Prime Minister Edi Rama at the weekly meeting with common citizens sharing their accounts on how through the help from the online platform Albania We Want they have solved various personal and community problems:
PM Edi Rama: We are here at the weekly event under the Co-Governance Platform, but I would like first to extend best Teachers Day wishes to every active teacher or retired teachers, who have devoted all their life to teaching and educating. I am pleased we will dedicate a special moment to teachers during the today’s meeting. We will commence introducing the today’s cases with Flavia set to present the first one.
Flavia, Co-Governance Platform coordinator: Today I will introduce the case concerning Mr. Kastriot Zenelaj. As a dedicated father to his family, he used to look after his son’s house where nobody lives for now. He had regularly paid the electricity, water and other tax bills, never failing or forgetting to pay such bills. Since the water consumption was zero, he paid a minimum water bill that contained the monthly fee for maintenance service only. Unexpectedly, he received the December water bill that included the monthly maintenance fee as well as a certain amount for a new water meter. Very surprised, he files a complaint with the Water supply and Sewerage Company, arguing he had not been notified that the existing water meter had been out of order and it had to be replaced. He also hadn’t been notified that a new water meter had been installed, so that he couldn’t pay for something he had not been notified in advance. He addressed the local directorate, but no reply was ever provided. Therefore, he decided to file the complaint with the Co-Governance Platform. The problem was handled immediately by the Tirana Water supply and Sewerage Company that accepted it had made a mistake in the December water bill.
Mr. Kastriot Zenelaj: It is important to build trust in public and I was confident my problem would be solved. I filed a complained with the company and presented the problem to the head of the water supply company. I told him that the company was wrong and it had violated the contract. He advised me to file a written complaint over the problem, pledging that a reply would be provided in five days. But I never received a reply within five days and nobody took the trouble to review my complaint. After that, I decided to access the Co-Governance Platform. A day later, I received a phone call from the Platform coordinator. I explained my problem over the phone and she kept calling me constantly. The head of the water company was then forced to receive me at a meeting, where he pledged to tackle the matter within three days. Just an hour later, I received a call from an administration employee, telling me that the problem was to be solved on that day. It was thanks to the Co-Governance Platform that they were forced to provide a response and the problem was finally tackled. The Platform Albania We Want has set the public administration in motion. I want to highlight this because I have encountered problems with various institutions and the public administration’s performance has improved significantly. The public service provided at the Immovable Property Registration offices has completely changed. I avail myself of this occasion to express appreciation to the Albanian Post administration for its impressive performance. There are still a lot of problems, but service delivery from administration has improved significantly.
PM Edi Rama: Thank you very much! Yes, it is true that things have improved, with improvements more evident in certain areas and less evident in others, yet the public’s growing pressure on the administration via the Platform plays a key role. This is the goal after all, because whoever fails to understand what the Platform is and, instead, to deride or laugh at it, he fails to grasp the very essence of this effort.
In every country, even in countries with a consolidated public administration for hundreds of years, there is always a need for a reference point, because there are always bureaucratic problems. In our case, the Platform plays the crucial role of interaction between the citizens and the government without any filters in between and it makes sure that not only the problems are tackled, but also that causes are carefully examined. It looks into causes that have to do with the internal functioning of certain institutions and state offices or irresponsible employees who need to be told to play their role and do their job properly. That’s why we are fully confident that by insisting – and this is the reason why we hold these weekly meetings where concrete examples of the Platforms’ effective functioning are provided so that it becomes an instrument for pressure – the Platform will gradually become a tool of help and the administration will gradually will transform into the administration we want.
Luela, Co-Governance Platform coordinator: Today I will introduce the case concerning Ms Afroviti, who had completed the legalization procedure for her certificates at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs few weeks ago. Upon withdrawing the documents, she found out that the information on the legalized certificates was incorrect. Such a mistake cost her a delay of more than three more weeks to submit documents to Greek authorities. Once the case was introduced via the Co-Governance Platform on Feb 10, Ms Afroviti was notified and she appeared at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to correct her documents and the apostille.
