Congressman wins dubious award

One member of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, with thousands of messages on Twitter aimed squarely at his presumed laziness.
[Jorge Kahwagi: celebrity, publisher, prize fighter and now... Mexico’s laziest congressman.]

Jorge Kahwagi: celebrity, publisher, prize fighter and now... Mexico’s laziest congressman.
Jorge Kahwagi, president of the Partido Nueva Alianza (PANAL), didn’t propose a single initiative in the 35 sessions of the house between September 1 and December 15. Not only that, Kahwagi made news for having the worst attendance rate of all the deputies. He attended the chamber a grand total of once.

For his arduous work, former boxer Kahwagi received a gross (in both meanings of the word, some would say) total of 800,000 pesos.

To be fair, 42-year-old Kahwagi had asked special permission not to attend due to outside commitments including being ill and having pending legal matters.

In Mexico’s political system that includes election by proportional representation, the PANAL were awarded nine seats back in 2006 having received 4.5 percent of the national vote. With no constituency baying for action on a long list of issues, Kahwagi quietly went about his business outside of the house and no other member even questioned his poor attendance.

A larger than life figure, Kahwagi is never far away from controversy.

Born to a prominent Mexican businessman, Kahwagi boxed while taking a law degree at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City and had an incredible amateur record. He won 43 fights, 38 by way of knockout. Turning professional at the advanced age of 33 in 2001, Kahwagi won all ten of his professional bouts capturing the WBC International Championship and Latin American WBC cruiserweight belt. Internet forums speculate than some of Kahwagi’s fights may have been fixed, although no official news sources carry the same allegations.

After retiring from the sport in 2004, Kahwagi entered the Big Brother television program that has launched many celebrity careers. Honest about his intentions to move his political career forward, Kahwagi used the exposure to court a new party and ditched the Green Party (PVEM) in favor of the PANAL.

Kahwagi is also famous for a fight he had with wrestler Cibernetico, his love affairs and being the general director of the La Cronica de Hoy newspaper.