John, the main culprit

Gilvan Manoel, from Jornal do Dia - Every week brings new evidence of the chaos created by Mayor João Alves Filho in Aracaju. With less than 30 days left before handing over the office to the elected mayor Edvaldo Nogueira (PCdoB), the citizens of Aracaju continue to receive bad news about the municipal administration. In fact, the news is very similar to what happened at the end of his third term as governor of the state in 2006, a story that at the time was only revealed by this newspaper, JORNAL DO DIA, founded in January 2005.

Last Thursday, the State Court of Auditors (TCE/SE) issued a precautionary measure in plenary session, ordering the City Hall of Aracaju to suspend all ongoing bidding processes in the municipality, as well as to refrain from holding new bidding processes in 2016.

The decision came after the 4th Coordination of Control and Inspection (CCI) forwarded information to Councilor Ulices Andrade regarding the large number of bidding processes initiated by the municipality of Aracaju, totaling approximately R$ 30 million. The majority of these projects relate to the implementation of the public transportation system known as BRT, which, in four years of management, has only resulted in the painting of exclusive blue lanes, further extorting the citizens of Aracaju.

In his vote, the rapporteur states that the Court "is facing an undoubtedly irregular and harmful situation, the effects of which stem from a lack of planning and an imbalance in public accounts." The council member considered this type of expenditure unreasonable with only one month remaining in the term, especially given the "well-documented deficit in the municipality's financial situation, including delays in payments to public employees and suppliers."

Ulices Andrade also highlighted that the Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF), in its Article 42, prohibits "in the last two four-month periods of their term, incurring expenditure obligations that cannot be fully met within that term, or that have installments to be paid in the following fiscal year without sufficient cash availability for this purpose."

The previous week, the same Court of Auditors had already ordered the freezing of the accounts of the João Alves Filho administration to pay the October salaries of municipal employees, who have not yet received them in full. Similar decisions had been granted by judges Cezário Siqueira (for employees affiliated with Sepuma) and Roberto Porto (for professionals in the health sector).

Last Friday, the company Cavo/Estre, hired on an emergency basis by João Alves Filho in the first half of the year in an operation condemned by oversight bodies, issued the following statement: “Due to the critical financial situation of the Aracaju city hall, public cleaning services in the city will be readjusted to meet the payment capacity of the municipal administration, with a consequent reduction in street sweeping teams, according to an agreement signed between the city hall and Cavo, mediated by the State Public Prosecutor's Office.” In short, another 160 street cleaners were laid off on Friday. Today, only one team cleans the streets of Aracaju.

Not to mention that the health centers and emergency units are open, but they don't even have basic medicines like dipyrone, the students have been without school meals since the beginning of the second semester, and João Alves Filho, the person responsible for all this chaos, has disappeared from the city hall.

By the end of December, the chaos will only worsen. The transition team assembled by Edvaldo estimates a shortfall of R$ 500 million, not including back wages, for an annual budget of R$ 1,8 billion, all of which is already committed. It's chaos.