Gjakova, July 31-FOL Movement within the project “Getting closer citizens to justice institutions”, which is funded by the American people through USAID / ATRC, held the first meeting for formation of the ” Justice Access Forum ” in Gjakova Municipality. In this meeting participated representatives of the Court, Prosecution, Police, representatives from the Ombudsman, Legal Assistance Centre, representatives from the Chamber of Attorneys, NGOs, media and interested citizens from Gjakova Municipality. Absent at the meeting were representatives from the Basic Court in and Prosecution in Gjakova.

Kenan Tora, from FOL Movement presented the idea and stressed the assistance that the function of the forum would provide for institutions and citizens’ access to justice . Meanwhile, Drenusha Mula, local coordinator of FOL Movement in Gjakova presented the findings of the project. “Difficulties regarding access to court are various like appointment of meeting the Head of the Basic Court in Gjakova , then not providing a list of cases of corruption and misuse of public money, they only provided figures but not a copy of that list”, said Mula. Avdi Berisha , Kosovo police captain said that Police guarantees serious treatment of each case. “Kosovo police cooperate with Prosecution in time for certain procedures. He mentioned that there are different forms of access to the Police and especially Police Inspectorate, where in many cases proved to have positive results, “said Berisha.

Faton Canhasi, an RTK reporter from Gjakova said that the lack of competence of the court for information on cases made less important the information about the cases. “Closing the case for information helps concealing illegal actions that can occur during a process in court,” said Canhasi.

Remzi Gjikolli a lawyer said that for civil affairs one should wait 5-6 years until it starts a hearing session. “This is because of the large number of cases and the small number of judges,” said Gjikolli.

Flamur Gojani from the Independent Trade Unions of Gjakova region called the judges to ask for their work conditions. “With the fulfillment of work conditions then the judge will feel safe and free to perform his job correctly. He also asked the court to be more accessible and prosecutors and judges should use internet which would facilitate their work as well as citizens’ access to the Court. “

Fatime Boshnjaku from Network “Qeliza” among other things, stated that “we, as a society lack the courage and the when it comes to justice in Kosovo, people are disappointed. There is no justice here and it takes a long time and a greater awareness of the citizens to understand that everyone can give his contribution. “

FOL Movement hopes that the meetings of this forum will be regular in the future.

This project is funded by the American People through USAID/ATRC.

Prishtina, July 24 – FOL Movement, after the publication of the report “Transparency Index” has organized focus groups in seven municipalities in Kosovo with the media and civil society. The purpose of these focus groups is to have an external evaluation regarding the transparency of Municipalities, that is NGOs and local media.
So far the focus groups were held in Ferizaj, Gjakova, Peja, Kamenica, Prizren while it is expected to be held in Podujeva and Mitrovica.
The findings of the report of Transparency Index and other issues arising from the discussions in the focus groups, will be sent to the above mentioned municipalities.
Also there will be a focus group at central level with representatives of civil society and media where they will discuss the findings of the report “Transparency Index IV”

Prishtina, July 22, 2013 – Today’s debate was the fourth and the last of a series of debates that FOL and PIPS organized with leaders of political parties in the country. In this debate was discussed: The next local elections, the Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Kosovo – Serbia agreement.

Prishtina, July 19, 2013 – Today FOL Movement published, for the third year in a row the Analysis “Transparency Index IV”, presenting the findings about the level of transparency of central and local institutions, and public enterprises in Kosovo in 2012.

This year, FOL Movement is mainly focused on the progress made since last year’s study in the function of internal structures of institutions and public enterprises that were responsible for public communication and information. This study focuses on what level institutions and public enterprises have developed their capacities of formal structures to ensure full and effective implementation of constitutional and legal provisions that guarantee the right of citizens to access public documents; that is public communication and information, to strengthen the transparency and accountability to the public.

Mexhide Demolli-Nimani, from FOL Movement, stated that “Transparency Index of central and local institutions and public enterprises” for 2012 focuses on the implementation of the Law on Access to Public Documents by the Public Communication Office at the respective institutions.
According to her, the questionnaire was sent to 32 institutions and public enterprises, 19 of them responded, and only one is listed as open institution – Kosovo Customs, that is Public Communication Office, which received 93 points out of 100. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare according to our evaluation took only 26 points out of 100, and is listed as a closed institution.

Unlike the previous years, this year’s Transparency Index report includes the municipalities of Kosovo as well. “Regarding the local level, the questionnaire was sent to 32 municipalities, but only 17 of them responded. The findings of this evaluation show that municipalities that were part of the last year pilot project made a significant progress in all aspects of public communication and information policy, “said Demolli-Nimani.

According to her, most municipalities have approved sub-legal acts for public communication and information, and some of them even policy documents that define clear goals and activities in this matter. However, as this report shows in detail, there are still inconsistencies in the definition of concepts and the scope of the legal framework.

This includes also the lack of precise definition of the responsibilities of the offices responsible for public communication and information. On the other hand, similar to the findings in the central level, at the municipal level, there is a lack of clarity about the concrete measures and enforcement mechanisms defined by the framework and implementing legislation. In this case, the uncertainties are due to different understanding of the nature and capacity of legislation and policies for public communication and information, as well as their different interpretation of the municipal structures responsible for public communication and information.

Furthermore, the field of public communication and information continues to be considered simply as a policy area limited in enabling citizens to have access to public documents. More specifically, these policies, which are in most municipalities, when they were drafted, they didn’t include the involvement of different interested parties in their drafting, implementation, and monitoring, evaluating and implementation of the legislation and local policies in all sectors and areas.
The lack of a ranking for Kosovo municipalities is a result of almost similar weak performance of all municipal communication offices that have responded the questionnaires.

Prishtina, July 16, 2013 – The third debate of the series of debates that FOL and PIPS are organizing with leaders of political parties on: The next local elections, the Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Kosovo – Serbia agreement.

Prishtina, July 11, 2013 – The second debate of the series of debates that FOL and PIPS are organizing with leaders of political parties on: The next local elections, the Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Kosovo – Serbia agreement.

Ferizaj, July 10, 2013 – FOL Movement in a series of debates on the Law on Protection of Informers held the next meeting in Ferizaj on “Anti-Corruption Legal Package: Law on Protection of Informers”. In this debate took part representatives of municipal government, representatives of the Basic Court and Prosecution, representatives of political parties of local level, private sector representatives, as well as participants from non-governmental organizations and media.

Initially, Armend Mazreku, a researcher of FOL Movement presented the findings of the report regarding the Law on Protection of Informers, when Ferizaj was one of the municipalities that FOL had tested the knowledge of officials of this municipality regarding this law.

The Basic Court judge, Ibrahim Idrizi, and the prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution, Rasim Maloku, stated that the law in question is a progress regarding the norms of reporting by public officials, among other things, they mentioned that during investigation and court proceedings there were also denunciation by various municipal officials.

The head of Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement) of Ferizaj municipality, Faton Topalli, among other things he asked municipal executive several questions, “how many public officials report corruption, if Ferizaj municipality has appointed a responsible person for supervision of irregularities and what did Municipality do about informing its officials regarding the Law on Protection of Informers”.

On the other hand, the director of Health Department in Ferizaj, Vesel Zhinipotoku said that “Municipality of Ferizaj is dedicated to promote and implement such an important law”, he then added that “the legal office is essential to address which is obliged to inform and notify public officials about the existence and content of the laws. “

Faik Grainca, the vice president of LDK, branch in Ferizaj, said that “when he and political party were in power, had personally provided assistance to the prosecution authorities to investigate several corruption affairs that were committed at that time, while now corruption is rooted to the highest municipal leaders. “

But, Grainca’s accusations were rejected by the PDK parliamentary group chief, Rafiz Sejdiu, who said that “violations are mostly minor and of administrative nature, even the representatives of the Self-determination Movement and LDK have said the same thing. “

The Chairperson of the Assembly, at the same time candidate for mayor of the city of Ferizaj from AAK Xhavit Zariqi, criticized police, which according to him often hinders the development of investigations with numerous and complex procedures.

Bashkim Fazliu from Civic Initiative said that “corruption cannot be fought by people who are themselves involved in corruption”.

Meanwhile, a representative of the organization INPO, Alban Haliti said that “the trust of the citizens in our institutions is extremely low due to the closure of the institutions to citizens, especially the procurement”. At the end of this debate, participants gave recommendations regarding promotion and implementation of the Law on Protection of Informers.

This project was funded through the grant of American Embassy in Prishtina

Prishtina, July 9, 2013 – FOL Movement welcomes today’s decision of the Government of Kosovo to begin the procedures for membership in Open Government Partnership (OGP). FOL from 2012 and forth has asked country’s institutions to take appropriate steps for Kosovo’s membership in this organization which is very important for building an open and accountable government to citizens and other institutions. Within its efforts to coordinate actions and institutional steps towards this membership, FOL during this period has been in constant communication with representatives of OGP, and the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, including Presidency and Government. Therefore, today’s decision is a proper and concrete step towards Kosovo’s membership in OGP.

At the same time, the membership of the Republic of Kosovo in Open Government Partnership is not as a goal in itself, but first of all and above all, means taking major responsibilities within, but also internationally regarding the raise of the level of transparency and accountability of public institutions.

Responsibilities of each member are as follows:
• Fiscal Transparency – publication in time of essential budget documents and an open budget system;
• Access to information – Law on access to information which guarantees the public’s right for information and access to government records;
• Publication of the data on the public or elected officials – Publication of data on income and wealth of public or elected officials;
• Civic engagement – Participation and engagement of citizens in policy-making and decision-making processes.
The progress in these four areas will be measured by objective indicators and the results will be verified by international experts. Depending on the results of the measurement, the countries will be assessed whether or not suitable for membership. To be assessed as suitable for membership, countries that claim to join, should receive 75% of the maximum points.

The next step is the draft of a “National Action Plan”. In this plan should be described the commitments for concrete actions for an open government. Commitments are structured around some key challenges faced by governments, and these challenges are: Improving public services, Growth of public integrity, more effective management of public resources, Creation of safer communities and the Growth of corporate accountability. Moreover, the commitments should reflect the four main principles of an open government: transparency, citizen participation, accountability, Technology and Innovation. Governments should start drafting this plan by presenting their insofar actions and ongoing strategies and programs related to key challenges set by them. Commitments can be built on the grounds of actions taken so far, to identify new steps for the continuation of reforms or initiate action in entirely new areas.

Being at a high level of corruption, lack of transparency and extremely low accountability, made citizens distrust public institutions. Being at this level of government, the decision taken today by the Government is a great obligation for internal function of our institutions, in relation to open government, accountability and international responsibility that comes as a consequence of this situation.
Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative involving governments, civil society and business sector, which aims to ensure commitments for concrete action by governments to promote transparency, empower active citizenship, fight against corruption, and use the new technology to strengthen good governance.

This initiative officially began operations on 20 September 2011, within the UN General Assembly in New York; it is now fully operational and has made its impact on the opening of governments, specifically enhancing transparency and accountability. In this occasion the eight founding countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States) have approved the declaration of OGP and declared their National Action Plans.

Besides founding state governments, until 17 April 2012 another 39 other state governments have approved the declaration of OGP and have developed their ‘National Action Plan’, and until 24 April 2013 another 10 other state governments have formally approved OGP’s statement and have developed their National Action Plan.

Region states that have approved the declaration of OGP and have developed and submitted to the supervisory committee their National Action Plan are: Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey.

July 5, 2013- Series of debates with leaders of political parties in Kosovo on Local elections, Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Kosovo – Serbia agreement.

