Which Gov’t bodies are the most transparent?

Three Georgian Governmental bodies are being recognized for having 100 percent public access to information by a local group that fights to promote transparency of public information and governmental accountability in Georgia.

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) sent 493 requests to 29 public institutions to determine the availability of public information in Georgian public bodies.

Results of the October 2013-March 2014 report, released today, showed the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs were the most accountable public institutions, with 100 percent access to information.

At the other end of the scale, the least accountable institutions were found to be the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Government of Adjara.

IDFI head Giorgi Kldiashvili presented his research at the Open Society – Georgia office today. He said the agency sent out 493 requests and received 269 complete answers, which was a decrease of 14 percent on the previous report findings.

To their requests, IDFI received 47 incomplete answers (5% increase on the previous survey), 12 refusals and 29 ignored requests.

Kldiashvili said the main aim of the survey was to see how much information was available to the public and whether this had increased or decreased since the October 2012 elections.

Results showed the President Administrations was the most progressive central public institution with a 20 percent increase in public information. Progress made by the Government Administration was also noted.

Meanwhile in comparison to the previous survey, 11 Government bodies had improved their level of public information while 15 had less information available now than before.

Kldiashvili said one of the main findings of the survey revealed there was 61 percent less information available now from the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development than in the previous survey.

Furthermore the report emphasized numerous cases when information was available when the Government changed (early 2013) and was no longer available now.

Overall, the majority of Governmental bodies responded well to the survey where more than half (55%) answered all questions completely.