CEC considers civil society proposals for the Electoral Reform regarding Election Donors

/in , /by

The Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), a non-governmental organization advocating transparency, good governance, and accountability, is engaged in opening data regarding electoral expenditures and financing. In addition to publishing data from the Financial Tables of Election Subjects in an Open Data format, AIS, through its Electoral Room for Electoral Reform, Money Government and Politics and Za’Lart – Make Elections Count programs, has also identified details and problems related with the electoral financing of the latest campaigns.

On 14 May 2014, AIS presented and proposed some proposals for amendments to the Albanian Electoral Law at a Technical Table on Political Party Financing, a conference organized by the Central Election Commission and supported by the OSCE Presence in Albania. The proposals address electoral campaign financing. Some of the main proposals presented at the conference and submitted in writing by AIS/Open Data Albania included:

  1. Introduction of an obligation on donors to declare every donation, and not only those exceeding 10 thousand Albanian lekë. The law should also require every donation to be done only by bank transactions instead of cash. Article 90, point 2 of the Electoral Code. For more details, see the draft version with Recommendations.
  2. More detailed provisions on control and prevention of donors’ conflicts of interest, introducing not only pre-election, but also post-election inspection periods. Article 89 of the Electoral Code. For more details, see the draft version with Recommendations.

In its latest report for the Assembly (April 2016), the Central Election Commission included a document on Recommendations for Potential Improvements of the Electoral Code 2016. The draft is intended for the Assembly and its Electoral Reform Committee, and it includes earlier proposals made by AIS Program Open Data Albania at a round table organized in September 2014 on the Registration and Control of Donors’ Conflicts of Interest. The proposals are integrated in the document section IX. Recommendations for Political Party Financing during Electoral Campaigns and regular calendar years, pages 22 and 23, points 7 and 9 of the Recommendations.

AIS, an organization that promotes Open Data Albania, thanks the Central Election Commission for institutionalizing the proposals coming from the civil society, and for the seriousness with which recommendations on electoral financing were drafted in this document addressed to the Assembly. In addition, AIS will continue to also lobby as a member of the Election Situation Room Initiative for a quality electoral law and reform for regulating the Financing of Electoral Subjects and Auditing of Electoral Campaigns.

Another effort made by AIS for contributing to fair rules of electoral financing is the court process initiated by AIS against the three largest political parties, i.e. Democratic Party, Socialist Party, and the Socialist Movement for Integration for their failure to provide real-time information about he lists and names of their electoral campaign donors, waiting for two months for Tirana Administrative Court of Appeal to set a date for the court hearing.

Using Open Data against Corruption. The Albanian Constitutional Court removes an MP mandate.

/in , /by

It is the first time that a civil society project in Albania provided the public with detailed information about every transaction of the State Treasure, including the transaction date, purpose, number of invoice, and the beneficiary. Through its Open Spending Albania  portal, the Treasury Transactions, the Albanian citizens had the opportunity to understand how taxpayers’ money is spent (Where does my Money Go). In August 2014, the public was informed through the open data provided by the Treasury Transactions about several payments made by several state institutions to ABISSNET, a private company owned (on the date of transactions and contracts involving payments) by Koço Kokëdhima, and MP of the ruling majority. The transaction tables appeared on the front page of newspapers like Tema, RD , Ora News, Gazeta Shqiptarja, ABC, etc. They also became part of statuses on Facebook and Twitter of people, who have a significant role in the public debate, and finally caused some reaction by the media and by the opposition parliamentary group of the Democratic Party.

abissnet spending en 1

A group of Members Parliamentary addressed the Constitutional Court asking for the removal abrogate of the mandate of MP Koço Kokëdhima referring to Article 70, point 3 and 4 of the Constitution. This article of the Constitution bans MPs from exercising economic and profitable activities using public money. The request of the opposition parliamentary group was also based on Articles 7 and 13 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, and Article 28 of Law No. 9367, dated 7. 04. 2005, On prevention of conflict of interest in exercising public functions. The motion and lawsuit submitted by the MPs to the Constitutional Court were also accompanied by evidence, including tables and databases from our portal Spending Data Albania (page 2 and 3 under the title ‘Facts and Circumstances’).

Following several meetings of the Assembly Committee for Review of Mandates and a long court process initiated by MPs of the Opposition Parliamentary Group, today, on 9 May 2016, the Constitutional Court found the mandate of MP Koço Kokëdhima incompatible (with his activity), and decided to remove abrogate his mandate.