Ms Afroviti: My case concerns the legalisation of public documents at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. I had filed an application for the legalization of documents on January 16. After receiving the documents, I mailed them to Greece where they were to be translated. After that I noticed that the information on the apostille stamp was incorrect. Given that the incorrect information cost me a delay of three weeks and other financial-related costs, I decided to address the Platform on Feb 10, asking for accelerated procedures. The error was corrected two days later on Feb 12 and the apostille was changed and then I had to repeat the same procedures in Greece again. I would like to appreciate the Platform coordinators for their readiness to address my problem. Thank you!
Etleva, Co-Governance Platform: Before inviting Mr. Sami to take the floor, I would like to point out that most of the complaints that citizens file with the Co-Governance Platform concern the cooperation and interaction between two institutions. Such is the case that Mr. Sami trusted us. Mr. Skënderaj took to the platform to file a complaint about AUIZNI in Vlora. After his complaint was handled by this institution, it was referred for review to municipality of Vlora. The legalization permit is issued once the citizen pays the infrastructure impact tax which the citizen had done on time, but this receipt was not forwarded to ALUIZNI for further action. Upon receiving the complaint, the municipality of Vlora put at disposal of the citizen and ALUIZNI directorate in Vlora all the relevant documentation enabling the citizen to obtain the legalization permit.
Mr. Sami Skënderaj: For years, I was denied the due ownership certificate for the house I had built back in 2000. I could not obtain the ownership certificate despite meanderings to the Immovable Property Registration Office and ALUIZNI. Given that other citizens across Albania had solved their issues after applying with the platform, I thought it was worth a try. My problem was solved within 10 days after filing an application with the co-governance platform. Thanks once again for the remedy. Thank you Mr. Prime Minister for launching this helpful platform for the citizens.
PM Edi Rama: Thank you and I am delighted that your long train of sufferings has been put to an end after such a long time. I want to reiterate for everyone to trust us, calling on everybody to put us to the test as it costs you nothing, but three minutes only and the government would immediately side with anyone who addresses the Platform. Every cabinet member’s primary duty is to follow and monitor each case related to the sector he heads and the Platform coordinators persistently follow each case in order to fully meet the 10-day deadline. This pending problem since 2000 has been solved in 10 days only.
Egesta, Co-Governance Platform coordinator: Another case addressed via the Co-Governance Platform is that concerning a young mother, Mrs. Blerta Gacaj. She accessed the Platform to file a complaint over the amount of maternity benefit she was eligible to receive while on maternity leave. The investigation of the complaint found that the maternity benefit was not calculated based on the social insurance contributions paid by two companies she used to work for a year, but instead the calculation was made on the contributions paid by one company only. The problem has been tackled and she has now been provided the due maternity leave payment.
Mrs. Blerta Gacaj: After receiving the first payment under the maternity benefit I found out that the payment I was entitled to benefit was calculated wrongfully. I addressed to the local Social Insurance Office in Devoll, but I couldn’t communicate with the local employees. Therefore, I had no other choice, but access the Platform. I had heard a lot from other people, so I had nothing to lose. I decided to file my complaint with the Platform although I was pessimistic. I received an e-mail 12 hours later, telling me that my complaint was being reviewed and less than a week later I received a second e-mail, confirming that the whole payment was to be reimbursed within December. Thank you!
PM Rama: Thank you very much for taking the trouble to come and attend this meeting. It is really a sincere expression of gratitude on my and the platform coordinators’ behalf, because one could righteously say “I am no longer going to waste a single minute and deal with something I have already solved after wasting months and even years to address this issue.” Yet it is admirable how people show their readiness to attend such a weekly event when invited by the Platform coordinators. In such a way you are helping others to understand and trust the Platform, because it is quite different when they listen other common citizens who speak and simply tell the truth about the cases concerning them rather than listening us speaking about various totally legitimate issues.
The today’s meeting will dedicate a special moment to teachers. Today is the National Teachers Day and I am delighted to point out that, although a lot remains to be done for the country’s education system, a lot remains to be done for teachers, today, thanks to another platform “Teachers for Albania”, we have consolidated the merit-based system for the teachers’ employment. It was neither 100 or ten years ago, but just a few years earlier when teachers were fired or hired on the whims of the political parties, when they were constantly and unjustly transferred just to make their lives miserable and force them to leave the country and clear the way for those who were result of corruption practices, influence or political parties. As many as 4000 teachers have been hired according to their performance and the merit-based system since the portal “Teachers for Albania” was launched.
