Tunisia Live (Tunis)
Asma Ghribi
21 December 2011
Around 10 members of the Constituent Assembly have sent a letter to Mustpha Ben Jaafar, Speaker of Constituent Assembly, urging him to propose a law implementing Open Government in the Constituent Assembly.
The members have already held a demonstration advocating for open government on December 14th.
Open Government enables citizens to access the documents of the government and enhances transparency and public participation. Haythem Belgacem and Mabrouka Mbarek members of the National Constituent Assembly and respective representatives of Ben Arous and North America presented an “E-Gov” solution that aims to:
1. Create a Parliamentary Channel to broadcast the sessions and help raise public awareness of the Constituent Assembly’s work
2. Publish the minutes of Constituent Assembly meetings within a maximum of 24 hours
3. Track the Constitutional Assembly members’ votes
4. Track the Constituent Assembly members’ attendance
5. Record the Constitutional Assembly’s sessions and release them within a maximum of four days
Mbarek is inspired by Open Government mechanisms in the United States and wants to schedule one of the sessions of the Constituent Assembly to discuss the feasibility and adaptability of Open Government in Tunisia.
Belgacem asserted that Open Government technologies were already in existence in Tunisia’s House of Counselors before January 14th. However, a revolution was needed to actually start thinking about using these solutions.
“Open Government is crucial to the success of democracy in Tunisia. As a matter of fact, Open Government was one of the pillars of my electoral campaign and I am committed to pursue this cause,” said Belgacem who claimed that having people watching the government all the time is a healthy phenomenon in democratic societies.
Tunisia Live was told that President Moncef Mrazouki is now studying an Open Government project that will allow people to be informed about the activities in the Presidential Palace.
According to advocates of transparency, transparency in government generates public trust and establishes a system of collaboration between the government and the people.
Tunisians have endured several long years of exclusion, alienation and political blackout. Having an open government will open space for public participation in the political decision making process and help raise the collective political awareness of Tunisian society.
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