Since 2014, there have been dozens of media articles and declaration based on the open data provided by Treasury Transactions under the Open Spending Albania portal. This is a typical good example of how #OpenData and #OpenKnowledge can be used to control conflict of interest, nepotism, distribution of public money, abuse, corruption, etc.

The Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), a non-governmental Albanian organization continues to open data about the Treasury Transactions, Public Contracts and Tenders, Public Budget, Assets of High-Level Officials and Judges, Electoral Spending, etc., with the objective being increased transparency and civic monitoring through the opening of public data. Our projects, Money, Governance and Politics MGP, and Open Procurement, continue to build instruments for empowering citizens through information, transparency and civic monitoring by opening publican governmental data.

Watch Dog Process avoids abusive and clientelist tenders

/in , /by

The Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), an organization that promotes open data in Albania, has the pleasure of sharing with you a positive experience of the role of the civil society and media in the watch dog process of civic monitoring and control over how public property is used in the country.

On 19 April, Open Procurement Albania portal provided comprehensive information to the public and journalists about a procurement process of the Municipality of Tropoja, whereby the Municipality Rented a Tourist Space, known as:

Tourism Development Centre of Valbona

Renting, through competition, of the Tourism Development Centre of Valbona, an area of 4180 m² (as in the layout), including a building covering an area of 461 m2 and a functional space (outside the building) of 3719 m2. The building is rented so that it can be used to support economic activities that encourage investments, employment, and tourism. The minimum rent from which competition starts is 60,240 (sixty thousand and two hundred and forty) lekë/month. The term of rent shall be 5 (five) years.

The time available for potential competitors was very short. The tender was announced on 18 April, and the deadline for applications was 20 April, which significantly leads to suspicions of an intentional clientelist procurement process. In addition, the minimum rent for such a building and area in one of the most visited tourist sites seems to be very abusive. Information about this procurement process spread quickly through social media, comments were made by hundreds of citizens, and it became target of various media articles, mainly by online media. Some journalists made further investigations, finding out that, in addition to the natural resources the Centre represents; it (the building) had just been completed with the investments made by the Albanian Development Fund. Following such civic pressure on social networks and media, the Municipality of Tropoja decided to cancel the procurement process because of the short time available for application. The cancelation was published on the latest bulletin of the Public Procurement Agency (25 April).

AIS, through its monitoring process and publication of information in an Open format (easy to be found and searched), draws your attention to the extreme lack of transparency over procurement processes of our local government units in renting public buildings.  These procurement processes are not announced electronically. They are only made in the PDF version of the Bulletin, leave always very little time for applications, and are not accompanied by a final announcement about the total number of participants, values of winning contracts, and the name of the winning economic operators.

At the moment, Open Procurement Albania portal provides data about eight procurement processes for renting territories and properties owned by Municipalities, which have taken place from July 2015. There, you may also find information about 1547 public procurement procedures of the 61 local government units emerging after the recent territorial-administrative division.

This portal is part of the activities of OpenLGU Program. We welcome suggestions and invitations for cooperation!

AIS proposals for the draft Albania’s OGP Action Plan 2016 – 2018

/in , /by

The Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), an organization that promoted open and transparent data, which is also engaged as a member of the Coalition for Open Governance Partnership (OGP) for Albania, has, for the third time, become part of the consultations with the Government of Albania in drafting an OGP Action Plan. Aiming at contributing to the efforts for open governance as good governance, AIS proposes some commitments that the Government and its Partners should undertake in being part of the Action Plan for OGP fir the two coming years, 2016 – 2018:

Suggestion no. 1: Commitment to Open Contracting Standards. Publication of public contracts using the Open Data format.

Government Implementation Agency(ies): Council of Ministers, Ministry for Relationships with the Parliament, and the Ministry for Economic Development

Non-Government Partner: AIS, etc.

Potential Supporters: World Bank

The Albanian Government needs to commit to applying Open Contracting standards. This is the trend followed by states and transparency actors in their efforts for open information about public contracts and the procedure followed until their finalization. Therefore the Government of Albania may consider abiding by principles of transparency and public access in drafting the new law on Public Procurement. Such law shall have to consider introducing an obligation for publishing every extract of contracts for public works, supplies of goods and services, PPPs or concessions, public rent, sales of public assets, and loan contracts, or public loans contract at the local and central level. The same obligation must also be applicable to the publication of the donation contracts with public institutions, and to online access.

It must also be considered to use the Open Data format in creating the Concessionary Register on the basis of the Law on Concessions and PPPs, and the Decision of the Council of Ministers, ensuring protection of the commercial secret and intellectual property.

Suggestion no. 2: Local Government Unit Budgets by their revenue structures 

Ministry for Local Affairs; Ministry of Finances

Potential supporters and partners: UNDP; Swiss Government; USAI; etc.

The Law on Local Government Finances must consider introducing an obligation for local government units to publish the structure of their revenues abiding to the Open Spending standards. This can be achieved in cooperation with the non-governmental sector and with the financial support of programs for local government planning or assistance instruments for anti-corruption (including IPA instruments). A model of the Open Budget of Local Government shall be published in May in the framework of the USAID Program, PLGP.

Suggestion no. 3 Publication of the annual declaration of assets for high officials

National Coordinator against Corruption, Ministry for Local Affairs, Ministry of Justice

Partners from the Non-Governmental Sector: AIS; Association of Journalists for Justice; BIRN Albania, etc.

Support Partners: EU instrument IPA Anti-Corruption; USAID, etc.

Control of Assets and Conflict of Interests is an interesting moment, which is also related with the implementation of the law on decriminalization, and the justice system reform. The public in Albania has the right of access to information on declared incomes and assets. Such access, however, is limited to the will and performance of the monitoring parties and the institution that owns the database (High Inspectorate). Currently, different countries apply the option of (additional) access to, and control of such information. In simple words, the declarations of elected officials and high officials are published online. This would have to start first with the judges and representatives of the justice system, who are twice subject to the control of the conflict of interest. 1. As any other high official (Law on HIDACCI) and 2.  Subject to the provisions of the Code of Procedures (review of court cases). Thus, a judge may not adjudicate a party in the court process, if the same party is the employer of a family member of the judge, or the buying/selling party in a contract involving the judge or someone rom his/her family. Having access to the declarations of interest, the other party in the process has more information if its interests are manipulated due to the judge’s conflict of interest.

Finally, our organization welcomes any discussions, public hearings, coordination, and joint engagement aiming at reaching concrete results for open and transparent governance

Improvement of the Living Conditions for the Roma Community Seven municipalities reconstruct Roma houses.

/in , /by

The Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), through its Open Local Government Procurement (OpenLGP) enables monitoring of all public procurement processes carried out by the 61 local government units in the country. The project focuses on every public tender and contract (of any value) carried out from July 2015 onward. Transparency of Public Contracts is important not only as part of the transparency over spending of public funds, but also for the fact that the award and execution of such contracts influences the quality of life and services for various communities.

Through this email, we are sharing with you some information about some public procurement processes and public contracts executed for the Construction or Reconstruction of Roma and Egyptian houses. These contracts are published on OpenLGP  and concern the Roma community in the seven following municipalities:

  1. Municipality of Saranda announced an open tender procedure on 24. 08. 2015 for Reconstruction of 6 houses of Roma and Egyptian Community. The fund limit (VAT excl.) for the Reconstruction of the 6 houses was 2 750 000 lekë. There were 8 economic operators, which participated in the tender process. The public contract was signed on 6. 10. 2015 with Shendelli SHPK. The contract term was 20 days.
  2. Municipality of  Mirdita announced an open tender procedure on 31. 08. 2015 for Reconstruction of 15 (fifteen) houses of Roma and Egyptian community, Municipality of Mirdita, Rrëshen. The fund limit (VAT excl.) for this tender was 4 416 670 lekë. The tender was cancelled in the first stage, because none of the participants met the criteria. The tender was re-announced, and 5 economic operators participated. The contract was signed with AEK MUNELLA SHPK (on 11.11. 2015). The agreed implementation timeframe was 1 month from the date the contract was signed.
  3. Municipality of Lezha announced that it had signed a contract with Junik SHPK on 28.12. 2015 by a negotiation procedure. The value of the contract (VAT Incl.) was 3 815 200 lekë for Construction of social houses for 8 (eight) Roma families.
  4. Municipality of Divjaka announced a tender procedure on 4. 03. 2016 through a Request for Proposal for the Reconstruction of Houses of Roma and Egyptian Community in the Administrative Unit of Grabian (18 families), Municipality of Divjaka. The fund limit (VAT excl.) was 8 514 590 lekë. The tender was cancelled for Mistakes with the Calculations of the Bill of Quantities. It was then re-announced, but no announcement is yet made about the winner or a contract signed.
  5. Municipality of Rrogozhina announced an open tender procedure on 10. 03. 2015 for Construction of 2-storey Social Houses for Roma and Egyptian Community in the Municipality of Rrogozhina. The tender will take place on 30 March, and the tender documentation specifies that the funds are from the World Bank. You will find information about the tender process and the winner of the public contract in the coming weeks on the updated information under the Transparent Procurement section.
  6. The Municipality of Kruja has announced an open tender on 16. 03. 2016 with a fund limit (VAT excl.) of 18 122 330 All for Construction and Reconstruction of 35 Houses of Rom Community, Village of Arrameras Fushë-Krujë. The tender will take place on 8. 04. 2016 and the contract validity is 4 months.
  7. The Municipality of Elbasan announced a Request for Proposals procedure on 16. 03. 2016 for the Improvement of the Living Conditions for Roma and Egyptian Community in Lagja 5 Maji. The fund limit for the tender was 5 522 100 ALL. The deadline for the submission of the tender documentation was only 14 days, and the winner is expected to be announced on 29. 03. 2015.

