Knowing what govt means for citizens

The National Weekender
COVER STORY

By JESHER TILTO
DO you know what the Government has planned for you?
Are you aware of the laws and rights you have in this country? Do you know what your local member representing you in Parliament does? Do you know about the national budget announced annually and what it entails? Are you aware of your role in the development of the country?
Ask these questions to a random person you pass by today and you might get a resounding “no” as an answer.
In this day and age of increased connectivity through the use of technology, one would think that such vital information would be easily accessible. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
A platform or middle ground is needed for linking the Government and the people.

Open Government Partnership
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder global initiative with over 80 countries participating.
The focus of OGP is to improve government transparency, accountability, responsiveness to citizens’ needs and promote inclusive participation in decision-making, policy formulation, development planning, budgeting, service delivery, monitoring and reporting.
OGP brings together government, civil society and private sector as champions of reform who recognise that governments are much likely to be effective and credible if they open their doors to public inputs and oversight.
OGP promotes the principles of democracy and sets the platform for transparent and accountable practices in government.
This includes having access to vital information, involving citizens to be part of the decision-making process.
This aligns with government’s priority of attaining value for money while delivering goods and services through a scrutinised fiscal management system.
OGP in essence introduces a domestic policy mechanism in which government and civil society establish an ongoing dialogue on the design, implementation and monitoring of the commitments included in their OGPnational action plan. At the international level, OGP provides a global platform to connect, empower and support domestic reformers committed to transforming government and society through openness.
As part of the global reform to promote transparency and accountability and inclusive participation in service delivery, OGP was formally launched in September, 2011 in New York, United States (US. Eight founding governments, namely Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the US, endorsed the open declaration and announced their country action plans.
These plans promote transparency, empower citizens, fight against corruption, and seek to harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
At the core of this partnership is a commitment from participating countries to undertake meaningful steps in forming concrete action plans that are developed and implemented in close consultation with their citizens.
Currently, the membership has increased from eight to 80 countries and more than 3,000 civil society organisations. Global leaders consider OGP as a unique platform to work together with each other, hence allowing for government and civil society to work together.

Members of Parliament are there to do much more than just bringing services to the people.

OGP in PNG
Papua New Guinea’s intent to be an OGP member country was accepted and officially announced on Oct 28, 2015, at the OGP Global Summit in Mexico.
As a member of the OGP, this commits PNG to providing an ‘open government to effect service delivery to its citizens’.
This aligns with the aspirations envisioned in the Constitution of Papua New Guinea.
The OGP national action plan also conforms to our National Goals and Directive Principles, specifically the goals on “Integral Human Development; Equality and Participation; Natural Resources and Environment Governance”.
To give effect to the national goals and in conformance with the Constitution, legislations and policies were designed and implemented such as the PNG Planning and Monitoring Responsibility Act 2016; Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Act 2020 and Whistle-blowers Protection Act 2020; Vision 2050, Medium Term Development Plan III (2018-2022); PNG Development Strategic Plan 2010-2030, the National Strategy for Responsible Sustainable Development for PNG (StaRS); and the engagement of civil society in monitoring and evaluating government’s service delivery.
To support the Government to deliver these initiatives, several state agencies and civil society organisations came together to frame and then implement the first OGP National Action Plan 2018-2020 to improve government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens.

National action plan
The first National Action Plan 2018-2020 had four cluster commitments:

  • Public participation;
  • Freedom of information;
  • Fiscal transparency; and,
  • Extractive resource transparency.

The implementation of the first National Action Plan 2018-2020 was interrupted by emerging issues including Covid-19 restriction, with some of these cluster commitments carried forward into the second National Action Plan 2022-2024.
The second National Action Plan 2022-2024 has six cluster commitments.
The cluster commitments, which complement key policy priorities of the Government, include:

  • Public participation, aiming to improve dialogue between Government, private sector, youths and civil society in decision-making, policy formulation, budgeting, service delivery, monitoring and reporting.
  • Government integrity, with focuse on ensuring that government produces and tables annual reports in timely manner in Parliament to be accessible by the people.
  • Freedom of information – This enables Section 51 of the Constitution by empowering citizens rights to request access to government records, and enhances government process by digitizing government data management system.
  • Fiscal transparency – Leaders must be accountable to the people by improving transparency and accountable in budget implementation and timely reporting.
  • Extractive industry transparency – This legislates an institution that promotes disclosure of revenue proceeds from the extractive sector; and,
  • Open data – This is to achieve a complete civil registration system for PNG and citizens to access basic services and provide statistical database for evidence-based planning, service delivery and decision making.

The delivery of these commitments in both plans will transform the way in which government does its routine business and restore public confidence.
The commitments are also part of government’s policy and legislative reform process that is anticipated to bring about much transformation in the country.

Going forward
The PNG OGP steering committee is co-chaired by representatives from government and civil society.
Representing the Government was National Planning and Monitoring Department Deputy Secretary, Policy and Planning, Michael Kumung.
During the launching of the second National Action Plan 2022-2024 the OGP website in Port Moresby on Thursday, Dec 14, he said the OGP would be used to promote transparency and information sharing between civil society organisations and the Government.
“We all have to work together to ensure that there is transparency and equal resource allocation for effective service delivery. It is not easy as we have many issues in the country and about 80 per cent of our people living in rural areas who are unable to access vital information.
“The people need to know what the Government is doing and what plans are being developed for them.
“The OGP will be the platform to pull this information and relevant stakeholders together and make it available to the greater population.”
Representing the civil society was Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) chief executive officer Arianne Kassman.
“The ambition of the OGP encompasses TIPNG’s anti-corruption focus but goes beyond that to the very heart of representative and participatory democracy in Papua New Guinea – which is the cornerstone of the OGP model,” she said.
“Innovating and increasing transparency and accountability for greater civic participation through OGP will reinforce good governance outcomes and contribute to more effective and equitable service delivery for all Papua New Guineans.
“We must all work together to promote transparency, openness and accountability.”
Acting head of the PNG OGP secretariat Langa Kopio reiterated the need for such a platform to exist so as to allow for greater collaborative participation between the Government and the people of the country.
For more information, visit the Open Government Partnership Papua New Guinea website: www.ogp.gov.pg
– Related article, Politics should be taught in primary school – Link: https://www.thenational.com.pg/teach-politics-in-primary-school/