How transparent is House Government?

Kosovo is still trying to build transparent and accounting institutions, but according to representatives of nongovernmental organisations, government institutions and public-owned enterprises still suffer from lack of transparency.

Medjide Demolli-Niman, director of the FOL Movement, in a campaign for Radio Free Europe, says there are nearly 100 days of government led by the prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, and according to her, this government has not yet appointed its spokesman, who is considered a bridge between government and civil society.

And the current situation is considered the cause of the pandemic, and many decisions this government has made, but not that they have been presented to the citizens in the right way. As for the September 4th meeting in the United States, which I think should have greater transparency about this meeting. It's said there's going to be a Union Team, but everything is still in the mist, so we have no information from the government about how much it's worked in this direction, whether opposition parties or civil society have been invited”, Demolli-Niman said.

She says that Kosovo has recently received various donations from various states and the European Union, and in this direction, as she puts it, greater transparency is needed for the way they are addressed.

 

 

“We would like to have a much greater transparency about this issue of how these means and donations will be spent by the Kosovo Government”, Demolli-Niman said.

Visar Jamaica, analyst from the Development Democracy organisation, said that despite Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti's pledges that his government will be transparent, in practice it is not. He says nontransparency is being observed.

In fact, unlike the past government, the government has no government spokesman. As a result, this is creating media difficulties in getting information from relevant institutions. It is worth noting the lack of information in relation to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue”, Jamaica said.

Disregard, Jamaica points out, is not the only problem facing this government.

According to him, increasing the number of cases with COVID-19 (the disease causing the new coronary) as well as the lack of unity within the ruling coalition has created an extremely difficult situation, which, he says, could lead the country into a new political crisis.

All the public posts that these people have, regardless of whether we are talking about the prime minister, or ministers or civil servants, all have public responsibility and therefore access to information is mandatory and required by law. At any moment these institutions should be open to all decisions they make and in fact have a legal obligation to provide information to the media and citizens of Kosovo or at least to publish those information on their relevant website”, Jamaica said.

Xhavit Beqiri, adviser to Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, has said that the Hoti Government is quite transparent and that, according to him, claims that the executive is not transparent, do not stand.

We try our job to be completely transparent. In the media adviser's quality, but also other advisers of the respective sectors usually respond to media interest. So as far as the prime minister is concerned, every activity we try to fully be open to opinion and media have access to”, Beqiri said.

Beqiri also said that even in terms of negotiations and the dialogue process with Serbia, Prime Minister Hoti is transparent.

“After each meeting has shown what the results of those meetings have been. The state dialogue co-ordinator, Skender Hyseni, is acting as well. As for the issue of the Unity Team, there is still nothing concrete, so we have not had anything to communicate with”, Beqiri said.

Kosovo Journalists' Association Chairman Gentiana Begolli told Radio Free Europe that not only the Hoti Government, but the past two Kosovo governments have not been transparent enough. She says that even former governments and that current have been delayed in appointing executive spokespersons.

“It is disaster when we look at government actions to meet all vacant positions in the government, increase the number of people with advisers, while when it comes to government spokesman, when it comes to transparency against journalists, which is therefore transparency towards Kosovo citizens, it is projected until there is a huge pressure on the part of the public”, Begoll said.

Transparency is an issue with which many authorities, institutions and businesses deal. Transparency presents one of the fundamental principles for achieving a healthy democracy and a functioning state or society, civil society representatives say.