Comments on the UCD Open Letter to President Lobo

Confidence: Lobo does what is best for the country?
Cid-Gallup poll taken between June 14 and 20, 2011

Always: 6%
Almost always: 33%
Almost never: 46%
Never: 15%
No response: 1%


UCD made some good points in their open letter to Honduran President Lobo. We cannot figure out where this country is headed or who is directing the journey. In the June Cid-Gallup poll, 78% of Hondurans believe that the country is on the wrong path. On the one hand, we have a huge 'Honduras is open for business' event, making promises of investor security and ease of doing business. On the other hand, we have government condoned invasions and expropriation of business and private property, huge new tax packages, more violent crime than ever, and a general belittling of businessmen as if they are the enemy.

Where are jobs to come from if not from businesses? The government cannot hire every Honduran, though they certainly try their best with a hugely over-bloated bureaucracy that spends so much on salaries that there is nothing left for programs.

President Lobo and several members of his administration have made broad accusations to the media that slander and discredit large groups of people. Besides promoting division in the country, this "dirties" everyone in that class and does nothing to address the real problems (whether criminal or ethical) that he vaguely implies. Lobo has done that many times, including making wild comments that the 'elite' want to/are/will plan a coup against him.

No, I'm not suggesting that corruption, tax evasion or illegal acts should be swept under the rug — just the opposite. Rather than making vague statements to the media, and using disrespectful terms like "fat cows", "crybabies", and "los ricos" (the rich), which only serve to divide, not reconcile the population, I think that these public officials with access to official documentation have a duty to file formal denuncias and ensure that legal action is taken against corrupt government officials and businessmen. But in Honduras, no one is ever held accountable for their actions, and that feeds the general perception that everyone in Honduras is corrupt.

Lobo's inaugural day statement which received the most applause — and the one I feel most foolish for believing — was "No more corruption! Corruptos are going to go to jail, period!" During this year and a half of his administration, there has been no evidence of that at all, not even a baby step in that direction. What we have seen is Lobo pressuring the courts and the congress to ensure that certain corruptos do not receive justice and that laws are ignored when it is convenient.

From the Cid-Gallup poll, 42% believe there is more corruption in this government, 42% believe it is the same, and only 13% believe there is less corruption.

We have also seen President Lobo passing the buck to underlings instead of taking a public stand on alleged corrupt acts, like the recent diplomatic scandals (one in which a diplomat transported US $450,000 in cash from Mexico to Panama). No, the President does not run the Ministerio Público or the courts — or at least he isn't supposed to — but a strong statement from the president about diplomats that he himself has appointed would be welcomed by the population who want to see some real action taken against these officials, not just removal from their positions. When the worst anyone needs to worry about is a slim possibility of being fired, but still being allowed to keep their illegal gains and no chance of criminal charges, that makes corruption a win-win prospect.

It isn't just Lobo who promotes division in the country by smearing broad groups of people. There seems to be an epidemic in his administration. Minister of Finance William Chong Wong has made frequent claims that many large businesses do not pay taxes and that large law firms are involved in falsifying documents. So? Isn't it the government's job to ensure that taxpayers pay what they owe and that appropriate action is taken against tax evaders? Hundreds of small businesses are closed every month for tax evasion and paperwork irregularities. Why aren't the big businesses treated the same way?

Director of the DEI, José Oswaldo Guillén claims that corruption among port authorities results in under-valuation of imported vehicles with the cost to the government of L. 400 million in lost taxes. If that is so, isn't it his job to report these crimes and press for criminal action against those who committed fraud and falsified government documents? Why isn't criminal action taken against government employees who accept bribes and commit fraud?

President of the Congress Juan Orlando Hernández claimed that many congressmen violated the law regarding tax exemption of their personal imported vehicles, sometimes using the same exemption three or four times and sometimes using forged documents. But he did nothing to expose the individual congressmen or to propose legal action against them, instead merely implying that many in congress were guilty without naming names.

These aren't new accusations. Most of these claims have been made for years and in prior administrations. In my mind, if officials have evidence of all of these crimes and do nothing, that makes them accomplices to the corruption.

So what is the general public to think? That all government officials, all congressmen, and all businessmen are guilty of corruption and that no one will ever do anything about it. It's no surprise that citizens have no respect for their government or the laws. That is not good for the country. If the population were to see real action on the corruption front, applied equally to members of all political parties and all individuals regardless of their economic status or personal connections, Hondurans might start believing in their government again. (Poll: tendencies in the opinion of Lobo's performance.)

During Pepe Lobo's 2009 presidential campaign, he refused to give his opinions on even the most basic issues, such as "Who is the president of Honduras?", consistently stating that he needed a 'gran dialogo nacional' (grand national dialogue) first. Now he says that he was given a mandate and that he can't be bothered with getting public opinion. He is publicly dismissive of opinions coming from anyone who he considers of the "right". Lobo gives the impression that 'reconciliation' to him means kowtowing to the radical FNRP, the teacher unions, and the international community while ignoring the views and the serious issues of the rest of people of Honduras.

President Lobo has made some popular decisions which have been cheered by most of the population — but unfortunately, he invariably seems to backtrack on those decisions in the interests of reconciliation. One example is his position that "a day not worked is a day not paid" for the teachers. The Ministry of Education began deducting for "strike days" from the teachers' paychecks. In an emergency proclamation it was declared that teachers who did not return to work by a certain day would be suspended without pay and some were.

But now it has been announced that the suspensions will be reversed and that all teachers would be paid for all days whether worked or not. Apparently this was a negotiation concession, but rather than having the intended effect, the union leaders immediately remarked to the media "what a weak president we have", and teachers in several schools went on strike again! Lobo's threats will never be taken seriously again and teacher unions will continue to hold the children of Honduras hostage, because they know they can win.

