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Citizens do not decide on local budgets

Citizens do not participate enough in public debates on local municipalities’ budgets, which is largely a consequence of the lack of information on possibilities to participate in decision-making at the local level.

This conclusion is embedded in the reports on public debates on the local budgets’ drafts for 2017, collected by Institute Alternative.

Citizens of municipality Ulcinj, exactly 60 of them, are the most interested in the way their money is being spent. This is due to the proactive publishing and informing on public debates in various local communities in this municipality.

Apart from Ulcinj, however, there hasn’t been significant number of citizens who have expressed their opinion on the ways their local municipality plans to spend money.

”Around 20 interested citizens“ participated in public debate in Nikšić, while the number has been significantly lower in municipality Žabljak, with only two citizens present at the assembly of citizens. The rest of the local municipalities ether have not reported on the citizens’ presence, or the citizens have not participated at all, which has been the case with the public debate on the draft budget for 2017 for the Capital City of Podgorica.

Poor attendance of public debates is a consequence of the weak efforts of local authorities to improve their mechanisms for informing citizens about the matter.

Local municipalities publish draft budgets, calls for public debates and public debates’ programme on their websites. Some of them are transparent and the documents are accessible in various sections (“budget“, “service for citizens“, “open city“, “documents“), which is the case of municipality Berane, Žabljak, Andrijevica, Kotor, Pljevlja, Budva and Bar.

However, most municipalities still urge citizens to personally collect documentation in municipality offices, or to inform themselves on the public debate programme on the notice board in Municipality Building. It is problematic that most of the municipalities do not report precisely and in detail on the public debate, number of participants, especially citizens.

The form and contents of the reports on public debates are not prescribed, so it is in the will of the local self-government to report on the discussion, comments and suggestions submitted and, finally, on the response of local authorities.

In the case of Gusinje municipality, the report on public debate was written even manually.

These findings are confirmation of the results of a survey, which IPSOS agency conducted in February this year, within the project IA conducts with partners with the support of the European Union – “Civil Society for Good Governance: To Act and Account!”.

The research has shown that the majority of citizens (58%) were not informed about public debates organized by public authorities, 38% of the population was somewhat informed, but a very small number was well informed (4%).

Of those people who said they are informed about public debates (total 42%), low number of them has taken part in public debates – only 3%.

Ivana Bogojević
Public policy researcher

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Assessment of police integrity in Montenegro (2016)

The second assessment of the institutional integrity of the police, prepared by a team of researchers of the Institute Alternative, analyses the following: the methods used by the system to resist irregularities and illegalities in the work of police officers, how the system responds to the observed irregularities, and especially the problems faced by the actors in charge of controlling the police in their attempts to achieve efficiency.

The analysis covers the period from November 2016 to November 2017 and builds on the results of previous research. In this report we have presented the key novelties, changes and improvements, but also the negative practices and obstacles to efficient work, with the intent to make a contribution to improving the functioning of the police and increasing public trust and confidence in its work, the level of which – much like in other Balkan countries – happens to be very low.

The report has five chapters. The first chapter is devoted to bodies that perform external oversight of the police. There are five of them Montenegro: the Assembly of Montenegro, the Council for Civil Control, the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms, the Agency for Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information, and the Anti-Corruption Agency. The two following chapters are titled Human Resources Management and Financial Management, while the last two are devoted to internal control in the broader sense (made up of the Internal Control Department, the Disciplinary Commission, the Ethics Committee, and the heads of organisational units of the police), and finally, to the criminal liability and the work of judicial authorities.

The Report is published as part of the project titled “The Pulse of Integrity and Confidence in the Police in the Western Balkans: POINTPULSE.” The project is supported by the European Union through the program “Promotion of Civil Society” for the network of civil society organisations under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). The contents of the Report are the sole responsibility of the Institute Alternative and views expressed in this document are not necessarily those of the European Union.

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WeBER small grants – “Moving” public administration reform to the local level

Institute alternative (IA) concluded on May 29, within WeBER project, agreements with five Montenegrin NGOs which will monitor public administration reform at the local level in the following period.

We concluded agreements with Centre for Civic Education, Association of Youth with Disabilities and Centre for Democratic Transition from Podgorica, NGO Natura from Kolašin and NGO New Horizon from Ulcinj.

WeBER – Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform is a regional three-year project, financially supported by European Union and Kingdom of Netherlands.

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Hrapović employed his cousin by breaching the Law?

