Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks during presentation of anti-bureaucracy assistance program as part of the online co-governance platform “Albania We Want”, available to local and foreign entrepreneurs:
It was not by chance that we decided to make this meeting public to the media so that we can convey a valuable message to all interested persons and emphasise the tremendous importance we attach to this new service being available and provided via the online co-governance platform to every entrepreneur that encounter bureaucratic barriers.
The co-governance platform Albania We Want has proved itself as an effective tool to assist and support any common citizen stuck in the public administration’s labyrinth. The average number of 1000 issues, which to many might sound as minor ones but which are real problems to the individuals and households going through them, speaks up for the exceptional effectiveness of this instrument.
Many wrongly think that the co-government platform is a parallel institution, or that the co-government platform is an indicator of state dysfunction, or that this platform is a short way to hide the fact that the administration is not functioning. Indeed, quite the opposite is true.
The co-governance Platform is an institution that has taken new form in the new age we live in, but which has been, is and will continue to be as long as the state works the institute regulating the relations with the citizens and tackling the citizens’ complaints. If it was to be like that, just like wrongfully the critics and hardened cynics deem the platform, then a similar platform was not to exist in one of the world’s most structured states, the United States of America, where millions of letters and complaints by citizens, private companies and entire communities are forwarded to the Senate and Congress members, or to the White House and even to the U.S. President himself, based on the theory suggesting that everything that should work in the state machinery and there is no need for the political authorities and the government to deal with the issues concerning individual citizens.
Nowhere has the state has achieved performance perfection so that people have no reason to complain and no communication with a high-level instance is necessary when a lower state instance fails to work. A dedicated section on the French President’s official website was operational until recently, with every citizen being offered the opportunity to file a complaint and an entire team at the Élysée Palace still reviews and tackles the citizens’ complaints.
Having said this just to respond to the critics and cynics, who have no idea what they are talking about and mock any novelty and positive effort being made to take things forward, I would like to put emphasis on the immediate need, primary for the institutions and the ministries tasked with addressing the issues concerning the business community, to move to completely new level of reviewing any complaint – which can be not merely a complaint – filed by any entrepreneur and act swiftly without letting the relation between the entrepreneurs and the state get trapped in the bureaucracy maze.
It is crucially important and noble to act and tackle the issue of pension miscalculation for an individual. It is very noble and extremely important to act and solve the matter involving an unjustly calculated electricity bill. Just like it is quite important and very noble to provide a solution to the impasse related to legalization and registration of a property, or provide a state document to an individual or a family. But it is not only very important and very noble, but much more than just for a family, to help a business speed up and expand its activity as it creates jobs and provides for more than one family.
The history of such relations is a difficult one.
These relations have significantly improved over the past few years, yet they are still far from being there where they should be, and it is inexcusable that an entrepreneur wastes time waiting, without knowing where a response is to be provided, when seeking to break a deadlock in his or her activity, or when eying to make an investment that could be translated into more money flowing into the mainstream economy, more jobs and more welfare.
All those selected to work as this network coordinators – which from now on will be dedicated 24/7 to businesses, at every ministry and institution designated as a critical point for these relationships – should clearly understand the importance or weight of this task and should make sure that no complaints lodged by business to the institution where they work, or the institution they oversee, remain in shelves.
This process should start with an immediate inventory you should personally carry out in the protocol of every institution you are assigned as coordinator in order to take stock of the problems concerning business. We all know that artificial delays mean corruption practices and unjustifiable delays. This entire part of the public administration that delays and drags feet on such complaints and requests made by individuals or businesses is playing with time in order to force individuals or businesses to pay bribes.
We have clearly seen how effective the co-governance has been in combating bribery, because the Platform, not only has it addressed countless problems, but it has also put pressure on the public administration. Today more than yesterday, all administration officials and employees know quite well the risk they face when a common citizen decides to address the Platform and just imagine the high risk they face when a complaint is lodged by a business and how great the pressure on the administration should be to consider every entrepreneur a figure who should be treated with utmost respect, because – despite the entire miserable propaganda against entrepreneurs and despite the daily stigma describing the entrepreneurs according to their size and wealth, with the wealthiest ones being “the worst” – after all they are the ones who run the economy, the source of taxes that primarily create investment opportunities. If it weren’t for them, we could afford not a single investment we are currently making.
