No-confidence motion against Karen Abudinen dropped because members of Congress did not attend the vote

This September 10, The House of Representatives voted the motion of censure against ICT Minister Karen Abudinen, who resigned her post a day earlier.

The opposition barely got 56 votes in favor of the motion and four votes against. By not respecting the quorum since 85 votes were needed, there was no absolute majority in the House, so the motion fell.

However, the opposition denounces that from the start of the plenary session, around 150 parliamentarians were connected and they ensure that they had to vote because they had previously registered. Representative María José Pizarro has announced legal action for what happened.

“96 members of Congress were on the platform, and I ask you, Mr. Secretary, to certify during the voting period which members of Congress were on the platform and did not vote. It’s a parody of the Colombians “, said Representative Katherine Miranda.

For his part, the deputy León Fredy Muñoz recalled that Law 5 in its article 123 number four, specifies that: “The number of votes, in all votes, must be equal to the number of members of Congress present in the respective society at the time of the vote, with the right to vote. If the result does not match, the election is annulled by the President and its repetition is ordered ”.

Faced with this questioning, the secretary of the House assured that this is a standard that was used in the vote as the elections of public officials, but that it did not apply to the motion. censorship, without explaining in more detail why.

Here you can see the vote:

Abudinen’s resignation

In the afternoon of September 9, the Minister of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Karen Abudinen, officially presented his irrevocable resignation letter to President Iván Duque. He assured that he had never hesitated to resign, but that he wanted to have a few weeks to meet the country with the aim of connecting seven thousand schools and terminating the contract with the Unión Temporal Centros Poblados.

“I respectfully present to you my irrevocable resignation from the post of Minister of Information and Communication Technologies. Today, on leaving his government, I pay tribute to his qualities as a statesman and leader. I recognize in you deep democratic values, an admirable intelligence in your decisions, and I publicly underline in my resignation your values ​​as a human being and as a leader “So began Abudinen’s speech.

“Today, I retire because of the circumstances in the country, but with the peace of mind of a job well done.”

The now former minister, assured that she was working with honesty and transparency, and that those who feel satisfied to launch humiliations against her, “Someday, when the truth prevails in all its glory, they will recognize their mistake”.

In the letter, Abudinen pointed out that during his 16 months as head of the ministry, he has developed works and projects that will transcend in time. “We have made progress towards the goal of 70% connectivity in the country. Today 56.5% of Colombian households have fixed and mobile internet according to the latest quality of life survey published in 2020 ″, Tenuous.

He also said they had connected 342,000 families to a subsidized fixed Internet, started with the delivery of 340,000 SIM cards to young and female entrepreneurs, installed more than 2,000 Wi-Fi points in rural and urban areas, delivered 281,000 computers to official schools, created a training project for 100,000 programmers and benefited 10,000 businesses and enterprises to strengthen e-commerce.

“I am retiring with the hope that in the coming days the administration of justice will make the relevant decisions against those who defrauded the company. The authors of this episode must be punished in an exemplary manner. Evidence abounds which confirms the illegal actions of certain private actors who agreed with certain officials, facts which I denounced in due course. “, he said.

“I have never hesitated to resign but I wanted to stay in my post for a few weeks to fill the country with the objectives of connecting schools and continuing to denounce those responsible for this criminal act to justice”: Karen Abudinen.

She said that as a public servant she had to unmask a series of abuses and acts of corruption that she herself exposed. “Begin by decreeing the expiration of the contract, the respective embargoes and bringing the facts to the attention of the competent authorities”, Held.

“I’m leaving with a clear conscience because I gave everything to connect this country. Those who have been by my side know my convictions. Those who have known my management closely, know my essential commitment “, condemned Karen Abudinen.

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