Urgent reform of the Law on Free Access to Information (FIA) is key to the fight against corruption, the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) announced.
They said that Montenegro welcomes September 28 - the International Day of the Public's Right to Know with an unreformed law, which allows state institutions to still hide information of public importance.
"Although the changes to this law were among the first to be initiated after the removal of the previous regime, four years and three different governments later, there is still no political will to reduce the space for corruption and other violations of the law through the increased availability of information," says MANS .
They point out that there are numerous examples where bad practice in the application of that law has continued, despite changes at the head of state institutions and companies.
"For more than a year, the administration of the procedure initiated by MANS against the Pljevlja Coal Mine for violating the Law on SPI has been ongoing. MANS initiated this procedure after the management of this company declared the contracts for the sale of coal with Elektroprivreda Srbije as business secrets. this information, Rudnik uglja also declared as a business secret the data on the consumption of business credit cards, the number of new employees in that company during the election campaigns, work contracts and other information that may indicate a violation of the law and possible corruption," states MANS.
Other largest state companies, including Elektroprivreda, EPCG Solar gradnja, CEDIS, Post, Morsko dobro, "ToMontenegro" had similar practices for different types of data, they add.
"We believe that the hiding of these types of information, most often by state-owned enterprises, does not happen by chance, and that through the violation of the Law on SPI, they try to cover up jobs and decisions that are suspected to be not in the public interest. This is a practice that has been adopted even after 2020 and is in contradiction with the promised full rule of law and zero tolerance for corruption after the removal of the previous government," says MANS.
They said that free access to information enables citizens, journalists and civil society to gain insight into decisions that directly affect their lives, thus encouraging greater public participation in democratic processes.
"Transparency is therefore crucial for the development of trust between the state and citizens, and the lack of reform in this segment significantly undermines that relationship. MANS therefore reiterates its call to the Ministry of Public Administration to take concrete steps towards the rapid reform of the Law on Free Access to Information. Only through clear and strict legal norms that guarantee the public's right to information, we can expect to significantly reduce the scope for abuses and increase the level of integrity in the work of state bodies," the NGO added.
They also called on citizens to join in the demands for more transparent governance and strengthening of mechanisms for free access to information, "which is a basic prerequisite for real democracy and a society in which law and order reign."
They said that MANS will continue to provide support to all interested social actors in free access to information through a specially designed application for smartphones "Ask the Institutions" and assistance in viewing procedures before competent state authorities in order to provide the requested information.
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