NGOs Demand Open Governance from the Prime Minister of Ukraine

TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More International Ukraine, almost a hundred of NGOs and experts sent the Prime Minister an open request to urgently take the implementation of the international Open Governance Partnership initiative (OGP) under control.

In accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers’ order as of November, 26, 2014 under No.1176-p, the Government has taken its obligation to guarantee the proper realization of the OGP initiatives in 2014-2015 in five branches: (i) access to information, (ii) fighting corruption, (iii) electronic governance, (iv) public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio..., (v) administrative services. The body responsible for implementation – the Coordination Committee for OGP realization, was appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers but never started its work. As a result Ukraine has taken the obligations as a member of OGP partnership, but systematically breaks its rules and procedures.

Participants of the public discussion “How to make the legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r... work for good of the open government?”, initiated on March, 18 by Transparency International Ukraine and the Reanimation Package of Reforms coalition pointed out the main shortcomings in the Open Governance initiative and ways to resolve them. In opinion of the civil experts the open governance has still not provided because:

• the structure of the Coordination Committee is not updated to the current Government structure;
• the Coordination Council meetings are not regular;
• the society is not informed on the Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... for 2014-2015 and it is not executed;
• there is no effective communication between Government and the initiative management

That is why Ukrainians demand the Prime Minister to take urgent actions to resolve the problem and:

• to approve the new composition of the Coordination Committee for the OGP initiative not later than till the end of March 2015;
• to control over conducting the first meeting of the new Coordination Committee not later than till April, 2015;
• to provide the qualitative analysis of the OGP Action Plan for 2014-2015 and give public information on its results not later than till the end of April 2015;
• to provide work and regular update of the official page of the OGP initiative in Ukraine http://www.ogp.gov.ua
• to establish cooperation between the Government and the Initiative Coordination Committee, other Ukrainian and international organizations supporting the Initiative.

If Arsenii Yatseniuk ignores the civil public letter, Ukrainian representative office and the head office of the international anti-corruption organization Transparency International will initiate the exclusion of Ukraine from OGP. In this case it will not only worsen the state’s reputation, but clearly demonstrate actual inability of Ukraine to implement reforms and guarantee openness and transparency of its governance to the international community.

Contact for media: Liudmyla Shumylo, +38 (097) 444-50-10 shumylo@ti-ukraine.org

Media contact: Olga Tymchenko,
Communications Department Head
Transparency International Ukraine
mobile +38 050 352 9618,
office +38 044 360 5242,
e-mail: tymchenko@ti-ukraine.org
mobile 050 352 9618, office 044 360 5242,
http://www.ti-ukraine.org

Note: Transparency International Ukraine is a chapter of the global anti-corruption NGO Transparency International that covers over 100 countries via its network of more than 90 national offices. TI Ukraine Mission: to cap the corruption in Ukraine by promoting transparency, accountability and integrity of the authorities and the civil society. To find out more about the organisation, please visit http://www.ti-ukraine.org.

It is to be recalled that Open Governance Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative, which has 65 member countries, officially established on September 20, 2011 at the UN General Assembly. Ukraine joined the global initiative in September 2011. The aim of the initiative is to ensure implementation by the participating countries of the specific commitments to promote transparency in governance, citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More in decision-making processes, fight against corruption, use of new technologies to improve the quality of the government decisions.

Image Credit: Deep Stereo