Op-ed: How pandemic-related corruption calls for constitutional change in Panama

While the COVID-19 pandemic presents a number of new socioeconomic challenges and intensifies weaknesses pertaining to inequality and corruption, it also presents an opportunity for the Panamanian government to rethink the future. Panama can emerge from this crisis and embark on a dynamic and sustainable growth path, but only if the country devises a new social contract that strives to provide equal opportunities for all. As in the case of Chile, which on October 25 voted to rewrite the country’s Constitution after mass protests against inequality, a new social contract for Panama must be designed together with its society and must include key proposals for revitalizing the economy, which was one of the fastest growing in the world prior to the pandemic. Most critically, the creation of institutional incentives to deter corruption and an independent judicial system that prosecutes, convicts, and sentences individuals found guilty of corruption must be put in place to address improbity.
Read the full article here: Atlantic Council