Other municipalities, where there are Roma communities in need, have not yet announced any tenders or public contracts during July 2015 – March 2016 in this area. OpenLGP Transparent Procurement invites you to learn more in the coming days about the progress of the public procurement processes and public contracts for improving the living conditions of communities in need. We also invite investigative journalists and local organizations involved in monitoring the performance of local government units to observe in the field the efficiency of the execution of the signed public contracts.

Open Local Government Procurement OpenLGP is a project implemented by AIS, an organization that promotes Open Data Albania.

Open LGP Albania Project presented at Personal Forum Democracy, Poland 2016

/in , , /by

The Personal Forum Democracy 2016 took place on 17 and 18 March in Gdansk, Poland, for Central and Eastern Europe (PFD 2016). This forum is led every year in Poland as an effort of the civil society to use technology for democratization and civil engagement. The speakers and workshop moderators this year focused on how we can bring people together to encourage public debate. Citizens’ participation, use of technology for transparency, and awareness through open are subject to dozens of civil society programs in Central and Eastern European countries.

The PFD 2016 included also a presentation of AIS Project on monitoring local government public procurement and contracts, i.e. Open Local Government Procurement (OpenLGP). The presentation was part of the Monitoring Procurements – Experiences from Albania and Hungary workshop. The three moderators of this workshop were Shefiko HAJNA from AIS, Anita KONSCIK from K-Monitor, and Eva MEQEMEJA from AIS. The two models and portals developed by the civil society in Albania and Hungary provide instruments for citizens to monitor how their governments procure works, services, or purchases, using public money. Making tenders transparent and easy to be monitored by the citizens, each program leads also to taxpayers being involved in checking for accountability. The data opened regarding public procurement carry clear and comprehensive information about values, deadlines, quality of competition, and subject of procurements. The information reveals also the areas and contracts, which pose a risk of abuse or corruption. The workshop was attended by a great number of participants. The regional organizations showed an interest in getting involved in the process of opening information for Open Procurements and Open Contracting.

This presentation held in the context of the Personal Forum Democracy 2016 precedes a workshop focused on Civil Monitoring of Public Procurements and Contracts for the countries of the region (Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.), which is going to be held in July in Tirana. Our program OpenLGP is being developed as an efforts for open data and civil monitoring with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy NED.

12509822_1038419682846977_3844212567840962971_n

12032183_1079630705392541_1548783089485718148_n 10385546_1080972658591679_8608409798666540432_n 12439098_1080972638591681_780238872420696417_n 12670706_1080972568591688_2142042734340048049_n

DSC_0283DSC_0280DSC_0281

 

Java e Interneti 2016 / Get Online Week 2016

/in , /by

Fuqizohu, Punësohu

Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave në partneritet me Telecentre Europe organizon për të pestin vit në Shqipëri  fushatën vjetore Get Online Week për fuqizimin dixhital. Ky event mbahet ne datat 14 deri 20 Mars në mbarë Europën.

Qëllim i kësaj fushate është nxitja dhe aftësimi i sa më shumë personave në përdorimin e internetit. Në fokus janë moshat e reja dhe edukimi i përdorimit të internetit për punësim dhe edukim cilësore. Në Europë tregu i punës kërkon çdo ditë me mijëra profesionist që njohin internetin dhe teknologjinë. Por ndërsa kërkesa për punë me pagesë të mirë është e kënaqshme, njerëzit që kanë aftësi të punojnë janë më pak se kërkesa. Kjo Javë Promovuese synon ti nxis Europianët të Fuqizohen dhe Punësohen në këtë treg pune.

