The DP was represented at the recent OGP Summit by Emil Lee. Unfortunately, due to the current political crisis, DP Party Leader and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams had to cancel her planned attendance.
According to MP Sarah Wescot Williams, “The DP supports having St Maarten apply for membership to the OGP. In order for St Maarten to become a member, there are a number of requirement with which St Maarten would need to comply. Although St Maarten doesn’t currently qualify for membership, this provides the country with an excellent road map to follow in our path towards becoming more open. There is an undeniable connection between the degree of openness and the level of prosperity of any country. The more open and transparent the government, the more the people participate in and benefit from the economy. We felt that this conference was such a valuable learning experience that Emil and I funded the trip at our personal expense.”
According to Emil Lee, “the amazing thing for St Maarten is that we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Many countries have similar problems to St Maarten. Many have issues with how to make the budgeting process more transparent and inclusive. How to make procurement and government contracts less susceptible to corruption? By participating in OGP, St Maarten can benefit from all of the experiences and work of other countries.”
Use of Confidentiality Clauses: A great example
According to Lee, “In St Maarten, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the use of confidentiality clauses in contracts with government and government owned companies. There are countries where the contracts are not even legally binding until they have been placed on line for anyone to review. Additionally, there are clear guidelines for what items are able to be covered by confidentiality clauses. Pricing and financial information typically does not quality as items that would be able to be shrouded by confidentiality clauses. This clause is usually reserved for proprietary processes and trade secrets.”
OGP Summit
The OGP or Open Government Partnership hosts the OGP Global Summit every two years in the Country of the current Chair, this year in Mexico City. Representatives from government, academic institutions, civil society and multilateral organizations come together to exchange experiences and share best practices and major developments in open government.
OGP Mission:
“OGP’s vision is that more governments become sustainably more transparent, more accountable, and more responsive to their own citizens, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of governance, as well as the quality of services that citizens receive. This will require a shift in norms and culture to ensure genuine dialogue and collaboration between governments and civil society. OGP aspires to support both government and civil society reformers by elevating open government to the highest levels of political discourse, providing ‘cover’ for difficult reforms, and creating a supportive community of like-minded reformers from countries around the world. – See more at: http://www.opengovpartnership.org”