“The data and information produced by the institutions belong to the citizens, the public administration is a service for the citizens, which must necessarily be completely transparent, and at the same time the function holders and the institutions must be aware of and responsible for the need for transparency and accountability to citizens”, said the Deputy Prime Minister responsible for good governance policies, Sllavica Grkovska, in today’s public debate on the Draft Strategy for Government Transparency (2023-2026), which was prepared in cooperation with the Internet Foundation and Society – “Metamorfozis”.
This document was prepared by a working group composed of the main stakeholders in society, representatives of the civil sector, representatives of the media, as well as representatives from the competent institutions.
“Transparency and proactive publication of information should be the backbone of the daily operation of state institutions. In that direction, they are also a part of the digital transformation processes of society, which should ensure the full opening of institutions for citizens. In the past period, a number of mechanisms have been created, which ensure proactive transparency, and one of them is the Guide for improving the transparency of institutions, which was approved by the Government at the suggestion of my cabinet, and with which the institutions are obliged from their websites publish a significantly larger amount of data” – said Deputy Prime Minister Grkovska.
With the Strategy that we are presenting today, she added, the necessary procedures and standards for transparency and accountability are defined, raised to a level that will ensure the adequate responsibility of all civil servants and public officials before the citizens.
“The strategy directs all ministries and bodies within it, independent state administration bodies, independent state bodies and administrative organizations that answer to the Government, public enterprises established by the government and state-owned joint stock companies, to understand and accept transparency as a way of working. They have an obligation to be as open as possible in their daily work, to share all information with the citizens without using the right of free access to information of a public nature” – informed Grkovska.
She emphasized that complete transparency is a process that is not achieved overnight and for which, above all, a change of consciousness in society is necessary, to which all actors in society must contribute. Deputy Prime Minister Gërkovska emphasized that the contribution that will result from today’s public debate will be an important guide for the further improvement of the document for the working group working on the text of the Government Transparency Strategy.
The text is taken from the website of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, link.
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