuance model as a precautionary measure. The suspension left the ministry without a contracted supplier.
The declaration covers the supply, personalisation, custody and distribution of passport booklets and Colombian visa stickers. It is described as strictly temporary and limited to what is indispensable while a public tender is arranged.
Any contracts signed under it go to the comptroller general for review. That is the standard safeguard attached to the mechanism.
Two Stories That Are Often Merged
President Abelardo de la Espriella visited La Guajira on Thursday and announced investment under a programme called El Milagro de las Regiones. It covers 62 billion pesos for water and sanitation and 22 billion for housing.
Roads take a further 65 billion pesos and health about 10.5 billion. The four lines together come to roughly US$51 million.
The announcement contains no tax incentives. It makes no changes to subsidy or rental rules either.
Those measures exist, but they belong to a different package. Decree 1413 of 17 September creates preferential tax treatment for investment in zones hit by the 10 August earthquake.
La Guajira is not among the sixteen departments that decree covers. The earthquake struck Chocó, and the qualifying list runs through the affected interior and Pacific departments instead.
The University Investigation
Speaking in La Guajira on Thursday, the president called for a review of the rector of the University of La Guajira. He said he wanted the rector’s actions examined and that nobody wears a crown.
The rector is Carlos Arturo Robles. The president also announced a new government delegate to the institution.
What has been ordered is a review rather than a formal proceeding. No disciplinary or criminal process has been reported as open.
It fits a pattern from the administration’s first months. The instrument of choice has been the public instruction rather than the filed complaint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Colombia’s president merge ministries by himself?
No. Article 150, numeral 7 of the constitution reserves that power to Congress. The bill filed this week would grant it temporarily, and Congress must vote to do so by absolute majority in both chambers.
Who filed the bill?
Senator Julia Correa and Representative Juan Caicedo, both of the Centro Democrático. It was not filed by the government.
How many ministries would be cut?
The finance minister said on 14 September that the government is studying a reduction from eighteen to thirteen. No official has said which five would go.
What is urgencia manifiesta?
A Colombian legal mechanism allowing direct contracting without a public tender. The foreign ministry declared it on 18 September to keep passports and visas being issued after a court suspended the new model.
Did La Guajira receive earthquake tax incentives?
No. The La Guajira announcement covers water, housing, roads and health spending. The earthquake tax decree covers sixteen other departments and does not include La Guajira.
Sources: El Espectador on the extraordinary powers bill, Infobae on the plan to cut from eighteen ministries to thirteen, El Tiempo on the passport emergency declaration, Pulzo on the La Guajira investment announcement, La FM on the earthquake zone tax decree, El Tiempo on the university rector review
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times