Free electricity

Wires crossed

In Sunday's La Prensa, I happened to see one of those little one paragraph sidebar news items that don't seem to be included in the on line version.

Complaints in La ENEE
This week it was known that the Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (la ENEE) has lost L. 12 million for the effect of a "borrador electrónico" (electronic erasure) or for having billed large consumers at zero in the northwest zone. To deduce responsibilities, an audit will be initiated tomorrow.

Let me look into my crystal ball and see into the future.........

Here we go: The audit will find nothing amiss. The system doesn't allow determination of who makes what entries into it. It was a mere accident, a fluke, and no one will be held responsible. Of course, it wouldn't be fair to charge these companies when they have already been billed at zero. So, in the interest of peace and reconciliation, we'll just let it go. In fact, to ensure no claims of political persecution, maybe we'll just spin those meters backward a bit. No further mention will be made in the newspapers.

They could estimate these bills by charging a 3-month average like they do for mere mortals like us. With some help, they might even calculate the average correctly, unlike they did for us.

La ENEE actually temporarily changed out our meter once during one of their inspections because they thought we weren't paying enough — even though at the time, we thought our bill was plenty high! Maybe compared to the neighbors who use a lot of A/C, it seemed low to them. Who knows why they do crazy things. I was sure that we would get screwed somehow, and we were.

After they returned to re-install our original meter — which, of course, had not been tampered with and was working correctly — they 'averaged' our last 3 months bills to arrive at the current month's bill. From a prior article, Electrocuted by La ENEE:

The only problem was that our prior three months bills were something like L.1,400, L.1,800, and L.1,500 and SEMEH calculated the 'average' as L.2,800. The clerk could not understand why El Jefe was too stupid to understand the averaging concept. Math? Who needs it? If it came from the computer, it must be right. Logic and a little math tutoring got him nowhere with the clerk and that was the end of the discussion − case closed.

When you know all the corrupt and wasteful crap that goes on with La ENEE like the article above and the stuff that came out during Operación Tijeras (and I'm sure that the public doesn't even know the half of what goes on) and when the consumer has personally been "electrocuted " as many have, it begins to be easier to understand why many folks aren't interested in doing their share to conserve energy or are even willing to cheat on their bills if they can.

I'm not saying it is right or that I approve because I don't. I'm just saying that it is understandable that people think "What's the point of being honest?" when the whole system is against the 'little guy'. But in the end, La ENEE will go on as it always has and we all pay for all the waste and corruption in the form of higher bills, bad service, and power outages.

How much electricity does your stuff use?

So much juice!

"Shaving the electric bill" brought on quite a few reader comments which you might enjoy checking out (click the link to read the comments).

Based on the interest from readers, I looked up a website that I've consulted in the past. If you would like to learn more about shaving your electric costs and you are not a 'science guy' (like I am definitely not), you might enjoy this website:

How much electricity does my stuff use?

This page includes an interactive calculator in which you can input the type of device, your kwh rate (with some limitations), the number of hours you use the item per day and the number of days you use it per month. The calculator will show you the estimated cost per month and per year.

This is one of the better calculators I've found, since some items are used 24-hours per day (refrigerator), some may be used only on a few days of the month (washer, dryer), and some may be used only for a limited number of minutes or hours each day (microwave, stove, lights, computer, etc.). Mr. Electricity says that his calculators factor in the start-up usage, which is often much higher, as well as the normal running usage. Of course, these are estimates, but enlightening nonetheless.

Determining your kwh (kilowatt hour) rate is easy. If it isn't printed on the bill, just take your total electric costs (don't include extra charges such a public lighting) and divide by the usage, which should be listed on the bill in kwh. On La ENEE's bill it is listed as 'CONSUMO KWH' and the total electric cost is 'COSTO DE ENERGIA CNSUMIDA' plus 'AJUSTE POR COMBUSTIBLE'. For comparison purposes, my cost last month after our big ajuste is US $0.17 per kwh (L. 3.21). In February when our usage was below the magic 500 kwh/month level and before the latest increase, the cost was US $0.15 per kwh (L.2.81).

I delved into some of the other pages based on Patty's perplexing problem of high meter readings for no readily apparent reason. Provided that no one is stealing electricity from her meter (a not so infrequent possibility in Honduras), it may be that inadequate wiring plays a part. I think that this is a frequent problem in Honduras in which in order to 'save money', electricians use undersized wiring. I know that we had constant disagreements with our electrician. Even though we were paying for the materials, he seemed intent on using the smallest and cheapest wires, breakers, etc. That is something to keep in mind if you are building a house in Honduras.

I'm posting some other links from that site that I found interesting:

Electricity myths

Why is my bill so high? — includes some toubleshooting tips that might help you to pinpoint the problem.

Refrigerators — very interesting in that he says that the difference in usage between refrigerators built before 2001 and newer ones is huge. It is also possible that usage between refrigerators built for US standards could be very different from from those made for Central America.

Gas vs. electric was surprising in that Mr. Electricity shows that there isn't as much difference as I thought there was. Of course, as he says, it really depends on your particular cost of gas and electric. We don't have piped in natural gas here in Honduras, so gas appliances run on LPG tanks, like the ones used for outdoor grills, or larger ones in the back yard. I know the cost of gas has gone up, too, but I have no idea how to compare the two.

The website also discusses specific appliances in more detail, solar power, CFL vs. LED light bulbs, and several other topics. I like it because it is written in a non-technical manner easy to understand. I hope you enjoy it.

I'm sure there are other informative websites, so if you know of any others, please feel free to include the link in the comments. I'll read them!