Transparency is not just a technical category, but an essential prerequisite for building citizens' trust in institutions, said the Executive Director of the Center for Civic Education (CGO) Daliborka Uljarević.
She said this at the "Transparency to Responsibility" conference, which was organized today in Podgorica by the CGE, as part of the "Transparent organs - informed citizenry" project.
As announced by CGO, the conference said that local governments are the first service for citizens and that there is a lot of room for improving their transparency, but also that some good examples are already crystallizing.
The executive director of CGO, Daliborka Uljarević, assessed that transparency ensures responsibility towards laws, citizens and, most importantly, towards the public interest.
"Transparency is not just a technical category, but an essential prerequisite for building citizens' trust in institutions," said Uljarević.
As she emphasized, institutions that are not transparent can hardly fulfill their full capacity, because public trust is lost.
"This is emphatically visible in Montenegro, where the institutions record an extremely low level of trust of the citizens," said Uljarević.
She added that participation is the right and responsibility of everyone, and that without the involvement of citizens in shaping public policies, no community can progress.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Naim Gjokaj, emphasized that the full application of the principles of transparency and openness is high on the priority agenda of that Government department.
"The Ministry of Public Administration conducted an Analysis of the functioning of the local self-government system, where we carefully analyzed the situation regarding the application of these principles," Gjokaj reminded.
According to him, these are areas that require much more attention from decision makers.
"We are focused on creating more efficient and sustainable legal solutions that should contribute to the improvement of the situation," said Gjokaj.
He pointed out that work is underway on the new Law on Local Self-Government, which, as he stated, should introduce significant innovations.
"I am convinced that when we act transparently and openly, we all gain a lot. Citizens are informed and involved, and the local self-government gains partners in the citizens and creates purposeful policies that solve their problems and needs, thereby fully achieving its purpose," emphasized Gjokaj.
As announced by the CGE, the importance of using the institute of free access to information, the openness of institutions, but also the education of citizens was emphasized at the panel "The role of transparency in strengthening responsibility from the point of view of institutions and civil society".
The head of the Department for free access to information of the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information (AZLP), Biljana Božić, emphasized the importance of the proactivity of law enforcers, i.e. the obligation to make information available to process analysts, the public and the NGO sector.
"In this way, the processes would be as transparent as possible, and therefore the state administration would turn its word into action according to the citizens," Božić pointed out.
She assessed that timely action and informing the public is of particular interest to citizens.
"In practice, information must be promptly shared with all users, as this results in better results and greater trust in institutions," explained Božić.
"An informed citizen can make quality proposals for solving challenges, while government representatives have the responsibility and task of conducting processes transparently, informing the public in a timely manner and presenting the results of their work," concluded Božić.
Damir Suljević, coordinator of the Human Rights program at the CGE, pointed out that democracy and transparency are conditioned by each other.
"There is no transparency without democracy and no democracy without transparency," said Suljevoć.
As he pointed out, when it comes to the application of the Law on Free Access to Information, the key shortcomings have been clearly identified.
"It is already clear what all the problems exist in practice, which is why it is important to solve the causes, not only through amendments or the passing of a new law, but also through other measures that the authorities must take by spreading awareness of the importance of transparent work," he said. is Suljevic.
The general secretary of the non-governmental organization KOD, Miodrag Vujović, believes that there is a misunderstanding about the need for information availability.
"If we cannot find information on official websites, we must send requests for free access to information. However, what we can hear from AZLP is that individuals are abusing this institute, which casts a shadow on us who use it for research work and we must be a corrective factor in the system," said Vujović.
As he added, the actions of individuals who abuse information can affect the perception of those of us who use it in a responsible and professional manner.
Suljević pointed out that some authorities shut down critics of the system, but also that there are good examples.
He pointed to the need for education for the adequate use of the Law on Free Access to Information, but also to problems in practice in terms of the long wait for information, as well as its incomplete availability.
This, as Suljević believes, leads to prosecution before the Administrative Court and long procedures in which information loses its relevance when it is finally obtained.
"The law is clear, but the reality is different. The system of responsibility in Montenegro is at a low level, because if we do not have mechanisms for sanctioning those who are obliged to make information available, we cannot expect progress", warned Suljević.
As announced by the CGE, the Transparency Index of municipalities in Montenegro was presented on the second panel, with an accompanying discussion on good practices and challenges at the local level and a focus on centralization, which is a great burden for municipalities.
The Director of Strategy and Communications of the CGE, Zvezdana Kovač, presenting the methodology for creating the Transparency Index of Municipalities in Montenegro, said that it often happened that researchers were unable to find the requested data or document on the municipality's website, but had to find the same type of document through a search engine. they search under title and date variations.
"One of the key pieces of advice for all municipalities would be to try to make websites as accessible and easy to use as possible for the general public," said Kovač, emphasizing that the fact that some information is published does not mean that it will find its way to the end user.
"There were a series of barriers that would stand between researchers and the requested data, just because someone didn't write a clear name and put it in the correct section of the site, or forgot to do the same. The end user of the information, the citizen, is often faced with the absence of data and documents", stated Kovačević.
Blaženka Dabanović, Assistant General Secretary for the Local Self-Government System in the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro, said that, looking at the websites of local self-government units, one gets the impression that information is often available, but not properly systematized.
"Information should be categorized and published in the same way in all municipalities so that it is available to citizens," said Dabanović.
She supported the initiative to establish a systematized register of local community services.
"Such a platform would be key to improving transparency and availability of information, which would reduce centralization and enable a more even distribution of resources and services between developed and underdeveloped municipalities," concluded Dabanović.
Gjokaj said that the analysis of the Ministry of Public Administration showed that Montenegro has one of the most centralized administration systems.
"We have started the decentralization process, which is an important step. A centralized system means that local governments do not have the strength they should have," Gjokaj assessed, stressing that public administration reform remains a priority in the coming period.
He supported CGO's initiative to establish a unique catalog of services.
"Digitalization is the basis for the improvement of administration, and one of the key steps is the establishment of a systematized register of services of local communities", stated Gjokaj.
The president of the municipality of Plav Nihad Canović said that he was glad to hear from the state secretary that the system is centralized. "Because we ourselves are often faced with the need to consult the state authorities for decisions at the municipal level."
Canović emphasized the importance of transparency in several key areas, such as the way budget funds are spent, public procurement, as well as in the employment process at the local level.
"Each vacancy must be advertised by ZZZ, which ensures equal opportunities for all candidates. My goal, as the president of the municipality, is for citizens to be sure that budget spending, public procurement and employment are completely transparent processes. These are key segments for building trust and fighting corruption," said Canović.
The secretary of the Secretariat for Local Self-Government and Social Activities of the Capital Cetinje, Aleksandra Dapčević, referred to the importance of cooperation between local self-governments and the civil sector in the decision-making process.
"In the Capital of Cetinje, we use the institute of free chairs, which enables the presence and active participation of NGO representatives at almost all parliamentary sessions," said Dapčević.
She emphasized that the Council for the Cooperation of Local Government and the Civil Sector is successfully functioning in that municipality, as a platform for the continuous exchange of information and ideas that contributes to strengthening the transparency and trust of citizens in the work of local self-government.
As announced by the CGE, after the panel, awards were presented to the local administrations that had the highest number of points according to the Transparency Index of Montenegrin Municipalities.
It is added that Podgorica took the first place, while the municipality of Herceg Novi came second, and the municipality of Bar came third.
Bonus video:
