Prishtina, 24 January 2013 – FOL Movement continued to monitor the procurement procedures in various public institutions this year as well. FOL has a written agreement with these institutions to implement such activities.

According to the memorandum of understanding that FOL Movement has with the Ministry of Justice, FOL has directly monitored the evaluation procedure of the tender ” Cleaning of the MJ facilities ” held on 15th January 2013. During the course of the evaluation procedure FOL observed that drafting of the specifications of tender dossier was incomplete and unprofessional. In the last page of the tender dossier, the chart was written only the price per square meter, without specifying whether it is the price per square meter for an hour, a day, a month or what period of time. Thus announcing the winner any competitive economic operators could have unpredictable consequences for Kosovo’s budget and the Ministry of Justice and can cause subjective and discriminatory actions against the bidding economic operators. Because of these reasons FOL Movement requested to cancel this tender.

The contracting authority which was the Ministry of Justice, on 21st January 2013, has announced the competitive economic operators that the tender has been canceled by the evaluation committee and the justification was exactly the reasons stated by FOL Movement.
FOL Movement requires again this year that the public procurement should be reformed and the access for improving this sector should be systematic by increasing the transparency, preventing and fighting misuse and corruption in this sector.

FOL Movement at a the annual party, awarded for the fourth time the Citizens Award for Courage. This award was presented to Mr. Adem Meta. Mr. Adem Meta is a lawyer and a devoted activist for the last twenty years. Mr. Meta gave a valuable contribution during the period before the war where he was the secretary of the Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms in Skenderaj and then as a journalist, since the establishment of the newspaper Koha Ditore, informing local and international opinion on the sensational developments of that time.
After the public appearance of the KLA in 1997, through the public information he has played an important role in popularizing and presenting KLA actions and presenting the harsh repression of the Serbian police against civilians. Despite the risks to his life, Adem has followed in the war zones and the entire territory of the municipality, local journalists and international media as well as numerous international delegations. Throughout the war, wherever Adem was, there was a credible source of information and he was very cooperative for all those who wanted to learn about the reality of that time.
After the war, Mr. Meta has continued to be very active in civil society (CDHRF, KAC-i). As a journalist he has consistently been critical of all the irregularities of the actual government after the war, and as a result he won several national and international recognition, but because of his professionalism, especially since 2008, he has also encountered lots of difficulties at work. They reached the peak during the elections in 2010 in Skenderaj, and is continuing even today, not only holding back doing his job freely as a journalist but also threatening and attacking in various forms. Not even his family was spared from threatening. Mr. Meta continues to be a trusted and valuable voice for fair and objective information of the citizens of the Municipality of Skenderaj and beyond.

Halil Matoshi, a publicist at the same time member of the Advisory Board of FOL Movement, said “FOL Movement by presenting the Citizens Award for Courage recognizes and supports the valuable contribution of Mr. Meta and who is a good example of professional journalism and courage, he further added that Mr.Meta should be a good example for journalism in Kosovo.
Petrit Zogaj, the executive director of FOL said ” FOL Movement is closing this year, likewise the other three years, on an event, which is trying to support, protect and thank individuals who, although encountered difficulties in performing their daily work, did not stop at any moment to inform the public, to open debates on certain issues and to protect their right causes. Mr. Meta is an example of a dedicated citizen, who does not compromise on principles, being willing to accept the risks that may come.

Winners of this award in the last three years were: Mr. Rufki Suma, an independent candidate who won the election for mayor Hani Elezit, Mrs Ajnishahe Shala-Halimi and Mr. Ejup Bajrami, while this year the award was presented to Adem Meta.

Pristina, 28 December 2012 – Movement FOL at a party organized for the end of the year, awarded for the fourth time with Civic Courage Award. This price was awarded to Mr. Adem Meta. Mr. Adem Meta, is a lawyer by profession and a tireless activist during the last twenty years. Mr. Meta gave a valuable contribution in pre-war period where he was secretary of the Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Skenderaj and then as a journalist, since the establishment of the newspaper Koha Ditore, informing local and international opinion with developments at that time.

As a journalist, he has consistently been critical of all current government’s irregularities. He has won several national and international recognitions, but because of his professionalism, especially since 2008, he has encountered difficulties at work. They were more extensive since the 2010 electoral campaign in Skenderaj, and continue even today, not only obstructing the free exercise of the work as a journalist but also threatening and attacking in various forms. Threats did not spare even his family. Mr. Meta continues to be a trusted and valued voice for fair and objective information to the citizens of the Municipality of Skenderaj and beyond.

Halil Matoshi, publicist at the same time member of the Advisory Board of Movement FOL, said, “Movement FOL by awarding the Civic Courage award recognizes and supports the valuable contribution of Mr. Meta, who is a good example of professional journalism and courage. He further added that Mr. Meta is a good example of journalism in Kosovo.
Whereas, Petrit Zogaj, executive director of FOL said: Movement FOL is closing this year, as well as three former years, with an event event, which tries to support, defend, and thank the individuals who, although have encountered difficulties in performing their daily work, are not stopped at any time to inform the public, open a debate on certain issues and protect their just causes. Mr. Meta, is an example of a devoted citizen, who does not compromise on principles, being willing to accept the risks that may come.
The awarded people of this award in the last three years were: Mr. Rufki Suma, an independent candidate who won the election for mayor in Hani I Elezit Municipality, Mrs. Ajnishahe Shala-Halimi and Mr.Ejup Bajrami, while this year the price is awarded to Mr. Adem Meta.

Pristina, December 28, 2012 – According to the Law on Freedom of Association in the Republic of Kosovo and the Statutes of the organization, on December 28, 2012, was held the meeting of the Members of the Assembly of Movement FOL, which is the main decision-making body in the organization. In the meeting was approved in principle the annual work report for 2012 and the audit report for 2011.
Also at this meeting, of Members of the Assembly of Movement FOL approved the executive summary of the Draft Strategy of Movement FOL for the years 2013-2015.

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Pristina, 21 December 2012 – Movement FOL publish the report “Accountability Test”, this report, aims show the overall level of implementation of the Law on Access to Public Documents in eight different municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo: Mitrovica, Prizren, Prizren, Gjakova, Kamenica, Podujeva, Gjilan and Peja.
This report is a product of the campaign and survey that Movement FOL had conducted during September in the above-mentioned municipalities.

The findings of this report reveal the main problems the concerned municipalities faced during the implementation of legal provisions, which relate to citizens’ access to public documents.

Among the major problems presented in the aforementioned municipalities are:
– Lack of knowledge of citizens about the existence of the Law on Access to Public Documents.
– Small number of requests from citizens for access to local authorities and / or
– Lack of interest of officials to inform citizens about their rights they have on access to public documents.

Based on a comparative analysis of the data, Podujeva turns out to be at best in terms of implementation of the Law on Access to Public Documents, while Peja was recorded (obviously) as the municipality with the lowest level of implementation of legal provisions dealing with citizens’ access to public documents or official.

The entire report: http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Raporti_Testi_i_Pergjegjshmerise-1.pdf
Results of the survey:
http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Rezulatetet_e_hulumtimit_%281%29.pdf

Pristina, 19 December 2012 – Advisory Board of Movement FOL held on Wednesday, the last meeting for this year. Movement FOL leaders notified the members of the Board with activities and developments that FOL has accomplished during the year and also plans of the next year.
At this meeting, among the topics that were discussed was the organization of the annual award ceremony for Civic Courage. After a discussion of the terms and conditions of the award, the Board decided about the person who will receive the award this year.
Board agreed that the next meeting, which will be in mid-February next year in which occasion will evaluate the performance of Movement FOL during the year and approve a new strategy for the years 2013-2015.

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Prishtina, 14 December 2012 – Movement FOL as part of its efforts to identify problems in the area of public procurement held the consecutive meeting of the Informal Working Group.

Participants in this meeting were procurement institutions, various contracting authorities and representatives of civil society.
Movement FOL informed the participants with reports and analysis published this year, such as: Analysis of Procurement Law in the Context of Transparency, Analysis of Abuses with Public Authority in the Area of Public Procurement, and three Procurement Monitor reports. Later, the participants discussed about the possibility of Kosovo’s membership in Open Government Partnership, which is an organization that promotes transparency and accountability. In the document “The Way Toward OGP” Movement FOL has prepared a draft proposal for an action national plan in Kosovo, and which is an essential condition in the way of membership in OGP.
After this discussion, Movement FOL through an analysis presented three main issues of concern in the area of public procurement. These issues include:

At the meeting were: the Public Procurement Regulatory Commission, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Public Administration, the State Prosecution, Kosovo Democratic Institute, Kosovo Correctional Service and Ministry of Justice.

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Pristina, 8-9 December – Movement FOL has organized for the seventh (7) time the Debate Tournament “Karl Popper” ‘Prishtina Open’, which was held on 8-9 December in “Xhevdet Doda” High School.
In this tournament participated 100 high school students from seven (7) municipalities of Kosovo: Prishtina, Prizren, Peja, Malisheva, Mitrovica Gjakova, Podujeva.

This tournament was more likely preparation for the next national tournament that is going to be held in February, where the winners will represent Kosovo in international debate competition, which this year will be held in Ireland.

In the semi-finals were qualified four teams that have collected the most points based on the decisions of judges. Semi-finalists of this debate were NEMO and iHithat from Pristina, ATA 3 from Ferizaj and Babylon from Mitrovica. NEMO and iHithat managed to be qualified to the finals and the winner was NEMO team from Prishtina.

Judges in this tournament were former debaters who previously participated in the debate “Karl Popper”. The team of judges who judged the finals of this tournament, announced the winner of this tournament Nemo from Pristina.

Four resolutions of the debate in this tournament were topics about the minors; two of these resolutions were limited preparation whereas about two other resolutions, the debaters had the opportunity to prepare in advance.

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Pristina, 05 December 2012 – FOL has been attending with concern the developments regarding the publication of several surveillance videos of some politicians. Besides the vocabulary, entirely non-political and non – institutional that we heard from officials on the tapes, insulting citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, denigrating the media and threatening the country’s higher institutions, we have also seen a lack of responsibility in relation to the development of processes and policies of these officials. Such communication by public officials continues to impact negatively on the credibility that citizens should have in public institutions.

Being faced with an unprecedented scandal in Kosovo, the Kosovo Government approves the draft law on wiretaps. The approval of this law, in the current situation, clearly shows that these institutions and those public officials do not have the will to protect people from possible tapping, but only themselves and in this way cover their scandals.

As a reminder of this, Movement FOL has proposed since April 2009 drafting such a law, due to the fact that at that time tapping the people of Kosovo were present and it was an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty about what institutions offered at the time. Despite meetings and explanations that we had done, since it was not a problem of the Government of Kosovo, which means that the public officials were not being tapped, had ignored our request. And now when these officials have been the subjects of tapping, the Government is hasting to draft the law. Same, like 3 years ago, the Government of Kosovo lacks the seriousness in relation to citizens and institutions.
Therefore, being a sensitive situation for the safety of the citizens of Kosovo, FOL requires that the draft law on tapping should undergo a broad public debate before it goes to the Assembly. Movement FOL also requires accountability and responsibility of officials involved in these scandals, as the tapping in question have seriously damaged the credibility of public institutions and the integrity of the state of Kosovo.

Pristina, 11 November 2012 – Movement FOL published the report ‘Corruption Monitor’, which includes all institutional activities taken in the fight against corruption for the period of three months from July to September 2012. This report shows that public institutions iare very passive n preventing and fighting corruption.

The Kosovo Assembly is not shown at all productive in preventing and fighting corruption. From 8 plenary sessions held in total, in none of them was discussed the extent of corruption in public institutions, indicating it as the most passive institution in the fight against corruption. For further details see:
http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Monitoruesi_i_korrupsionit_%28Korrik_Gusht_Shtator%29.pdf

October 28, 2012 – Movement FOL published the analysis ” The Impact of Government Decisions in the Fight Against Corruption 2010-2011″. Researcher of FOL Movement, Armend Mazreku, said the policy brief highlights the impact of government main decisions in the fight against corruption that have been approved over the years 2010 and 2011.

“From 2008 until now, the main priority of Thaci’s government was said to be fighting and preventing corruption. However, the reason why it is repeated so many times is because fighting corruption has never been a priority of this government. If fighting corruption would be indeed a priority of this government, the level of corruption in public institutions would become very low and Kosovo will not be ranked as the most corrupt country in Europe “, he said.

This policy brief demonstrates a lack of seriousness of the Government issuing consistent decisions in the area of preventing and fighting corruption. The six decisions analysed, two issued to consolidate the institutional framework and four to complete the anti-corruption legal framework, show a general lack of the impact that they should have to reduce the level of corruption in public institutions.

Full Report:
http://levizjafol.org/al/aktivitetet/artikulli/hulumtim_politikash_vendimet_e_qeverise_qe_nuk_luftuan_korrupsionin

This policy research reveals a lack of seriousness of the Government to issue sustainable decisions regarding prevention and fighting corruption. The six analyzed decisions, two issued to consolidate …

 
Policy Brief: The Impact of Government Decisions in the Fight Against Corruption 2010-2011

October 18, 2012 – Movement FOL held a press conference, and published Procurement Monitor report for the period July to September 2012.
Movement FOL researcher, Armend Mazreku, stated that the report “Procurement Monitor” includes law irregularities and violations committed by Ministries, Municipalities and Public Enterprises (PTK & KEK) in the area of public procurement. “The data in this report show the continuity of law violations and irregularities committed by the institutions and public enterprises in procurement activities during this three – month period,” said Mazreku.
Meanwhile, Kenan Tora, coordinator at Movement FOL said that during the three months period that we report about, the champion of legal violations is PTK, committing offenses in 4 tenders.

In this period, the above-mentioned institutions have committed violations in 18 different tenders. “From these 18 tenders, PRB returned 11 tenders for re-evaluation, 5 were returned for re-tendering and 1 procurement activity has been cancelled due to the request of the contracting authority for another tender, the contracting authority was sentence, “said Tora.

According to him, the ministries have violated the law of public procurement in 4 different tenders; the Ministry of the Kosovo Security Force has committed offenses in 2 different procurement activities, while the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1 procurement activity and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1 procurement activity.

“Public Enterprises (KEC and PTK) during this period did not comply with procurement procedures in accordance with the law in 7 different tenders. PTK has violated the law in 4 different procurement activities, KEC in 3 ” said Tora.
Tora stated that municipalities have committed offenses in 7 different tenders. Kamenica, Ferizaj, Gjakova, Lipjan, Suhareka violated law in1 tender, and Peja violated the law in 2 different tenders.

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October 7, 2012 – Movement FOL published the analysis “Abuses in Public Procurement” an analysis on abuses of the public authority in the area of public procurement.
This analysis also includes the functionality or non-functionality of institutions in order to fight these abuses. The analysis also provides recommendations for improvement of the situations.

According to this analysis, a major concern is the dependence of public procurement officials on political parties. They are appointed, act and indeed are supervised by political parties. This connects corruption directly with political parties, and as a consequence the fight against corruption remains fully in their political will.

All recommendations of this analysis, in order to improve the situation, are dependent on political will. FOL recommends organizational reforms in the central administrative bodies in the area of public procurement.

Due to a confusing structure of the functioning of anti-corruption institutions, there is a great risk of creating some institutional addresses regarding this issue. This confuses people who may not be clear what is the right address for fighting this phenomenon. In this context, such an action is avoiding institutional responsibility. For further details see: http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/ANALIZ%C3%8B_P%C3%8BR_SHP%C3%8BRDORIMIN_ME_AUTORITETIN_PUBLIK_N%C3%8B_FUSH%C3%8BN_E_PROKURIMIT_PUBLIK.pdf

Prishtina, September 28, 2012 – September 28 is the International Day (informal) of the right to know or access to official information. The international right to know began on 28 September 2002. On this day, organizations around the world work together to promote the right of access to official information by strengthening transparency and accountability. Mexhide Demolli Nimani, Media Office Coordinator stated that Movement FOL has traditionally respected this date with different activities. “This year, FOL , in order to analyse the level of implementation of the law on access to public documents, in September began the campaign” Accountability Test “. During this campaign, FOL has communicated directly with citizens in the 8 municipalities of Kosovo, providing assistance to interested citizens to make requests for access to public documents, “said Demolli Nimani.

According to her, part of this campaign was a non-standardized survey, the purpose of which was to collect information on citizens’ experience regarding the use of public services, ie access to public documents at central and local level institutions.

Meanwhile Jetmira Bajrami, coordinator at Movement FOL, said that the non-standardized survey includes 274 citizens. “Although the majority of respondents (53.6%) answered that they know of the existence of the Law on Access to Public Documents, the level of knowledge about the content of the law is extremely deficient,” said Bajrami.

The survey findings show that the level of interest of citizens to make requests for access to public documents is very low. “Only 22.2% of them stated that they had made such requests to institutions, while 77.3% stated that they have never made such requests. Most of these requests are made at the municipal level: 98.3% of people stated that they had made the requests in their municipalities, and only 1.6% of them had applied to the central level. About 60.6% of these requests that were made by the citizens of Kosovo never received a response from the institutions, compared with 39.3% of the cases that have received a response. In these responses, 58.3% of the cases were positive response, 8.3% were negative and 33.3% of cases, institutions have allowed partial access.
In addition to the implementation of the survey, Mexhide Demolli Nimani said that during this campaign were made 123 requests for access to public information in accordance with the Law on Access to Public Documents. “The number of requests received by the municipalities of Kosovo is: Mitrovica-19, Prizren-15, Gjakova-14, Podujeva-15, Ferizaj-15, Gjilan-15, Kamenicë-15, Peja-14, the Ministry of Education, Science and technology – 1, “. For further details see: http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Raporti_Testi_i_Pergjegjshmerise-2.pdf

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Prishtina, 14 September 2012 – Movement FOL, had a meeting with the Head of the Kosovo Judicial Council, Mr. Enver Peci. At the meeting they discussed the state of the judicial system in our country. Both sides agreed that cooperation between civil society and Kosovo Judicial Council is necessary. In this meeting was signed the Memorandum of Cooperation between FOL and KJC, which enables access to monitor proceedings against corruption.

Thanks to this memorandum, FOL will monitor all trials at all stages of criminal proceedings, dealing with corruption and abuse of official position, taking bribery, giving bribery, and all other violations in the area of public procurement, and transparency in spending public money.

This memorandum expresses the good will of both parties to improve the transparency and accountability of the judicial system in Kosovo institutions and increase their efficiency in the fight against corruption.

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FOL Newsletter (January- May 2012)

 
FOL Newsletter (January- May 2012)

Prishtina, 11 September 2012 – This year Movement FOL has organized various activities related to transparency as a key point in the development of democracy in Kosovo.
Movement FOL, since its establishment, part of its commitments has been the promotion of transparency and accountability of public institutions. In this context, Movement FOL began the campaign “Accountability Test” on Monday which will last from 10 to 28 September. During this campaign, FOL will be in nine municipalities of Kosovo, assisting citizens to apply for Access to Public Documents at municipal and central level.

On Monday, September 10, Movement FOL’s staff was in Mitrovica filling dozen of requests and questionnaires about the access to public documents. Requests addressed to Mitrovica later were sent to the municipality, and responses are expected within the time provided by law, whereas the requests addressed to the central institutions, by citizens of Mitrovica will be sent once collected from other municipalities as well.

The data derived from the completed questionnaires will be published in a report, which will be published after the end of the campaign. During this three-week period FOL has been in the following municipalities:

Mitrovica, Prizren, Gjakova, Peja, Prizren, Gjilan, Kamenica, Podujeva, Prishtina.

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Prishtina, 10 September 2012 – Movement FOL has congratulated the citizens and institutions of the Republic of Kosovo for the work they have done regarding the fulfilment of obligations in order to complete the conclusion of the supervision of independence. By this stage of supervision, through which Kosovo went through, most of the people are disappointed for the lack of results in particular: the extent of authority in the North, economical development, as well as the independence and strengthening of the justice system.

Completion of the supervision of independence should increase the accountability to the citizens of Kosovo and in no way find other addresses to justify failures. After September 10, 2012, national institutions can no longer hide behind internationals for domestic policy failures and this is a special opportunity to witness the maturity of the state of Kosovo.

September 9, 2012 – Movement FOL has presented five statements of state leaders with Truth-o Meter. Check the link to read the statements: http://levizjafol.org/al/aktivitetet/artikulli/matesi_i_se_vertetes3