The Attorney General’s Office specified that the Santiago de Cali Council has full autonomy to carry out the election of the district comptroller, a process that remained stopped due to interpretations that arose after preventive warnings.
The clarification restores the original scope of the messages sent from the control body, which never included suspension orders or demands to restart the call.which makes it clear that the pause in the process responded to a decision adopted by the Board of Directors of the district council.
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The central point of the discussion originated in the election of the comptroller for the period 2026–2029. Although the shortlist is formally constituted, the Council did not advance in interviews or in the respective vote, arguing that the communications from the Attorney General’s Office warned of possible legal risks that could affect the validity of the procedure. The recent statement clarifies that the observations issued had a strictly preventive scope, without seeking to stop the activities planned within the call or ordering the opening of a new process.so that the powers of the Council remained intact at all times.
The Second Delegate Attorney’s Office for Preventive Surveillance of the Public Function reiterated in its communication that “this delegate did not demand that the call be annulled; she simply warned of the alleged risk to avoid future lawsuits in administrative litigation.” With this approach, the organization emphasized that its role was to warn about aspects that could lead to litigation, but not to interfere in the development of the election.whose responsibility falls exclusively on the district corporation.
In turn, the control body insisted that the decision to review or postpone the process was adopted “exclusively by the Board of Directors of the District Council of Santiago de Cali, in the exercise of its legal, technical and administrative autonomy,” which clearly delimits the areas of action of each entity.
The precision places the debate in the corresponding institutional framework and reaffirms that the preventive function does not imply the power to suspend ongoing procedures.except in very specific circumstances that were not present in this case.
The District Person’s Office also indicated that it has not ordered the call to be stopped or modify the originally established programming. This coincidence between control entities clears up any doubt about the continuity of the process and places responsibility back in the Council.which must proceed to conduct interviews and elect the controller in accordance with the current shortlist.
The applicable constitutional framework, defined in article 272, establishes that the councils must carry out the election based on the formally presented shortlist, with no room for prolonged pauses when there are no administrative acts that order the suspension. Current regulations require that the planned stages be completed within reasonable times and under the criteria established by the Constitution and the law.which implies that the corporation must resume its procedures without further delay.
The Attorney General’s Office recalled that continuing with an omission could lead to disciplinary or criminal responsibilities, including malfeasance by omission, by ignoring what is established in the Constitution, Law 1904 of 2018 and Resolution 728 of 2019.
The statement is directed especially to the president of the Council, Edison Lucumí, who must convene the corresponding session to advance the election of the comptroller.since this function is part of its direct responsibilities within the administrative process that the corporation must comply with.
The lack of decision has generated concern in different local sectors, which warn about the institutional risk of keeping Cali without an authority in charge of fiscal control in a context of high sensitivity for the public administration. The absence of a prolonged appointment creates a vacuum in the oversight of resource management and increases doubts about the Council’s ability to respond to its obligations.especially when there are no legal impediments that justify the continuation of the postponement.
With the recent pronouncements of the Attorney General’s Office and the Person’s Office, the interpretations that had led to the suspension were overcome. The process remains in force and the corporation must advance in the election of the district comptrollerin compliance with the constitutional provisions and the legal framework that regulates the designation.
