Prime Minister Edi Rama at weekly meeting with citizens who share their accounts on how through the help from the online platform Albania We Want they have tackled various personal and community problems:
Good afternoon!
Welcome and thank you for taking the trouble to help us today, just like you have done at each weekly co-governance meeting, by sharing your experience in the interaction with the online platform Albania We Want and accomplishments thanks to your persistence and the support from the co-governance coordinators team. I would like to invite Katerina to introduce the first case without wasting time.
Katerina, co-governance platform coordinator: In the framework of the co-governance office’s performance, I would like to introduce today the case concerning Mr. Artan Cekollari, who asked for the platform’s assistance to tackle the problem he was facing with the former Immovable Property Registration Office in Tirana after being issued with the legalization permit in August 2018. The reason why Mr. Cekollari addressed to the co-governance platform was to shun bureaucracy and inordinate delays. He has now been provided with the ownership certificate by the new cadastre office.
Mr Artan Cekollari: Hello everyone! After enduring a lot of troubles and hardship, I was provided with the legalization permit in August 2018 and I was told via phone to proceed with the property registration procedures after two or three months. I received a phone call to report to the Immovable Property Registration Office. I filed the application and I was supposed to receive an official reply within a 30-day deadline. With no reply received within the deadline, I decided to address to the co-governance platform on February 28. On March 1, I received the due property ownership certificate at the address I had declared. I would like to express appreciation to the co-governance platform and Mr. Prime Minister for providing us this opportunity.
PM Edi Rama: Thank you very much dear Artan and I am really glad that a problem that could have not been resolved has been actually tackled within a short time. However, I would like to emphasize the fact that the property registration offices now operate under a completely new system. Today, as many might now, but many others probably still lack sufficient information, there are no longer ALUIZNI and Immovable Property Registration offices and the two have merged into a single cadastre agency that has already become operational and it will handle the whole legalization and property registration process and cases filed either by individuals or enterprises. The agency has been newly created and the merger of the two agencies will take tile to harmonize all procedures and actions, but it is for sure that the processes will be integrated and as such they will be carried out faster and sustainably. The delays will be reduced significantly and there is no longer a gap between the two agencies.
Flavia, co-governance coordinator: Hello everyone! Mr. Zenel Bekteshi, a Tirana resident, had been trying to address the sewerage-related problems in his neighbourhood, but failing to tackle it he decided to access the co-governance platform. The complaint was handled by Tirana Water Supply and Sewage utility and a project was designed to address the matter. New sewerage system was built and the problem concerning a whole community along Njazi Meka street has now been solved.
Mr. Zenel Bekteshi: For over three years I was meandering in vain without the problem being addressed. I was then forced to access the co-governance portal and a reply was sent within 10 days. A project was first designed and the whole sewerage system was built. I would like to denounce the case of a Water Supply and Sewage utility engineer, who asked me to stop complaining, because nothing would happen. This is not good because the government is then to be blamed for the engineer’s misconduct. Should the government also deal with each low-level public official too. If people don’t complain, such officials keep pledging by doing nothing at all. It was only thanks to the co-governance platform that such a community problem has been finally tackled.
PM Edi Rama: Thank you very much! Sadly enough, what you actually said is true, since many public officials on the first line of contact with the citizens are to be blamed for their misconduct and one of the most aspects of this process is that once a certain case is tackled, a probe ensues to find out the responsible individuals for unjustified delays and those responsible shall then be subject to penalties ranging from a formal warning notice up to disciplinary actions, including dismissal, as well as arrest and prosecution. As many as 600 officials and public administration employees have been dismissed just because for failing to deliver public services to citizens decently. Of course there are still many others, but I would like to highlight that our findings based on the work performance, the surveys of the citizens’ complaints and responses, as well as the public perception all show a significant improvement in public services and this attributed not only to the ongoing public service delivery reforms, but also to the growing pressure from the co-governance, the interaction between the government and the ordinary citizens as the platform is making their voice heard. Not long ago, you could continue to encounter the discourtesy of the individual you just mentioned and nobody could have heeded your plight. But no citizen is now a victim of a relation with an irresponsible person, because you can immediately address to the government and every cabinet member, or any mayor via the co-governance platform and indeed, as you have testified, the platform tackles your problems, meaning that the citizens’ voice is now being heard.
The citizen’s voice is today an impetus to the government to side with him and react on his behalf/
So the former middleman, who was the key to solve your problems with the public administration, has today not only the face, but also the shape of the government itself. The government is the greatest friend of every ordinary individual, who asks for the government’s help via the platform. There could be no other greater and efficient friend than the government that is tasked with carrying out a duty and it can do it for everyone right away as soon as it is notified in tandem with the public administration, which should continue to improve and live up to the level as stipulated by law and to the level the citizens deserve.
Fatmir, co-governance platform coordinator: The case I will introduce today concerns Mr. Filip Doda, who has filed a complaint against the Immovable Property Registration office. In July 2018, Mr. Doda had applied for registration of his legalization permit. ALUIZNI had informed the Immovable Property Registration office via an official document that the documentation submitted by Mr. Doda was in compliance with the existing legal acts, but until March 2019, when Mr. Doda forwarded his complaint, the Property Registration office had launched not a single procedure. Once the complaint was received, the co-governance team handled the case and Mr. Doda has been now provided with the property ownership certificate pursuant to the law on cadastre.