Prishtina , July 3 – FOL Movement calls the management and members of the Assembly to remove from the agenda the approval of the draft law on amnesty. FOL believes that this draft law, as it is shown in its content, is against the basic premises of liberal justice and the principles applied by open societies and democratic states. As such, the draft law violates the basics of constitution and law of our Republic. Brought without any prior debate, and as a result of negotiations between the prime ministers of the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia, the draft law in question essentially violates the freedoms, rights and basic principles of human rights, freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution.

As a unique case in the world, this draft law would cause a instability in the system which remains very weak, non- functional and in a part of the territory completely ineffective.

Therefore, FOL sent a request to all Members of the Assembly that this draft law be removed completely from the agenda for the next meeting, and thus enable the opening of a broad social debate on issues related to this draft law and consequences that would bring it to the very foundations of the state of Kosovo.

On the contrary , if the draft law is passed in the Assembly tomorrow, it would be a huge blow to the spirit that the Republic of Kosovo represents itself, and would represent a dangerous precedent and extremely disadvantageous to the process of state – building and the general interest of the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo .

Transparency Index IV Policy brief: Assessment of Transparency of Central, Local Institutions and Public Enterprises in Kosovo for 2012

 
Transparency Index IV

Prishtina, June 25 – Today is the fourth universarry of the establishment of FOL Movement. Since its establishment until today, FOL Movement was engaged in raising the level of transparency and accountability, encouraging citizen participation in political and public life, and supporting the processes of state-building and democratization of the country.

FOL began working with only one computer and the staff consisted of three people, nowadays there are fifteen people in the organization, about 300 activists, and over fifty members who within the Assembly Members govern directly the organization.
During these years FOL has organized several round tables, various petitions, protests and public performances, various publications, several schools for active citizenry, and hundreds of different activities with the aim of involving civil society in the process of state -building, a process our country is going through.

Our achievements during these four years are many: hundreds of high school students have benefited from the debate program, which offers the best opportunity for young people to develop their potential for critical thinking, active participation and reaction. FOL was the first organization to open procurement offices for inspection by civil society, something that has contributed directly to reduce the opportunities for misuse. We have also tried to bring togetjer public institutions with citizens, we have participated in many working groups drafting anti-corruption laws, and we published regular reports on the level of corruption, transparency and malpractice in public procurement. A one-month campaign in 2011, in cooperation with the State Prosecutor has opened this institution, reducing traditional prejudices about prosecution. Our work has encouraged other organizations of civil society to further this initiative.

FOL Movement, during this year’s was actively involved in the membership of the Republic of Kosovo in the Open Government Partnership – OGP, where membership in this organization will mean the opening of the institutions regarding spending public money.
FOL is committed to continue with its efforts and contribution to bring institution together with citizens, to decline corruption in the country, and to enhance transparency and accountability of public institutions about spending the state budget.
FOL thanks all the members of the Advisory Board, the members of the Assembly of FOL, activ members and supporters, media and donors for the great help and support they have provided over the years.

Prishtina, June 21 – FOL Movement supported by the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, held the Discussing Forum about the level of implementation of the Law on Protection of Informers by public officials.

In this Forum were present representatives from Ministry of Justice, Independent Supervising Board on Civil Servants, members of Legislation Committee, Kosovo Institute of Public Administration, Department for Investigation of Economic Crimes and Corruption, Anti-Corruption Agency, and representatives of various non-governmental organizations.
In this forum, except the presentation of rhe findings of the research ” officials do not report corruption: The level of knowledge and experience of public officials about the Law on Protection of Informers”, was also discussed about the weaknesses of the Law, its implementation by officials in practice, and its promotion by various public officials.
Basri Gimolli from The Division of Policy and Legislation stated that “Tthe Ministry of Justice, as sponsor of this law was obliged only to draft the law and is not responsible for its implementation and monitoring by its officials.”

He further added, “The purpose of this law is to encourage officials to report illegal actions, but the law is based more on the goodwill of the officials rather thsn in their legal compulsion to denounce a particular crime.”

More decisive was the member of Legislation Committee from Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement), Albulena Haxhiu who stated that “This law needs to be amended because of the many weaknesses it contains”. She further added that “public officials are affraid to report cases of corruption within their respective institutions.”
Bajram Ajeti, Director of the Independent Supervising Board on Civil Servants, said “a large number of public officials are not informed at all about the existence of the Law on Protection of Informers; therefore we must find the opportunities how to promote the Law in central and local institutions, and private sector as well”. Moreover, he stressed that “officials are arbitrarily terminated from their jobs due to an authoritarian mentality that exists in our institutions.”

Shemsi Igrishta from Directorate for Investigation of Economic Crimes and Corruption, among others presented the general reporting figures for 2012, including public officials’ denonciations. He said that “154 reports out 297 that they have received were considered as grounded and are considered as cases, and 143 other cases have been sent with special prosecutor’s report.”
Arton Demhasaj, a representative of COHU organization expressed his criticism regarding the level of implementation of this law, its name and the scope of the law.
Samir Reka, Executiv Director of INPO, said, “At the local level, it is not known about the xistence of the Law on Protection of Informers and leave alone its content and implementation.”

At the end of the forum were given several recommendations. Among the most important are:
• The Law should be more specific regarding the fight and prevention of corruption;
• The name of the law should be changed;
• Organizing promotion campaigns about the content of the law;
• Committee on Legislation should organize public discussions regarding the implementation of the Law;
• Appointing responsible officials for supervision of irregularities;
• Finding ways to encourage officials to report corruption;
This project was funded through a grant of the the American Embassy in Prishtina

Prishtina, 20th June – FOL Movement within the Platform on Declaration and Comparison of the assets of public officials (http://levizjafol.org/al/deklarimet), has updated the data on declaration of the assets for 2012, which were made public by Anti-Corruption Agency in late May 2013.

In this platform are 236 senior officials, who are in high positions since 2010 up to date, including 34 mayors, 107 parliament members, and 77 senior government officials. This year have been included another 12 senior officials from both local and on a central level, due to some changes in several ministries.

According to declarations to ACA, the difference of assets of public officials which is increased in 2012 compared with the previous year is as follows:
• Deputy Prime Minister Behxhet Pacolli – € 102,532,814.00;
• Parliament Member Emin Gerbeshi – € 1,747,100.00;
• Mayor of Suhareka, Blerim Kuqi – € 684,859.00;
• Mayor of Drenas, Nexhat Demaku – € 360,420.00;
• Parliament Member, Hamza Balje – € 195,300.00;
• Deputy Minister of Diaspora, Nuredin Lushtaku, € 101,000.00;
• Parliamenr Member, Lutfi Haziri – € 94,829.00;
• Parliament Member, Muhamet Mustafa – € 87,799.00;
• The President Atifete Jahjaga – € 52,673.00;
• Deputy Prime Minister, Hajredin Kuçi – € 36,712.00.
Meanwhile, public officials whose assets declined during 2012 compared with the previous year are:
• Parliament Member, Ramiz Kelmendi – € 21,905,167.00;
• Parliament Member Florin Kelmendi -€ 4,482,655.00;
• Parliament Member Hashim Deshishku – € 568,269.00;
• Deputy Minister of Economic Developement, Ramadan Hasani – € 185,235.00;
• Minister of Finances, Besim Beqaj – € 185,235.00;
• Deputy Minister of Public Administration, Nexhmedin Kastrati – € 95,360.00;
• Chairman of Parliament Jakup Krasniqi – € 20,000.00;
• Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi – € 15,135.00.

Kosovo citizens can compare the declarations of assets and also comment on those for each category. Comments given to this platform after a certain period of time will be sent to the Anti-Corruption Agency and the State Prosecution, in order to begin investigation about the declarations that eventually are not accurate or about the high level of difference from a year to another year without any reasonable explanation.
For more about the wealth of senior public officials, please visit Platform on Declaration and Comparison of the assets of public officials

Prishtina, 17th June – Today FOL Movement held a press conference presenting the report: “Officials do not report corruption: The level of knowledge and experience of public officials about the Law on Protection of Informers”.

Armend Mazreku a researcher at FOL Movement said that “Like all laws on prevention and fighting corruption, the Law on Protection of Informers suffers from several deficiencies and legal gaps.” Further, he added that “besides the aspects related mainly to the normative aspects of this law, the findings of this research argue the poor and insufficient level of public officials regarding denunciation of offenses.”

According to the research of FOL, it results that the Law on Protection of Informers contains many gaps and deficiencies. Among them are: the wrong name and with a negative connotation of the Law on Protection of Informers; generalized scope of the Law and non-specification in the field of criminal offenses against official duty as provided by Kosovo Criminal Code; uncertainty about which instance is responsible for receiving information, and the impunity of people or authorities responsible when they reveal the identity of the reporters of corruption.
Moreover, according to the findings of this research, only 73.6% of officials who hold different public functions are informed about the existence of the Law on Protection of Informers, while 26.4% of them are not at all informed about the existence or non-existence of the law. It is even worse about the content of the law. Only 15% of public officials in central and local level turn out to be informed of the contents of this law, 60% somewhat, 21% little and 4% have no knowledge at all. According to this research only 36% of public officials have reported cases of corruption, while 73% of them have ‘closed their eyes’ of what they have seen.

Furthermore, the research has shown the lack of supervising officials for irregularities who should have been appointed by public institutions, the fear of officials for punishment by their superiors, and the lack of public discussion about the level of implementation of the Law, by parliamentarians and representatives of civil society organizations.
In addition to these important aspects, the research has also identified the advantages and weaknesses of Kosovo legislation compared to the countries in the region. While the advantages of Kosovo legislation according to this research is this specific law and protection this law guarantee when the identity of the officials is revealed, on the other hand regarding other aspects mainly related to the scope of the law, the bodies responsible for receiving information, punishment of the responsible people or authorities who reveal the identity of those who report abusive practices, countries in the region are significantly better regarding these issues.

Prishtina, 14th June – Today FOL Movement held a conference on “The Effects of Electronic Procurement in increase of Public Procurement Transparency”. At this conference participated representatives from Public Procurement Agency of the Republic of Albania, representatives of Public Procurement Regulatory Commission of Kosovo, representatives of various public procurement authorities, and civil society and media.

Fidan Kalaja from FOL Movement stated that FOL since 2011 is focused on monitoring public procurement procedures. “Considering that corruption in public procurement has been high and there is a lack of transparency in this sector, since 2011 we have recommended that public institutions should begin implementing electronic procurement to minimize corruption corruption cases in this system”. Considering that “FOL Movement has initiated the process of Kosovo’s membership in the Open Government Partnership – OPG, increasing the transparency of public procurement through implementation of e-procurement is the main criterion for membership thus the Kosovo Government must hasten the implementation of this system, “said Kalaja.

Bleda Muhollari from Public Procurement Agency of the Republic of Albania said that in Albania this system has started to be applied since 2009. “Electronic procurement system provides safe, efficient and transparent preparation and administration of all documents related to the tendering process, avoiding the submission of the documentation on paper ensuring a secure flow of data throughout the process”. According to her, this system significantly reduces the time of application, eliminates unnecessary documentation, facilitates and standardizes familiarization with tender conditions, guarantees the confidentiality of the bid, generates reports and their electronic storage for on line reviews, thus reducing the possibility of corruption. Muhollari stated that using this system “Albania became the first country in the world to implement an e-procurement system for all procurement procedures of public sector”. According to her “the implementation of this system had a profound effect on the growth of free competition where the number of bids for a tender procedure is increased from an average of 2 to 7 bids”.

The representative of the Public Procurement Regulatory Commission of Kosovo, Abdyl Limani, stated that the World Bank is preparing a strategic plan of electronic procurement system in Kosovo. “It would be easier for Kosovo to get Albania’s program, but experts from the World Bank claim that each country has its own specifics, therefore Kosovo should have a special electronic procurement system,” said Limani. According to him, until now the legislation on public procurement has had five changes. Even now is in preparation for other changes and soon they will be done as well. Limani said that according to the promises they received from the World Bank, by the end of this year, the electronik procurement system will be ready.
Alban Hashani from Riinvest Institute, said that in a similar meeting we were promised that in January of this year the electronic procurement will beging to be used and thus it would be good for PPRC and public institutions to give us a correct information about when this will happen” said Hasani.

In this conference was also discussed about how willing and prepared Kosovo institutions to implement such a system are, considering the application of advanced electronic technology. There were also discussions about many challenges that Kosovo will face regarding this process, the participants concluded that Kosovo should not waste more time and should begin as soon as possible the implementation of electronic procurement considering the positive effects this system will bring on the progress of public procurement procedures in Kosovo.

3th June 2013 – The Advisory Board of FOL Movement held on Thursday the successive meeting for the year 2013. The agenda of this meeting foresaw discussions over the report of annual activities and finances for the year 2012 and discussions in merit of the process of Kosovo’s membership in the Open Government Partnership.

Board members, unanimously, approved the report of activities and finances for the year 2012, after the same was presented by the management of FOL Movement. Same, during this meeting the Executive Director of FOL Movement informed the members of the Board regarding the initiative that FOL has taken in the process of Kosovo’s membership in the global initiative for transparency and good governance, respectively the membership in the OGP. Among other things, Petrit Zogaj stated that, “OGP is a multilateral initiative, where governments, civil society and business sectors are included, with the main aim of promoting transparency, empowering citizens, fighting corruption and harnessing new technologies to strengthen good governance”.

Having in consideration the high level of corruption in the country, the lack of transparency and accountability from the public institutions, FOL Movement by being supported from the British Embassy in Kosovo, expects from the Kosovo’s Presidency, Government and other institutions, same as from the private sector, to show an interest in the process of country’s membership nearby this organization. He said that, FOL Movement has already set up first contacts with the Open Government Partnership – OGP by elaborating in the same time the plan containing the actions that Kosovo must undertake in order to become a member of this organization in April of 2014.

The Advisory Board supported the FOL Movement’s initiative, by stating that it should be considered as a public pressure towards the institutions in order to make them more transparent when it comes to their public expenditures.
The Board’s meeting continued discussing over other points of the agenda, where once again a full support was given to the engagement of FOL Movement in promoting the fight against corruption, and increasing the transparency and the accountability of public institutions.

Prishtina, 31st May – FOL Movement organized a debate on the Law on Declaration of Assets of senior public officials, which is in the process of significant amendments and harmonization with Kosovo Criminal Code. In this debate were invited representatives from Ministry of Justice, Anti-Corruption Agency, and Agency for Personal Data Protection, representatives from civil society and media.

Petrtit Zogaj, Executive Director of FOL Movement, stated that the purpose of this debate is to discuss with the main authorities and interested parties regarding the amendments and harmonization of this law with the new Criminal Code of Kosovo
The Secretary General of Ministry of Justice Mr. Bedri Bahtiri said that the change and harmonization of laws has become known as a requirement of the Feasibility Study Report. “Our ministry has accepted the recommendations of the Anti-Corruption Agency and Agency for Personal Data Protection. We also held a debate with NGOs, so once we get a version with the proposed changes we will send to all interested parties for reviews”. According to him, regarding the Amendment of this Law, Ministry of Justice has invited international experts in order to have a law based on best practices from European countries.

Afrim Atashi, a representative of the Anti-Corruption Agency, said ACA in its working group has requested and managed to realize the publication, meanwhile, it is still debatable only the modalities about the in access published records. According to him, ACA wanted there were some other changes in the law, but they were mostly technical changes.
Mentor Hoxhaj, a representative of the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data, said that the attitude of the agency he represents is against the declaration of assets of senior official’s brother and sister, while they are not against the publication of these data. However, he asked that asset declaration form should be developed jointly by the two agencies, which was opposed by ACA.
Arton Demhasi, from organization Çohu, said that the good practices we are talking abpot, are created by laws that have been suitable with the circumstances of that country. “I think that no law drafted by taking examples from EU countries will be useful, because no country in Europe has the level of corruption as we have in Kosovo,” said Demhasi.

Agron Behrami, from Anti-Corruption Agency stated that they cannot begin with the procedures without some additional data required. “We know that there are many cases in Kosovo where people live in large families, but there are also cases when people used to declare that they live alone but it proved to be untrue, after investigations we have realized that they live together in large families, so we need more data on citizens than there are published.”

Gallery

Prishtina, 24th May – Today, the newspaper Zëri, in an editorial, relying on documents that possesses has denounced Minister Fadil Ismail about his involvement in corruption affairs. As this newspaper informs, Minister Ismail has been involved in different corruption and conflict of interest affairs while he was on various functions in Public Companies.
These published materials should have been sufficient evidence for State Prosecution to initiate investigations against Mr. Ismaili. We believe that the Prosecution would take seriously the case of

Mr. Ismaili, but also for other cases, the media and civil society are constantly talking about.
Minister Ismaili, who was appointed just a few days ago, took over the most important ministry in the Government of Kosovo, which is the Ministry of Economic Development. Leading this government department by Mr. Ismaili, which includes sensitive processes of Kosovo’s economy, privatization of public companies, strategic economic orientation and so on, are very suspicious because of his implication in different corruption and conflict of interest affairs.

Also, being committed declaratively that Kosovo Government will have ‘zero tolerance’ to corruption, the Government and the Prime Minister must have an attitude about the findings of the newspaper Zëri regarding Mr. Ismaili. No doubt that this is primarily a responsibility of Prime Minister where Ministers are involved in corruption affairs. Such a thing should not be a justification of the coalition, making compromises to not to act in such cases when government officials are denounced for corruption practices, which is to the country’s disadvantage, at the disadvantage of good management of public property and damaging public budget and citizens.

Podujeva, May 21, 2013 – FOL Movement organized a debate on the topic “Annual Work of Podujeva Municipality – Transparency and Accountability”. Panelist in this debate was Mr. Agim Veliu, Mayor of Podujeva. Other guests were representatives of political parties in the municipality, municipal counselors, chairmen of local communities, media and civil society representatives.
Fidan Kalaja, from FOL Movement said that “the purpose of organizing these debates is to promote transparency of local institutions”. In order to achieve this, today FOL is implementing this debate with the Mayor of Podujeva, and such debates will be organized in other municipalities of Kosovo as well.

The Mayor of Podujeva Municipality Agim Veliu, said that “whenever we talk about accountability and transparency, it is known that we talk about the budget, expenditures, investments, etc.” He briefly present the budget and its expenditure categories stressing that ” the budget of Podujeva Municipality for 2012 was about 17 million Euros, and although it is not spend 100 % we can say that a great deal of the budget is spent” According to him, with this budget have been implemented a number of projects where among them the investments in infrastructure, investment in health, in agriculture, in culture, as well as constructing 11 houses for social housing etc. “The most important is that in 2012 we have conducted 205 procurement procedures where no procurement procedure in Podujeva Municipality has been canceled and there were no complaints from competing operators because the laws was respected precisely ” said Veliu .

Nexhat Llumnica from Lëvizja për Bashkim (Unity Movement), said that the mayor is not fulfilling the promises made in 2009, particularly regarding the improving of the situation in education. He said that “there is still lack of schools, the quality is very poor, we have teachers who teach four different subjects, and the most concerning the violence in schools, where students are beaten by their teachers.”
PDK Municipal Counselor, Kadri Avdiu said that the lack of transparency leads to suspicions that there may be corruption affairs. Regarding the financial report that has been discussed in Assembly we have noticed some inconsistencies in the report regarding the last three months,” said Avdiu.
Naim Qunaku, also from PDK, said that as a “what’s to be concerned about, we consider, is the unpleasant situation for drafting the draft-budget, reports in municipal assembly, and there projects that have been realized without the approval of the assembly”. According to him, it is ridiculous that for three months of the year are spent about 280 thousand Euros for goods and services, while it is the same amount for capital investments as well.

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