Në Shqipëri kjo javë do të shënojë trajnimin e të rinjve të shkollave të mesme publike dhe studentëve; aplikimin e një sondazhi që ndihmon të kuptojë sa e përdorin internetin grupmoshat dhe profesionet e ndryshme si dhe mjaft evente mediatike që promovojnë aftësimin profesional në teknologjinë e informacionit.

gow2016

 

AIS vs. SP, SMI, and DP over Electoral Spending Transparency. AIS request the Administrative Court of Appeal to accelerate the court proceedings

/in , /by

In the context of the court proceedings and our efforts to force the political parties to provide the public with real time (during the election) data about the Financing of their Electoral Campaign, we are sharing with you some information about the latest developments.

Thus, AIS has filed a request with the Administrative Court of Appeal, asking it to: Abrogate of Decision no. 44, dated 22.07.2015 of the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data.  Force the political parties to give the complainant (AIS) the information about the financing of their electoral campaign requested on 09.06.2015.

The complainant in this process is: AIS, a non-profitable organization.

Defendants include: the Commissioner for the Right to Information, DP, SP, and SMI.

The case is registered with the court on 18.01.2016. The announcement of the Decision of the Court of First Instance, and the Transfer of the Case File to the Administrative Court of Appeal were delayed by two months. The court has drawn a lot, as a result of which the case is assigned to Judge Artur Malaj. Pending the court decision, AIS is afraid of potential prolongation and delays as a result of the technical workload of the administrative court.

In this context, AIS notes that the purpose of this court case, and the importance it has for the public interest requires the case to be adjudicated in due time, and without years-long prolongation. If the adjudication is prolonged and not finalized before the start of the next electoral campaign (2017), the purpose of the case and its adjudication are no longer important or relevant. In addition, a final interpretation and court decision would contribute to the process of debate and work for potential legal amendments in the framework of the Electoral Reform scheduled to be made and finalized within 2016.

Therefore, AIS in its capacity as the complainant in this court case, addressed the Administrative Court of Appeal, its Chief Judge Kastriot Selita, the case rapporteur, Judge Artur Malaj, and asked them to accelerate the court trial to as a short timeframe as possible.

 

Let me also remind you that our claim to real-time information about the financing of the electoral parties is based on Article 9 of the Constitution, point 3 “The financial resources of the political parties and their spending shall always be made public”.

 

Please find below a copy of the request made to the Administrative Court of Appeal for an Acceleration of Trial

Request for acceleration of adjudication

Copy of the second  request made to the Administrative Court of Appeal for an Acceleration of Trial

Second request for acceleration of adjudication

Albania ranked in 37th position in the Global Open Data Index 2015

/in /by

In the Global Open Data Index recently published, Albania  holds the 37th position in the ranking. Such positioning shows that the country has less open data compared to other European countries like: Norway, Netherlands, France Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and even Kosovo . Meanwhile Albania left behind Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia Georgia. Taiwan  holds the first place in the Index. The European countries with the best performance are Britain, Denmark and Finland, while the United States maintain the 8th position.

The openness of official data for the main databases in Albania is at 42%. Satisfying indicators show the data on National Statistics and Public Budget. While the information over Public Procurement and Weather forecast it is low or there is lack of data. Global Open Data Index was conducted by the Open Knowledge Foundation Network and for Albania the assessment was organized by AIS staff and associates.

Transparent data about the assets of high officials in the Justice System

/in , /by

The Spending Data Albania portal has published some data about the assets and economic interests of some high officials of the Justice System under its Money and Power section.

Thus, you may find the latest annual incomes of the three Presidents of the Republic, i.e. Mr. Rexhep MEIDANI, Mr. Alfred MOISIU, and Mr. Bamir TOPI, by using the search filter in the ‘President of the Republic’ category.

http://www.spending.data.al/sq/moneypower/list/pos_id/2

president-i-republikes

You may also find the Declaration of Assets of the two latest General Prosecutors, i.e. Ms. Ina RAMA and Mr. Thedhori SOLLAKU, by using the search filter for ‘General Prosecutor’

http://www.spending.data.al/sq/moneypower/list/pos_id/3

prokuror-i-pergjithshem

In the same section, you may also find the official declarations of assets of some judges of the high level and judges of the Court for Serious Crimes. This data section is enriched as part of the activities organized by the Albanian Institute of Science (AIS) for the implementation of Money Government &Politics Program (MG&P).