The majority of respondents believe that the work of mayors and municipalities in Serb-majority areas is not transparent – read the results of online polls carried out by the KoSSev portal.
The issue of (non)transparency when it comes to the work of the municipalities in Serb-majority areas came to the fore once again after the Municipality of Gracanica made a Decision on the exchange of immovable municipal property for private property, only to seven days later, that is, last night, initiate the procedure to annul this decision.
The new move was made following intense pressure from the public and the media, protests by citizens disgruntled with the decision of the local leadership, i.e., as they stated, the disproportionate land swap in favor of a private citizen.
In recent days, accusations have also been made against other municipalities in Serb-majority areas, that is, their decisions on the exchange or donation of land to private citizens.
On this occasion, we asked KoSSev readers to share their opinion of the (non)transparency of local authorities in Kosovo Serb areas.
Do you believe that the work of municipal assemblies and mayors in Serb-majority areas in Kosovo is transparent? – reads the question we published on KoSSev’s Twitter account.
Are the work of your municipality and mayor transparent? – reads the question we shared on our Instagram page.
The majority of polled readers, on both social networks, revealed that they think their municipalities/mayors are not transparent.
Out of a total of 54 votes on Twitter, as many as 77.8% of respondents (42) gave a negative answer.
On the other hand, only 5.6% of respondents (3) said that the municipalities are transparent.
A total of 3.7% of those polled (2) replied „partially“, while 13%, or seven of them, voted that they don’t know.
A total of 349 people participated in the poll on Instagram within 24 hours, and more than half, i.e. 207 people (59%), replied negatively to the question „Are the work of your municipality and mayor transparent?“
Only 15% of them (53) declared that they believe that mayors and municipalities are transparent in their work.
A total of 6% of those polled (22) replied „partially“, while 20%, or 67 respondents, voted that they don’t know.
The (non)transparency of local self-governments and the work of the media
Municipalities in Serb-majority areas, as well as mayors in these local self-governments, with some exceptions, stopped notifying the KoSSev portal about their activities years ago. They also do not send calls for sessions of Municipal Assemblies, as well as other public meetings, which they regularly send to other media outlets.
We asked the users of Instagram if they are interested in following the work of municipalities and mayors.
As many as 59%, i.e. 188 people replied affirmatively. On the other hand, 28% said they were not interested, i.e. 89 voters, and 13%, or 44 people, voted for the option „somewhat“.
In our Facebook poll, the readers gave descriptive answers, mostly highlighting the non-transparency of the municipalities in a sarcastic and humorous way.
„Well, they couldn’t possibly be more transparent. Their cars cost 60,000 euros each, and apartments in Belgrade were purchased with money they didn’t earn but stole (…) Yes, they are transparent and I tell them to endure this inflation and high prices. You’ll make it, legends!“ – reads one of the comments.
„Totally. We also know how much money they spend out of their own pocket for muffins in the morning“;
„They didn’t do anything for ten years, they didn’t even fast…“;
„The stain of the Serbian state“;
„They must be in a trance, not squeamish about money, and they don’t care about visibility in their work…“;
„The fuller their pockets are, the fewer Serbs there are in Kosmet.“
Aleksandar Arsenijevic, the leader of the civic initiative “Srpski Opstanak”, shared an example of non-transparency in the municipality of North Mitrovica:
„Go to the website of the municipality of Mitrovica, and then try to open a document, if you manage to find it.“
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