Despite claims about irrational expenditures in the health system, the Minister of Health, Kenan Hrapović, has employed 7 persons in the Ministry since the beginning of his term, without public competition. According to several sources, among the new employees is Minister’s sister-in-law as well.The Centre for Investigative Journalism in Montenegro (CIN-CG) asked Hrapović why there were no public competition for the 7 new work places and what kind of contracts the new employees have. The Ministry’s response states that recruitment procedures are ongoing, according to the new systemization and “in accordance with the law”.

Foto: Boris Pejović

The list of employees of the Ministry, headed by Kenan Hrapović, has not yet been published or updated on the website, contrary to the Law on Free Access to Information (which prescribes proactive publishing of this list).

However, he argues that he will make decisions and publish the list of employees within 30 days from the start of enforcement of the new systematization act.

Currently, Ministry of Health has 52 employees. During the mandate of Budimir Šegrt (who preceeded Hrapovic), there were 45 employees.

According to the “off-the-record”information obtained by CIN-CG, in the first quarter of this year, Hrapović submitted to the Government’s Commission for Economic Policy and Internal Systems a Draft Rulebook on internal organization and systematization. The Draft envisages that the Ministry of Health should have as much as 81 employees. According to sources from the Government, KEP refused to give a green light to this document. Following this, Ministry submitted a new draft, with number of employees reduced 76. Both the KEP and Government approved the new proposal.

The Ministry confirmed that KEP had objections in regard to the planned number of employees, which were accepted and number was reduced to 76.

Also, Hrapović has increased the number of employees in his office, after assuming the minister’s post. As several sources claim, he appointed a close relative of his wife,. Alma Marić, as a technical secretary. CIN-CG did not get a response about the kind of family relation between his wife and the Technical Secretary.

Photos of Marić, Hrapović’s children and wife can be seen on social network – Facebook. At the account of Krapović’s daughter, Marić is marked as a member of family, or more precisely as an aunt.

Employment of Marić is not the only peculiarity. Upon assuming the office, Hrapović proposed, and the Government appointed, the former Chief Budget Inspector, Milovan Vujovic, as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Health. Vujovic previously controlled whether Hrapovic’s expenditure during his term as dicrector of the Health Insurance Fund. Vujović’s finding, which was positive, was then a subject of dispute between Hrapović and the former Health Minister, Šegrt. At the time, Šegrt argued that Vujović had not done the good job and that the report had not tackled the initial subject of control.

Hrapović appointed Alma Drešević as head od one of the Ministry’s organizational units. She had previously worked in Podgorica Health Centre as a paediatrician and she is also the wife of the Bosniak Party official,. Nedžad Drešević. Centre for Civic Education (CCE) argues that this was a political appointment, which demonstrates that coalition agreements clearly pose a threat to the great promises of professionalization of the state administration..

It is interesting that Hrapović’s Office employs three public relations experts, whereas previously solely one person performed this job.

Secretary employed before the public competition

Hrapović answered that the Technical Secretary in the Ministry, Alma Marić, has been employed in accordance with the law, which prescribes the manner of taking over of civil servants between state authorities. She previously worked in the Health Insurance Fund, which was managed by Hrapović.

This means that the position of technical secretary, which previously did not exist in the systematization, was filled, and employee was taken over from the other authority before the workplace was even established.

By law, take-over between national authorities is possible only if a state authority or its part of are abolished, and its tasks are taken over by another one. Only on May 27, an internal announcement for the technical secretary was published.

Public Policy Researcher at the Institute Alternative, Milena Milošević, assessed this is as a kind of stunt, if a civil servant was employed at the Ministry before the adoption of the new rulebook. With this, systematization of jobs is rendered meaningless.

“This situation shows that takeover is used in a manner not prescribed by the Law on Civil Servants. Namely, unless the authority does not take over a scope of work which previously belonged to another authority, take over may not be the basis of employment and it is clear that it is only used to bypass the obligations of public and open competition of candidates for the new position”, Milošević said.

“We look upon more developed countries”

The Ministry told CIN-CG that it is among the ministries with the lowest number of systematized work places and that the Rulebook was made under the new approach compared to the previous one. It was modelled on the rulebooks of the ministries of developed countries.

They also claim that the number of systematized work places does not mean their filling. In its response, the Ministry said that the number of employees in the pharmaceutical field has been increased, in order to, among other things, affect the rational use of medicines, but also that a new Department for Internal Audit has been established, which is of great importance. They also state that the organization of work is “adapted to the adopted strategic documents and legal solutions, as well as practice in neighbouring countries and the EU.”

