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17 12 2009 Life in Kosovo broadcast a debate about the future of local governance for the next four years, following the elections in November.
The questions asked included: how will municipalities function over the next four years? How transparent is local governance in Kosovo? To what extent do citizens have access to municipal documents?
How transparent are municipal prosecution offices and the procedures for awarding tenders? Do local administrations function efficiently, and how successfully have they been reformed? Is there an efficient mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the quality of services provided by municipal governments? What role do citizens have in decision-making?
To discuss these and similar issues, host Muhamet Hajrullahu was joined in the studio by
Shpen Trdevaj - Deputy Minister of Local Power Administration
Sazan Ibrahimi – Executive Director of Kosovo Association of Municipalities
Hajrulla Çeku – academic expert on local development
Valdete Idrizi – Director of ‘Community Building’, an NGO based in Mitrovica
Petrit Zogaj – from the FOL Movement
To begin the debate, Hajrullahu asked Deputy Minister of Local Power Administration Shpen Trdevaj about the Ministry’s evaluation of the previous mayors’ two-year terms, and what is expected from the next set of local officials.
In response, Trdevaj claimed that the municipalities have developed judicial powers and the authority to approve policies and function independently over the past two years.
On the question of how efficient and democratic Kosovo’s municipalities are, Sazan Ibrahimi, the executive director of the Kosovo Association of Municipalities, added that his association is lobbying for citizens to have power at a local level, so that all doors must be open to their citizens.
Petri Zogaj, from the FOL Movement, claimed that municipalities have the highest level of trust from the public.
However, he went on to say that reports suggest that people from seven of the biggest municipalities in Kosovo are not satisfied with local governance, since more than 70% of interviewees believed that local administrations are not doing their work correctly.
In addition, Zogaj said that none of the municipalities have a committee before which citizens can give their opinions and comments on any draft policies, which would obviously give more power to citizens in the local decision-making process.
Valdete Idrizi agreed with Zogaj, and added that everyone knows what should be done and what is written in numerous policies and regulations.
However, she added, local administrations are not concerned with citizens’ opinions, as evidence by the removal of action plans from many municipalities’ websites, meaning that their respective citizens do not know what is happening in their area.
Hajrulla Çeku, an expert on local development, added that municipal authorities need to be transparent, and legislation should be implemented, not only kept on paper. He added that municipalities need to know clearly what their responsibilities are, in order to properly fulfil their citizens’ needs and requests.
Until now, only the municipal assemblies have been monitored, but now the participation of citizens in drafting policies and various regulations affecting their daily life must be encouraged, he concluded.
The debate continued with participants arguing that such faults are not only at the municipal level, but also at the central level, from where orders are handed down.
The participants from civil society organisations added that, in order to solve infrastructural problems such as water supply and sewage, it would be good for municipal governments to take the initiative to solve the issues by themselves, rather than waiting for instructions and doing nothing in the meantime.
Also, as part of Life in Kosovo, a report by Fatmire Haliti on the shortage of clean water in Pristina municipality was broadcast. The blurred division of competencies between the municipality and Pristina’s regional water supplier reportedly makes it difficult for citizens to know to whom to address their worries and concerns on the water shortage.
In response to this response, Trdevaj claimed that the municipalities do not have sufficient budgets to cover all the projects, but stated that he believes more funds will be available for infrastructural projects in the future.
Mr. Çeku claimed that each mayor has an obligation to respond to each need and request from their citizens, since they had gained their confidence, as shown by their winning democratic elections.
Furthermore, Çeku said that there is no excuse for lacking the budget to implement projects, since there is the possibility of inter-municipality cooperation, through which the cost for each municipality could be reduced.
Following the debate, satirical magazine Lamjet was broadcast to close the show.
Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.
At the beginning of 2010 BIRN network published Digging Deeper - A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans, written in cooperation with Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor of professional practice at Columbia University, New York.
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