Every coordinator tasked with tackling complaints lodged by businesses with any ministry should immediately assume authority and the responsibility to be on duty 24 hours a day and turn into a point of reference to every level of public administration to act immediately in order to address these problems, without waiting for the relevant cabinet member to deal with them. The business coordinators, just like any other Platform coordinators, are not appointed to do the secretarial job, neither to serve as information dispatcher, but they are the government authority representatives to take real-time actions and address problems, of course with the relevant minister’s full support and in collaboration with him or her, when something goes wrong.
We encountered the same problem with the Platform coordinators dedicated to citizens. At first, no one was asking and everything had to be forwarded to the relevant cabinet member. The cabinet members themselves were a bit sceptical or negligent initially, but just like it was the case today, a weekly Platform report is presented at every cabinet meeting and we can proudly state today that an official reply has been provided within deadline to 99% of the complaints filed with the Platform by the ordinary citizens. The same thing should happen with business and without wasting time.
Any letter sent by business to the relevant institutions should be should be examined by the Protocol and then promptly be downloaded on the online co-governance Platform, thus being digitized and included in a transparency process that prevents the lower administration offices to take the document and put it in the drawer and then commence that scandalous game about deadlines and schedules and set up the ambush to convey the message that “the complainer should contact him first and then he should wait and see how things go.” Scanning these complaints is your primary task. Every morning you should start work at the Protocol office and in the afternoon, before leaving work, you should again report at the Protocol office to make sure that no complaint has remained there without been scanned and downloaded on that digital screen that is monitored by many people.
This instrument and the experience gained during work with the citizens would provide us the opportunity to make this great leap forward. The ten-day deadline is too long when it comes to issues concerning business. However, any coordinator will be held accountable for failing to meet the 10-day deadline and when it is found that the coordinator has failed to report it earlier. This is a direct, personal and inexcusable responsibility.
The whole network will be equally monitored – just like the network dedicated to the ordinary citizens and currently operating at the Prime Minister’s office – by the coordinators tasked with tackling problems concerning the business community. The entire team will be under the care and direct supervision of the Minister of State for the Protection of Entrepreneurship, who is responsible for the entire process. In the meantime, other cabinet members will report every week on their institutions’ reaction in relation to the citizens, whereas the Minister of State for the Entrepreneurship Protection will care to harmonize ties between the government and the business community.
Business community can currently file online complaints to some 16 institutions. Raising awareness among business community to start using direct online communication with the platform would take a lot of work that needs to be done by the cabinet members under a program already proposed by the Minister of State for the Entrepreneurship Protection.
This is a process that will take its time, because, just like you have noticed in the case of other digital systems, although being quite simple and although being time and stress sparing, the process of involvement in such processes is not fast enough. This is the case everywhere and it is exactly what has happened in Albania too. Although everyone can pay electricity and phone bills without having the need to report at the Power Distribution Operator, many still keep doing so. And this happens even though everyone, even the old people from the country’s remotest areas, can visit the nearest post office, or the nearest municipal administrative unit to settle, or the dedicated MP office, to immediately receive the needed assistance, many still keep doing so.
However, it is your duty that, in accordance with the program developed by the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship Protection, to establish contact and proactively coordinate relations with every business unit and personally notify and inform them on the launch of this service from today on and instruct them how to access, download the application on their smart phones, or assign someone in their business offices, so that the communication and solution speed becomes exponential. People in the countryside are often forced to wait just to build a cowshed because certain individuals cause them problems and they are forced then to contact high-level officials just to receive a greenlight in order to proceed with their plan.
