22 Tunisia ministries fall short of new law demanding transparency

Some 22 ministries out of a total of 27 in Tunisia have failed to comply with the provisions of the Right to Information Act, according to the legal adviser of the organisation I Watch, Intissar Arfaoui.

Of those ministries which failed to uphold the act – which guarantees the right to access information particularly on the administration of public services – the Presidency of the Government, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Education were all included.

At a press conference held last week in Tunis on the theme “law on the right of access to information between theory and practice,” Arfaoui affirmed that the official website which should be publishing data on the ministries’ activities does not exist.

Arfaoui also indicated that 134 municipalities in the former territorial division and 86 municipalities created according to the new division currently do not have a website which reflects a lack of respect for the law at the municipal level.

I Watch, an organisation set up to monitor Tunisia following the revolution in 2011, has made 154 requests for access to information and filed 75 applications to denounce corruption cases but has only received 63 responses to its requests so far.

Those who have complied include the Anti-Corruption Forum (INLUCC), the Court of Auditors, the Tunisian Petroleum Activities Enterprise (ETAP), the Ministry of Local Affairs and the Environment, and the Société du Rapid Railway Network in Tunis.

Read: Thousands of Tunisians march against corruption amnesty law

Among the administrations least responsive to requests for access to information were the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Tunisian Football Federation, the Ministry of Health, Tunisia Telecom, National Health Insurance Fund, the National Social Security Fund and the National Pension and Social Welfare Fund.

Arfaoui criticised “the hesitations of state policy in the application to the Access to Information Act” and the lack of cooperation between the administrations and current legislation that contradicts the right of access to information, namely the Archives Act and the Public Service Act.

I Watch has launched a website for tracking access to information requests called ma3louma.org which guarantees the constitutional right of access to information, makes available to its users a request form for access to information downloadable directly from the site, as well as a multitude of administrative documents that the applicant may need when filing its application.

According to a report released last year by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International Tunisia has witnessed an increase of over 42 per cent in levels of corruption since 2015.

Following the discovery of a number of leading political and public figures in the Panama Papers last year, acting on the country’s mounting corruption has become a political challenge and caused an increase in pressure from organisations like I Watch and a variety of other civil society organisations.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had made the fight against corruption the number one priority for his government in an attempt to move away from the issues that defined the previous years of governance under ousted leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.