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.
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.
‘Civil Society Monitoring Public Procurement and Contracts’ Workshop Tirana, 29 July 2016
/in Events, Homeposts /by adminAIS organized on 29 July 2016, in Tirana, a Workshop on Civil Society Monitoring Public Procurement and Contracts.
Roundtables – Promotion of Transparency over Local Government Budgets
/in Events, Homeposts, Press Releases /by adminThe USAID Planning and Local Governance Project (PLGP) in cooperation with the Albanian Institute of Science (AIS) have designed and finalized a platform with several ICT instruments for transparency over the budgets and expenditures of the local government units. During November 2015 – March 2016, work was focused on programing and implementing Money Mapping and a Monitoring Treasury Application. Both instruments are linked with well-structured data catalogues and contain information about the actual budgets, including expenditures for six municipalities for the two last years (2014-2016). The data are also accompanied by a group of articles, which analyze and visualize the real budgets of the municipalities for each of these two years. Everything is being done following the motto Open Governance as Good Governance in order to increase transparency, ensure well-structured information, and communication of the state institutions with the municipalities in creating means that help citizens in increasing their knowledge and encourage them to participate in the budgeting process.
The project also intends to enhance the capacities of the municipality staff members and civil actors in using ICT instruments for good governance and transparency.
Considering transparency a key to encouraging good and accountable governance, this project follows a model of technological innovation and strengthens citizens’ right to information. In both applications, information is made available in a format that is easy to find, understand, and reuse (open knowledge format). Users of such instruments include citizens and civil actors as well as representatives of the Citizens Advisory Panels, public administration members, and media representatives, who report on local government developments.
The applications on Money Mapping and Monitoring Treasury Transaction are already finalized and presented for the six model municipalities, partner local government units of PLGP: Fier, Lushnje, Korça, Elbasan, Berat, and Kuçova.
Municipality of Fier
PLGP – Harta e Parave (Money Mapping ) Fier
Municipality of Lushnja
PLGP – Harta e Parave (Money Mapping ) Lushnje
Municipality of Elbasan
PLGP – Harta e Parave (Money Mapping ) Elbasani
Municipality of Berat
Municipality of Kuçova
Municipality of Korça
Monitorim i Transaksioneve të Thesarit (Monitoring Treasury Application)
Open Local Government Procurement Albania at Data for Development Conference
/in Events, Homeposts /by adminAIS Program, Open Procurement Albania (OpenLGP) was presented at a regional conference for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Data for Development Results 2016, held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 8 and 9 June. The project and its database designed as part of efforts made for ensuring that citizens are informed about public procurement and public contracts signed by the local government units in Albania. Its results and impact were addressed by a panel on How is Open Contracting Improving Budgetary Efficiency. Organizations from Euro-Asia and representatives from Open Contracting Partnership spoke at this panel about the benefits of contracting process and hitherto experiences. During the last year, AIS opened data about all tenders made in the first year of the 2015-2019 mandates of the 61 municipalities in the country. OpenLGP is financially supported by NED.
Open Contracting Standard, Government of Albania holds Consultations for Commitment
/in Events, Homeposts /by adminAlbania is a country with a significant lack of transparency when it comes to public contracts, be it through donations, concessions, PPPs, public works, or rents. AIS, as a member of the Albanian Coalition for OGP has asked the Government to commit to using Open Contracting Standards. The proposal was integrated in the plan of consultations for OGP 2016-2018. AIS is going to organize consultations with some representative thematic groups for finalizing the Action Plan by the month of June.
TransparencyCamp finally in Europe, something Albania could not miss
/in Events, Homeposts /by adminAn important unconference took place for the first time in Europe on June 1st, the Transparency Camp Europe. The event took place in Amsterdam in the context of the Netherlands EU Presidency 2016. The participants in this TCampEU included representatives from the civil society in Albania, who became part of European experiences on open data, , and civil engagement. One of the TCampEU activities was the APP Competition, which came as a finalization of tens of events of a DiploHack nature in different cities of Europe. Albania was represented in this event by Alida Karakushi and Ergest Nako, members of the Love in Action team, winners of DiploHack Tirana.
Electoral Room for Electoral Reform – a lobbying project, an initiative of the civil society
/in Homeposts, Past Projects, Press Releases, Projects /by adminAIS is now engaged in a new lobbying project in favor of as fair Electoral Code as possible. The name of the project is ‘The Electoral Room for Reform’, and it is an initiative of five organizations, supported by the Open Society Foundation for Albania OSFA.
CSOs from 6 countries at POINT 5.0, Political Accountability and New Technologies
/in Events, Homeposts, Press Releases /by Besi HysaPolitical Accountability and New Technologies POINT is a regional conference of civil society organizations from six countries of Southeast Europe, which are intensively engaged in using new technologies in their work. Four speakers at this conference, Eva Meqemeja, Shefiko Hajna, Erald Hoxha, and Besjana Hysa presented the efforts being made by AIS (an Albanian NGO) to track the money and the interests of high political leaders in power for purposes of establishing some civic monitoring instruments through Open Data.
Money Government & Politics
/in Homeposts, Past Projects /by adminMoney, Government and Politics project and its activities address issues of abuse, corruption, and conflict of interest in the context of governance and politics in Albania. The program opens up and well-structures data about the wealth of high state officials, and expenditures of state institutions, concessionary corporates, and electoral spending.This process enables to track cases of nepotism, embezzlement, and conflict of interest. Access to such data increases transparency, accountability and public pressure in cases of favoritism, and embezzlement of public funds or assets.
CEC considers civil society proposals for the Electoral Reform regarding Election Donors
/in Homeposts, Press Releases /by adminThe 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:
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 Homeposts, Press Releases /by adminIt 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.
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.