Human Resources Administration had proposed Amendments to the Rulebook

According to unofficial information of CIN-CG, a negative opinion on the both Rulebooks of the Ministry of Health was given by the Human Resources Management Authority (HRMA).

Director of HRMA, Svetlana Vuković, responded to CIN-CG that since the beginning of the year they have given two opinions on the Draft Rulebook on internal organization and systematization of the Ministry of Health.

First time, the opinion on the Draft Rulebook was given on March 30.. Vuković

Foto: Vlada Crne Gore

said that the Ministry submitted a new proposal on April 11, to which the opinion was given two days later. “In the opinion, the Human Resources Management Authority pointed to the necessity to harmonize jobs in the Directorate for International Cooperation and Harmonization of Regulations with the Decree on the criteria for internal organization and systematization of jobs in the state administration,” Vuković replied. It is in this Directorate that 10 persons should be employed, according to the systematization.

According to the previous systematization of jobs, the Directorate did not exist, but a Direction with twice fewer employees.

Author: Ana Komatina

Article is originally published at the website of the Centre for Investigative Journalism.

You can read the story in Albanian language here.

This article was created with the assistance of the European Union within the project “Civil Society for Good Governance: to Act and Account!”, conducted by the Institute Alternative, Bonum, Natura, New Horizon and the Centre for Investigative Reporting. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author and in no way reflect the views of the European Union.

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The Process of Adopting the Law on Internal Affairs Must Be Transparent

The Western Balkans should use the EU accession process to adopt best international legislation and practices on police integrity, but also use public debate and civil society expertise to discuss region-specific experiences in dealing with common problems, it was concluded at the POINTPULSE conference “Fighting Police Corruption: Legal Solutions and Best Practices” on 1 of June 2017 in Podgorica, Montenegro.

Forthcoming adoption of the new Law on Internal Affairs in Montenegro served as a pretext for the representatives of civil society organizations and other regional initiatives from the Western Balkans to discuss most effective solutions for strengthening police integrity.

Tomislav Ćurić from the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative presented the sources for best international standards for police integrity that every legal system should adopt and announced a new round of the GRECO anti-corruption evaluation for the COE countries.

“All countries from the region should prepare for the fifth round of the evaluation and work more on combating the perception of police corruption through raising the work standards and the profession reputation”, Ćurić said.

Dina Bajramspahić from Institute Alternative pointed to the main challenges in the functioning of the Montenegro police and presented recommendations the new Law on Internal Affairs needs in order to improve the integrity of the police.

“The forthcoming law is undoubtedly a most important contribution to advancing in Chapter 23 for Montenegro this year”, said Bajramspahić.

Magdalena Lembovska from Analytica stressed the importance of public debate on the internal affairs issues and some of the good solutions from Macedonia.

“The Macedonian Law on Internal Affairs has nine articles that define the conduct of the police, which changed the principles of police conduct as ethical rules, and made them legally obligatory”, said Lembovska.

Sofija Mandić from Belgrade Centre for Security Policy highlighted the importance of using the EU integration process for influencing the public debate and explained the reach the civil society in Serbia had in regards to the new Law on the Police in 2016.

“Despite a number of adopted amendments that widened the mandate of internal control, and strengthened oversight and anti-corruption mechanisms, the minister retained the critical amount of power over the Internal Control Sector which prevents real depoliticization of the police”, said Mandić.

Mirela Hodović from Centre for Security Studies pointed to the discrepancies of the legal system(s) in Bosnia and Herzegovina that prevent effective control over the police.

“Bosnian Police Complaints Board cannot begin its work due to the paralysis in the election of the board members for some time now”, said Hodović.

Besjana Kuci from Institute for Democracy and Mediation confirmed that the biggest problem in Albania is still police dependence from the minister, but also emphasized some good solutions that improved the situation in the field of petty corruption.

“Introducing body-cams for traffic police units dramatically decreased the public perception of corruption for this part of the police”, said Kuci.

Plator Avdiu from Kosovar Centre for Security Studies shared the specific Kosovo experience in building police institutions from scratch.

“Kosovar Police Inspectorate proved to be a good solution for prosecuting the criminal offenses by the police, but it yet needs to prove itself by prosecuting high corruption cases”, said Avdiu.

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