Transparency: The bridge to building public trust

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Trust is the currency of Governance. Dedication to one's government leads citizens to pay tax, follow laws and participate in public initiatives. Without trust, things are more difficult. Tax evasion rises. Compliance falls. Social cohesion frays. Transparency is the one most important tool for establishing and sustaining public trust. Transparent, participatory and public administration which involves citizens, informs them that they are valued and that their interests are taken cared of, and that those in authority are responsible.

The meaning of Transparent Governance

Transparent governance doesn't exist at a policy level. It is a programme that permeates through all aspects of public administration. Transparency is about government conduct being easily visible to the people. Decisions are explained. Information is available. Processes may be seen. Secrets are rare and not the norm.

One of the key examples is budget transparency. Citizens are entitled to information about the amount of money the government collects, sources of the money and how it is spent. On time and in a readable format, detailed budgets give citizens a way to determine whether funds are going toward roads, schools and clinics, or into the black hole?

Procurement transparency is as relevant as well. Government contracts that are awarded via competitive and open process allow citizens to know who got the contracts, the reasons for their selection and the amount of the payoff. Due to this visibility it reduces the possibility of corruption, ensures fairness in competition and assures the public contracts are awarded on merit, not connections.

Legislative transparency is the transparency of laws that are enacted. The activities of the committees, floor debates, and voting histories should be open. It's important that citizens be able to direct their eyes to understand what their representatives are doing and how they are voting. This transparency allows for holding accountable at the elections.

Judicial transparency implies making court proceedings transparent, publishing court judgments and elaborating on the rationale of such decisions. There is privacy information, there is security information etc some of these may be legitimate in the first hands but don't assume it's not open. If justice is done in secret then justice is not done.

How to build Trust with Transparency.

There is no theoretical connection between transparency and trust. It has proven over and over in different countries of the world. The more open the government, the higher the level of trust. Falls on closure.

Transparency is respecting citizens, first. A government which does not know what to do.A government which does not let citizens know what it does. A government that actively disseminates information will be making citizens participants and giving them the right to know. Mutual trust is born of this respect.

Second, transparency helps to verify. Citizens need not rely on the government's assurances that everything is being done right. They can perform the search and find out for themselves. They can study budgets, read contracts, attend meetings etc. This capability gives confidence that the Government tells the truth.

Thirdly, transparency discourages wrongdoing. Officials with bad intentions are less likely to steal, accept bribes or abuse power if they know their actions are being observed. Behaviour changes as a result of the risk of exposure. If there is less misconduct there will be less scandal and, therefore, more trust.

Transparency means there is accountability, fourth. If complaints are apparent citizens have the right to have them amended. Journalists can report. The opposition parties have just lined up against the government and criticized them. Voters have a tool to “reward” at the ballot box. This accountability cycle makes it possible to rectify things, even if they’re going wrong.

The Potential Consequences of Secrecy

Trust erodes when governments fail to be transparent about their operations. It is the citizens' worst prediction that's coming true. They can be incorrect at times but they can also be correct. Lack of transparency promotes corruption. Business relationships are made with family. Budgets are padded. Efforts are made to enrich officials and to diminish services.

This leads to a vicious circle. Low trust = low compliance. People would fail to pay taxes because they think the taxes will be taken from them. They overjoyed rules' and regulations because they do not feel they are enforced equitably. They withdraw because their participation in civic life has no significance to them.

This is a hard-to-see spiral that will not easily be reversed. Losing trust means losing trust in any actions the government takes. These well-intentioned programmes are doubted. Over the years and decades it takes to recover trust, it is essential to communicate this transparently. It is much easier to maintain trust than to restore it.

Transparency in Practice

There must be clear systems and procedures before there is clear governance. The budgets need to be made accessible on the web with just machine-readable forms. Learning Contracts, Bids and Justifications for Contracts shall be posted on websites of the procurement portals. Legislative proceedings shall be made available by both broadcast and archives. Judgments should be posted in a timely fashion.

Emphasis is placed on open data policies. Citizens, journalists and researchers should have access to information which is publicly available which the Government facilitates for analysis, whether it's information on health, crime, infrastructure, whatever. This means this data allows independent monitoring and aids to provide public goods, goods which the government is not able to provide.

There's another key piece of protection: whistleblowers. Those who tip off about irregularities or misconduct should be protected from retaliation. If that does not occur, many abuses are not detected. In its presence, insiders are powerful participants in accountability.

Civil society engagement roundups the group. Transparency isn't simply a matter of publicizing information. It's about getting information utilised. Encouraging the work of journalists, auditors and watchdog organisations to ensure openness leads to accountability.

Digital Tools for Transparency

The opportunities for transparent governance have been vastly increased through the power of technology. A great amount of information can be published online, at low cost. Citizens with no computer skills can be reached by mobile phone. Digital payment systems can trace every transaction that occurred from treasury to the beneficiary.

Open Treasury is an example of Open Government portal operated by the Government of Nigeria that can provide transparency for financial data in real time. Citizens can view the amount each the ministry, department and agency spends. There are other platforms at the State and local level in other countries. This does not establish the level of trust when used alone, but gives the building blocks needed to create it.

Social Media helps create new avenues for government-citizen communications. Real time answers, feedback and explanations. There are some drawbacks with social media too, namely the potential for misinformation and performative politics, but direct interactions that are otherwise never available.

But, technology cannot replace true openess. There are also some even that only publish data in formats that cannot actually be analysed, or important information deep in a website. Transparency goes beyond publication to publication in forms that are useful and accessible.

Challenges and Limitations

Transparency in government governance is not easy. There is a need for information to be kept confidential in certain instances. Little bit of secrecy is warranted to national security, to privacy of individuals and to current investigations. A key is to make sure that exceptions