This is a major change to Albania’s teaching system. The portal has put also an end to corruption in the teachers’ recruitment process. Some 739 training modules and 45 ghost agencies for fictitious credits have been eliminated. Teachers have been attending various training programs according to needs and the modules have been designed up to professional standards.
Special education assistants did not exist. Some 983 special education assistants have been hired this year to aid students with special abilities.
The teachers’ salaries have been increased by 22%. Likewise, a new phase has been launched for teaching students, who should meet a set of stricter criteria, whereas scholarship is provided to the best performing students.
We want to move ahead in this direction and the Platform coordinators, whom I would like to appreciate a lot, have invited the head of the Retired Teachers’ Association in Lushnje. The Association lodged a request via the online Co-Governance Platform, asking for a symbolic appreciation of the retired teachers for their contribution towards education of generation of students by awarding them a certificate of gratitude on the occasion of March 7. It is a simple yet meaningful request and it is one of the cases showing again how important is to a government the bridge of communication with its citizens, because ideas often are like the egg of Columbus, a completely simple or easy idea, yet with a significant impact on the lives of many people, but an entire system and people who are paid for this fail to come up with such ideas.
So enjoying this virtue of democracy and this opportunity that democracy gives to people, as well as the opportunity the platform provides for the democratic interaction between government and citizens, I would like to invite Mr. Prendi to take the floor and introduce this special case of the platform, underlining that the Ministry of Education took into consideration the request from the Retired Teachers Association and the certificates of gratitude for retired teachers, not only for those of Lushnja, will are distributed today and in the coming days in a sign of respect, but also as a fulfilment of a request from this important and respected interest group.
Mr Prendi, Chairman of the Retired Teachers Association, Lushnje: I would like to extend our appreciation to the Prime Minister for setting March 7, the Teachers Day, as the date to meet us. I would also like to wish every success to both active and retired teachers. As for the letter I forwarded via the portal, frankly speaking, as time went on I thought no reply was to be provided. But a phone call really woke me up. Indeed, as I see it for myself, thanks to the Prime Minister’s office and the work by the Platform’s coordinators, the state institutions are moving really fast and we are glad to see how the citizens’ problems are being tackled. You have visited the town of Lushnje long ago and you have left your traces with the building of a military museum that is not to be found elsewhere.
PM Rama: Thank you very much! For the sake of truth, it was not me the one to build that museum. The museum is a work dedicated to the earth, it is an Earth Museum, where I, along with a colleague of mine, Vladimir Myrtezai, participated as authors of one of the works showcased in the Museum, a wall painting titled “Legend of the Earth” which we painted very enthusiastically back then, because it belongs to the time prior to the country’s liberation, when the use dark of colours was not favourite. I am pleased you mention it. Fortunately, the work has survived. It has gone through “a persecution period” as it was covered on the wall. But that wall fell and that painting is now accessible and, frankly speaking, it is not bad at all. In my view, it has resisted time.
I would like to appreciate you all for taking the trouble to come here and for the compliments you made, but again I want to reiterate what I have said whenever I have been thanked by people. Of course, like everyone else, I like compliments, but the Platform and this co-governance platform we are trying to best articulate day after day are all a result of the vote of the citizens who backed and evaluated us when we asked for a mandate to co-govern with the common citizens of this country.
The Co-Governance Platform is one of the tools to materialize this pledge I am very pleased to ascertain it from the testimonies and everyday work with the administration, although deputy prime minister has vehemently underlined the need to purge administration in government meetings. He actually leads the entire process of shaking and improving the service standards of entire administration. There are still grey and even dark areas in the administration. There are still directors and employees whose performance falls below the duty requirements. We are working out a new package of punitive measures for those who hide behind the articles of the Civil Service Law or after each other and do not serve properly and represent our ambition for the administration we want.
Thank you very much!
Happy March 7, Teachers Day!
