Fuerteventura magazine Interviews
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October. 2019 2.00

Peña Armas Hernández – Councillor for Human Resources, Employment, Institutional Relations and Traffic at the Ayuntamiento of Puerto del Rosario

“At the Ayuntamiento, we are a lot closer to the population”

Peña Armas Hernández is the new councillor of Puerto del Rosario for Human Resources, Employment, Institutional Relations and Traffic. She surprises us with her friendliness and spontaneity of how this young Majorera speaks to us about how much she likes people and interacting with them.

We are told that you have great experience in politics, tells us more...

Indeed, many years, but I have always been in the opposition. I was for 18 years in the Partido Popular, I was one of the youngest deputies at the Canarian Parliament but lately, when the president of the party changed, there were many changes and last year I decided to leave it all and go home. I didn't care about the financial side or the years of dedication, I preferred to leave it all, it was a decision that was thoroughly meditated. I could not keep on working there if my ideas no longer identified with the party. I had already prepared to go back to a private company when I was invited by various political parties and I went with Ciudadanos that I could identify with.

How come you started so young in politics?

I was working at the Ayuntamiento of La Oliva and at the time Ana Padilla was a senator for Fuerteventura and, with another few colleagues,we joined her and although at the beginning I wasn't interested in any public position, we made a good team.

The advantage is that now you have arrived at this government position with good experience.

Well, working at the Parliament means legislating, which is something quite cold and people don't understand what we do. At the Ayuntamiento, we are a lot closer to the population and as I said earlier, I like people and interacting with them. My work suits my personality.

What can you tell us about your projects for this term?

First of all, we have to work on the organisational structure of this ayuntamiento, because more than half of the councils don't have staff. When a resident needs something, any kind of procedure takes forever. We need qualified staff that can provide immediate solutions. Because when someone comes to see us, it means that they have a problem that needs to be solved now, not in one year time.

Is this caused by the employment limitations that have been in place for a long time in public administrations?

Yes, it is, but I think that it has reached extreme levels. We are going to vote a Relation of employment that isn't as ambitious as that of the current government group. However, this is a live document and if it needs to be modified, we will do it. We will get more staff for the different departments and will use social support and always together with the government group. Another subject that was still pending and shouldn't have, was the electronic request for bids for visitors that should have already been in place but wasn't. The auditor recently signed it off, which means that it is now resolved. I feel happy about that! Regarding Traffic, residents come and tell us about their requirements or important situations regularly, such as matters concerning parking spaces for example.

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