Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic: Government and Politics
a public-sector worker was often expected to do political work
for his or her patron.
The abuse of the public sector and of public administration
was particularly evident during Balaguer's governments.
Although he insisted that corruption stopped "at the door of
his office," he openly acknowledged the legitimacy of what he
politely termed "commissions," allowing his family members to
accept ostensible donations and gifts by favored contractors.
Balaguer rarely called cabinet meetings, although he named
dozens of people as secretaries of state without portfolio.
Around election time, in particular, he openly countenanced
corruption and the abuse of state resources. Balaguer's policy
of rotating individuals in and out of government positions
extended to the appointment of governors of the Central
Bank; indeed, in a sample of fifty-eight countries over the past
several decades, the Dominican Republic had the second lowest
average tenure, around twenty-one months, for a Central
Bank governor (only Argentina was lower). The PRD administrations,
particularly that of Jorge Blanco, were not free of
these problems, although they tended to be more rational in
their naming of cabinet officials.
Under President Fernandez, until August 1999 there were
fifteen secretaries of state: an administrative secretary of state
for the presidency, a technical secretary of state for the presidency,
and twelve additional secretaries of state administering
various secretariats. In August 1999, Congress approved the
establishment of a new secretary of state for women. In addition,
as of year-end 1999, the Central Bank governor named by
Balaguer in 1994 had retained his position.
In addition to the cabinet secretaries of state, in 1999 the
country had some two dozen autonomous and semiautonomous
agencies. The autonomous and semiautonomous agencies
were established in the early 1960s to administer new
public programs as well as the vast properties and enterprises
inherited by the state after the death of Trujillo. These agencies
administer an array of programs and enterprises, ranging
from farm loans to cooperatives to vast sugar lands. The largest
of these is the State Sugar Council (Consejo Estatal del Azucar—CEA),
which at one time had 85,000 employees, making it
the largest employer in the country and its most important
exporter. Among the others are the Dominican State Enterprises
Corporation (Corporacion Dominicana de Empresas
Estatales—Corde), in which twenty-three state-owned enter-
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