Developing an Integrated Electronic Civil Petition and Corruption Reporting Platform (TN0030)

Developing an integrated electronic civil petition and corruption reporting platform

10. Develop an integrated electronic civil petition and corruption reporting platform (e-people)

Commitment Text:

Contributing in the efforts oriented to fight corruption and promote citizen participation.

The system will be a one stop shop to receive citizens’ complaints and report corruption cases. These complaints will be dispatched to different public structures at the central, regional and local levels. The system ensures the follow up of these petitions throughout the treatment process.

In addition, This Platform will allow the publication of accurate and categorized statistics about complaints and corruption cases notifications treated by different public structure.

Milestones:

• Develop the platform and use it as a pilot phase in 10 facilities including the National Anti-Corruption Authority and the Central Bureau in charge of the relation with the citizens

Responsible institution: Presidency of the Government

Supporting institution(s):

As mentioned in the action plan: The National Anti-Corruption Authority, Al Bawsala, I Watch

As assessed: Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Korea, The Republic of Korea

Start date: June 2016           End date: March 2018

Context and Objectives

This commitment was carried forward from the first Tunisian action plan. In December 2012, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights of Korea agreed on an MOU with the Tunisian government, via its Prime Minister’s office, to exchange experts in governance and help Tunisia in combatting corruption. One of the selected projects was “e-people,” a platform where citizens could interact with the administration, lodge complaints about its service delivery and suggest improvements. [38] E-people already exists in Korea https://www.epeople.go.kr/ and the idea behind this cooperation was to apply the same model in Tunisia.

To report a corruption case to the ACA, one must use classical methods, such as phoning a toll-free hotline or making a complaint in person. The Tunisian NGO I-Watch developed an online platform named Bilkamcha that allows anyone to report a corruption case. I-Watch would then follow-up, investigate and transfer the case to the court.

The commitment’s title could be misleading. Unlike the Korean version, E-people Tunisia does not include a petition component. In fact, the Tunisian legal system does not have a mechanism for civil petitions. Moreover, I-Watch and Al Bawsala, the two main anti-corruption CSOs in Tunisia, who are listed as partners in this action plan’s commitment, have not participated in the implementation of this commitment.

This commitment is relevant to the OGP values of access to information, civic participation and public accountability. It offers an opportunity for citizens to report cases of misconduct and corruption in public administration and access statistics of how cases have been resolved. The commitment also mentions the responsibility of the government to follow up on received requests, which makes this commitment relevant to public accountability.

If fully implemented, this commitment would have moderate potential impact. In the context of high levels of public sector corruption, providing an electronic platform for citizens to report corruption cases could be an important tool, if government were to act upon submitted complaints. However, the institutional set-up for ownership of the platform causes concern among major anti-corruption CSOs due to the fact that the implementation of this commitment is the responsibility of the Presidency of the Government. This, in their opinion, constitutes a conflict of interest since the platform is hosted and managed by the Unit of Relationship with the Citizen, which is within the Presidency of the Government and reviews reports on misconduct or corruption in the government, rather than an independent, anti-corruption agency, which would be better placed to deal with such complaints. In addition, CSOs have concerns related to confidentiality and security of the platform. Due to CSOs’ complaints, the ACA withdrew from this commitment and joined the voices of civil society that ask for an audit and a form of engagement from the government that will ensure the confidentiality for citizens’ reporting.

Completion

This commitment has been completed to a limited extent. After the first year of action plan implementation the platform was at an advanced stage of preparation. The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) allocated USD 5 million to complete this commitment with the Presidency of the Government of Tunisia. At the time of writing, the website was online but not all sections of the website were functional.

Nevertheless, the governance of the platform is still an issue. Both CSOs and ACA believe that the platform should not be hosted and managed by the Presidency. From the government’s perspective, this commitment is an opportunity that would provide a tool for interaction with citizens and so would initiate programs of self-improvement.  The CSOs do not trust that the government will be able to effectively sanction abuses while ensuring the privacy of complainants. [39]

The milestones specify that the platform would have a pilot phase and would be implemented in 10 facilities. At the time of the evaluation, this was not the case.

Next Steps

For the commitment to be carried forward to the next action plan, it should be reformulated, taking into consideration the concerns of CSOs and the ACA. The IRM researcher recommends the following:

• The government should consult with ACA and the CSOs to reach a common ground on the platform governance. The host server of this solution should be a neutral and independent authority that could ensure confidentiality and security.
• Define a dual back-end to the platform, for ACA to receive and manage complaints submitted on corruption cases.

10. Developing an integrated electronic civil petition and corruption reporting platform (e-people)

Commitment Text:

This platform will contribute to fight corruption and promote citizen participation. Using multiple channels (Website, Call center, SMS, direct visits of citizens), the system will be a one stop shop to receive citizens’ complaints and report corruption cases. These complaints will be dispatched to different public structures at the central, regional and local levels. The system ensures the follow up of these petitions throughout the treatment process. In addition, This Platform will allow the publication of accurate and categorized statistics about complaints and corruption cases notifications treated by different public structure.

Milestones:

This system will be implemented in phases to cover all public structures. The first one concerns 10 pilot public structures.

Responsible institution: Presidency of the Government

Start date: June 2016 End date: March 2018

Editorial Note: This is an abbreviated version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text from the Tunisia National Action Plan, see here.

Commitment Aim:

This commitment was carried forward from the first action plan. The commitment aimed to improve the interaction between citizens and government by providing a one-stop shop for reporting corruption.

To report incidents of corruption in Tunisia, one must use traditional methods, such as telephoning a toll-free hotline or making a complaint in person. There is not a possibility to submit reports through an online platform. This commitment aimed to provides an online platform for citizens to submit reports through a web portal and receive responses from the government.

Status

Midterm: Limited

The commitment completion was limited by the midterm assessment. The website was launched and the platform technically functioned. The design of the commitment was meant to be jointly used by the government and the Anti-Corruption Authority to review the reports and provide responses to them. However, the governance of the platform remained a matter of dispute. This circumstance delayed the full implementation of the commitment. CSOs and the Anti-Corruption Authority argued that the government should not manage the platform, because it might side with its own institutions. In addition, CSOs believed that government would not be able to sanction abuses while ensuring the privacy of complainants. [47]

End of term: Substantial

By the end of term, the completion of this commitment was substantial. The website was launched and functional. However, the website did not list any corruption reports nor suggestions for improvement as stated in the commitment.

During some attempts from the IRM researcher to access the site, the browser displayed technical errors and did not load the content. Nonetheless, the website is available. It requires a username and password login. It allows the user to submit a request or report and then track its progress. The public can use the system to submit a request, complaint or report. They can select the government institution to address. The user can select their preferred channel for notification, check the status, review the response to the submission and at the end complete a user satisfaction survey. [48]

According to the government end of term self-assessment report, the platform was launched with links to ten government agencies during the implementation period of the action plan. [49]

According to IRM Researcher findings, the government and CSOs did not reach an agreement over the governance of the platform.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did not change

Civic Participation: Marginal

Public Accountability: Did Not Change

Centralizing a channel to receive citizen complaints or reports is a positive change in government practice to engage citizens. However, the application of the portal was still recent and in pilot development phase. The link to government institutions that could be subject to receive complaints, requests or reports from citizens was limited to ten. The site requires username and password to log in, which may deter or create barriers to entry. While reports can be submitted, there are not reports available or recommendations for change, which does not change accountability practices.

Carried Forward?

This commitment is considered completed by the government and therefore was not carried forward.