Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
prises that had belonged to Trujillo were consolidated, and the
Dominican Electricity Corporation (Corporation Dominicana
de Electricidad—CDE) (see Industry, ch. 3).
These agencies traditionally have been dominated by
patronage considerations, plagued by corruption and inefficiency,
and sometimes plundered for electoral purposes. By the
end of Balaguer's last term in office in 1996, even enterprises
that once had been profitable were plagued with deficits. The
government was being forced to subsidize the CEA, which had
once provided the government with a steady stream of revenue.
In addition, the CDE confronted a situation in which
more than half of the electricity that it sold was either lost in
transmission or distribution or not paid for, even as the country
was plagued with frequent outages.
Under President Fernandez, some steps toward rationalization
of some public enterprises and the privatization of others
were initiated during his first three years in office, following
passage of the Public Enterprise Reform Law of 1997. However,
in the face of protests from nationalists and workers at the
firms, as well as resistance from opposition parties that feared
the administration might use funds received from privatization
for partisan political purposes, the government was proceeding
slowly. By the end of 1999, steps had been taken to privatize the
distribution of energy; to further privatize some of the production
of electricity; to allow private investments in some CEA
lands, with the expectation that many of the state's sugar mills
would be leased to the private sector; and to permit greater private-sector
involvement in areas such as the management of
the country's seaports and airports.
Local Government
The Dominican system of local government, like the Dominican
legal system, has been based on the French system of topdown
rule and strong central authority. In late 1999, the country
was divided into twenty-nine provinces plus the National
District (Santo Domingo). The provinces in turn were subdivided
into a total of 108 municipalities. Each province is administered
by a civil governor appointed by the president. A
governor must be a Dominican citizen, at least twenty-five years
old, and in full possession of civil and political rights. The powers
and duties of governors are set by law. The constitution
establishes the structure of local government; its specific functions
are enumerated in the municipal code.
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