Millions of euros in missing investments infinitely delayed for no reason of whatsoever by the public administration. These don’t have to happen anymore and this technology gives us an opportunity to eliminate them altogether. What business needs most is the answer. These should no longer happen and this technology allows us to completely eliminate any delays. Response is what business needs most. I will never forget an entrepreneur who told me that a “no” reply is much more valuable than “we’ll see.” “We’ll see” drives you crazy, whilst business should develop plans and projects. We will eliminate this.
Given what I have noticed by closely monitoring the co-governance network, the thing I appreciate most in doing this job is passion. This job takes passion of each Platform coordinator. This is not a routine job. It is not a job for you just to report on time at the office and spend the 8-hour work day. This is a special job that needs passion and a high sense of dedication to the people.
According to many, I, the prime minister of the country, should answer nobody on the phone, because it is the institutions the ones that should do this. I have been also engaged in debates with certain cabinet members about this issue. However, we are neither United States, nor China or India. We are a tiny house encountering a lot of problems, with people needing solidarity and, trust me, this is worth than any other things in every aspect.
How am I supposed to decline a phone call from citizens, or fail to show interest when they send me text messages. How am I supposed not to forward their messages to the officials and employees tasked with addressing the citizens’ problems?
I said it at the beginning of this meeting and I am reiterating it: The U.S. senators and congressmen – we are taking the example from a super developed and super functional country – have employed complete personnel, who specifically deal with the citizens’ complaints personally. They deal with governors, mayors of districts, and every institution in order to tackle woes affecting people, who comprise the basis of their job. This should be done by our lawmakers, city council members too. I personally and the cabinet members should also do this.
The sense of serving people is the noblest of all aspects of the state’s and government’s nobility. This is a job that I don’t know how much you know yet, what stress and workload it involves. If you have taken over to do this job, be aware this is a job that requires a great deal of dedication and responsibility. But it is a job that also enriches each and every one of you as a coordinator with great experience.
During a conversation with one of the platform coordinators one day, she summed up entire essence of this platform. She said: “Working here I have learned about the way how the state works, laws and regulations more than I could have learned from the school textbooks. It is an extraordinary experience.”
Therefore, I would beg each and every one of you to assume utmost responsibility, show courage and work according to the detailed program to address any problems. I wouldn’t like to hear anyone saying: “I did my part and can do nothing more.” The cabinet members have been instructed that their office door opens without knocking on it whenever a Platform coordinator urgently needs the minister’s help to tackle a problem. At the same time, the heads of institutions have been also instructed that the Platform coordinator represents the relevant minister himself or herself, whenever he or she asks them to act to tackle a bureaucratic issue. However, for this all to work out it is not necessarily that this position’s authority should be imposed. And such authority cannot be imposed by keeping mouth shut or taking a blind eye.
This is a matter of job and not a matter of getting on with him or her.
The process is set to kick off with 16 main institutions that are absolutely critical in terms of the relations with business community and the process is then slated to extend to other institutions. Your and our commitment is crucial to this process. Equally important is the process of raising awareness among all businesses within the scope of your activity. It should never happen that someone asks for assistance, or calls for law enforcement by a certain institution so that this person or company develop an investmet plan, yet he can do nothing but wait and see. Why should he be waiting for? Who should he be waiting for? Why on earth should he be waiting?! Instead, it should be us the ones who should run after thanking him or the company for planning another development so that we can ease and simplify any required procedures.
That is why we thought we would make public this meeting, because it is a very important section of the Platform, it is a new service we provide to businesses and a new opportunity for the state and society to ensure more business contribution in terms of investment and employment. Never forget that a business represents not just a businessman or a businesswoman, but entire families. A small, medium, or large business operator is a national asset in its own, and we should do whatever it takes to preserve and further develop such a precious asset.
From today on, you should see yourselves and act as main protagonists in this process. Whoever fails to do job right he or she won’t be given the opportunity to continue working as part of this team.
Therefore, I would like and beg each and every one of you to show maximum commitment, and whenever tired, just recall how many people I should contact and exchange messages with every single day. It could be nothing nobler, there could be no greater privilege than being given the opportunity and being in the position to help and support other people.
This is not propaganda, but this is at the core of our very existence as human beings.
Thank you!
