Res Publica will publish official information that every day is produced by public institutions, at the request of any citizen can make through a new online information portal Publeaks.
Backed by the Right to Information Law, this platform will help the citizens and the society at large to understand the work of the government and to judge its decision making, free from propaganda and the intricate mechanisms of PR, which act in full aggression against free and independent information.
Given the disposition that official information is a public good, citizens are entitled to have access to it. This enterprise is good news in the information domain, as it contains the seed towards a society that is open and transparent in the future.
This initiative is a victory, defying the decision making that high public functionaries undertake behind closed doors, and their tendencies to avoid transparency and accountability for these decisions.
This initiative is a victory against corrupted officials, who, favoring their personal interest, intentionally hide their criminal actions, and as a result harm public property.
This initiative is a victory that defies the lie that purports a division of powers, which on thee one hand approves documents that contain immaculate laws, but on the other doesn’t respect them
This initiative unmasks the hypocrisy of the Commissioner for the Right of Information, who prepares formal reports, sufficient to avoid lawful responsibilities but insufficient to implement the independent spirit of the law.
This initiative is, finally, a triumph for the people and its right of information about political actions. The right of information is their greatest weapon in the war to protect their civil rights.
Every day, every hour, and every second the offices of the government produce documents and acts that the public has no idea about. Some official recruits are incapable political militants, who work precisely to ensure that this information doesn’t see the light of day.
The ruling class uses pubic lies and official propaganda and through corrupted ties with intimidation and interest groups have subdued their s0-called public servants and transformed them for their political use.
Where do the funds go, who has access to them, how are the national resources being managed and are the state services worthy and able to fulfill the needs of its citizens.
These are some benefits that citizens, journalists, other interested groups, and public organizations will claim through the portal Publeaks. They will direct their concerns to the appropriate experts working for this information portal, while maintaining full anonymity.
Starting from today, hundreds of requests will be sent toward independent constitutional institutions, central management offices, or other local governing bodies.
Access to official information is a right that every citizen in the Republic of Albania has. This right will make the people more conscious of the power they have over the government, the work of the officials, and the financial resources of the country. But will the answer be guaranteed? This surely, isn’t easy.
Data accumulated by Res Publica show that with the increase in demand the level of transparency decreases. As the time that is available for an answer is short, its return by the institutions gets delayed. Public institutions publish the information they want, but not those that are requested.
Dozens of agencies and public services refuse to give the requested information! Projects with high public sensitivity are passed over in silence. Public hearings, too, are only a formality and critical thought is missing from the websites of the state ministries.
A number of state agencies, while hiding behind the veil of non-profit organizations, avoid the program of transparency while serving public functions. They organize legal tenders and go through with projects that cost millions of euros.
But there is growing hope. The number of requests is increasing as well. The pressure exerted by journalists is also growing. In these circumstances, Publeaks is good news.
Even though the political climate is foggy and the level of corruption and public debt is at record high, Publeaks is an instrument that will exert pressure on the official bureaucracy, its arrogance and carelessness. And this is very good news, indeed.
At a time where the propaganda and censorship are abusively deforming over opinion making, when media and family businesses have been subdued to the political power and gain from its public funding, Publeaks stands as a right that every citizen has for transparency and openness, and as an instrument that protects the truth. This naturally makes for good news.
Por edhe sikur të gjitha këto të mos ekzistonin, në një rrethanë magjike, imagjinative pra, sikur gjithçka të shkonte mirë, publeaks.al, si garanci e një mbrojtësi të interesit publik, mbetet absolutisht lajmi i mirë që jep shpresë.
But even if that all these would exists, by some magic, imagined cicumstance, if everything would go well, Publeaks, as a guarantee and defender of the public interest, remains absolutely good news that gives hope.