Mr Filip Doda: Hello. It had been more than a year since I had paid all my dues, but no property ownership certificate was issued. That’s why I was forced to forward a complaint via the co-governance platform. Thanks to the co-governance team, I have been finally supplied with the property ownership certificate and I am really grateful for that.
PM Edi Rama: Thank you very much for taking the trouble to come here and attend this meeting, since your problem has been already solved and you could well have said: “enough is enough, I don’t want to deal with them anymore.” But indeed, we are together on the same side, facing every sort of irresponsible, parasitic, predatory, ignorant individuals, whom we would not be able to hold accountable unless we work together. Being together, we will identify those responsible without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Lediana, co-governance platform coordinator: Honourable participating citizens. Today I would like to introduce the case concerning Mrs. Fatbardha Tahiri, a Durres resident. Mrs. Fatbardha asked for the co-governance platform’s help after having worked and paid social insurance contributions for 42 consecutive years, but receiving a basic state pension. She addressed the platform filing a request for her pension payment to be recalculated. Once the complaint was received, the case was handled by the Ministry of Finance and Economy in collaboration with the Regional Social Insurance Office in Durres. After her pension file was reviewed, Fatbardha now receives a higher state pension payment together with the compensation pay-out for underpayments over three years.
Mrs Fatbardha Tahiri: Hello everyone! I am very glad to be here today. I retired three years ago and I was entitled to a basic state pension for only 35 years of social insurance contributions, while I have been paying contributions for 42 years. The employees at the regional Social Insurance Office in Durres told me that no pension was to be paid for these period of seven years. I asked my son to access the platform and file a complaint. We received a reply in ten days and the problem has now been solved.
PM Edi Rama: Thank you and indeed it is not a coincidence that there is always the case of a pensioner or two introduced at every weekly meeting of the co-governance platform, because they have asked for the platform’s help after failing in their countless efforts to have their social insurance contributions recognized. Solution has been found via the platform to the plight of many retired people. Many others are still waiting for their state pension to be recalculated and receive the due compensation pay-out for underpayments over years based on the new calculation coefficient and formula and receive then the deserved pension payment. I appeal to every retired people to visit the co-governance platform offices launched by MPs all over the country, address to the post service offices, administrative unit offices and ask for their rights via the platform. The solution to the pension issue will immediately follow. This is for sure, just like Fatbardha’s case showed today, just like the cases concerning many other pensioners have shown previously and just like other cases will show in the future.
Flamur, co-governance platform coordinator: The case I am about to introduce today concerns a Tirana resident, Mr. Safet Meta, who had applied for the registration of his legalization permit since November 2018. But the regional Immovable Property Registration office had refused to register the legalization permit since the documentation was not complete and had asked regional ALUIZNI office to complete it. ALUZINI claimed and insisted that the documentation was complete. Four months had passed, but no solution was in sight. Mr. Safet then lodged his complaint with the platform in February 2019. Thanks to collaboration between ALUZINI and the local Immovable Property Registration office the documentation was completed and Mr. Safet has been issued with the property ownership certificate. With the new state cadastre agency in place these bureaucratic delays will be reduced.
Mr. Safet Meta: It is a pleasure to be here. At first, I lodged the complaint just for the sake of doing it to see whether it would be handled successfully. I received a prompt reply. I the reported to the ALUIZNI office and paid all my dues to the state and I was told that the property ownership certificate will be issued soon. I would like to express my appreciation for launching the co-governance platform, because otherwise I would have never received an ownership certificate for my property and I am really happy with that. Thank you for providing us the opportunity to establish direct communication with the government.
PM Edi Rama: Ok, these were the cases selected to be presented at the today’s meeting. I am pleased to say that the total number of complaints, requests and opinions lodged via the platform is over 41.000, while around 30.000 of the cases have been already tackled. And if we were to consider the fact that these 30.000 cases wouldn’t have been solved yet, because this platform would have not existed if we wouldn’t have succeeded in delivering on our commitment for a co-governance with the common citizens of this country, then just imagine the significant improvement and the level of direct communication with the citizens. And I am not talking about those people feeding on the trash media and invalid opinions and TV debates, but people who have no time to waste with such nonsense. I am talking about common citizens who earn their living and lead a decent living, or are still looking for a job and whose plight and voice has traditionally fallen on deaf ears and their interests and rights have been traditionally trampled underfoot as soon as vote was over. While we have received their vote and we are available to them 24 hours a day as. You and many others like you have benefited from the interaction with the platform, because as soon as you lodge a complaint or a request, you receive the initial signal and confirmation that your message has been received and will be treated within the next ten days.
This is the path we have found out to address together the citizens’ problems and not let them waiting until all systems for the state to function properly are established, just like it should and it is the case in every country around the world, including France, a country renowned for its most correct public administration and where channels of direct communication with the President of the French Republic, cabinet members and every state official have been opened, exactly because nowhere is to be found a perfect machinery and nowhere is to be found a perfect public administration, let alone Albania that has a lot more to do in order to make sure that the public administration is taken to the level of the expectations and to the level required by law on the basis of human rights and obligations.
Thank you very much!
