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There must be a serious behavioral change within the government when it comes to making government documents public. This is what the chairman of the newly established Advisory Board on Public Access and Information Management (ACOI), Ineke van Gent, says in News hour. She is shocked by the way in which it is difficult for the government to make information public.
“It takes too long and painting has become a kind of top sport within the government. We have to stop that. We want to tackle that defensive behavior,” says Van Gent, who believes that the government is stretching the boundaries of the law. “Side paths to not have to make something public. You see the distrust between citizens and government increasing. No longer diving, but being transparent.”
Key figures
The advisory board was set up as part of the Open Government Act (Woo), the law that must give citizens access to government documents. Today it offered to be ACOI first advice to: all work-related chat messages from ministers, secretaries of state, administrators and senior officials must be saved.
Van Gent, a member of parliament for GroenLinks for many years and now mayor of Schiermonnikoog, says that all work-related message traffic must be centrally and automatically stored in a digital archive. The Board calls messages from “key figures” in public administration of lasting value, also for future historical research. The government must store messages from senior officials temporarily, for example for five or ten years.
Smsjes
The reason is wrong deleted text messages of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. “The way he did it is not possible. That really has to change. Excuses and goat paths are no longer possible. Clear agreements and clear rules and organizing it well at the back.”
Van Gent distinguishes between key figures and other employees. “Because it must also remain clear. It concerns relevant information that must be easily accessible if you ask for it,” says Van Gent.
She notices that administrators mainly talk about problems and not about solutions. “Let them put their energy into solutions. It’s not that difficult at all. We’ve really reached that point. Look at the benefits affair, democracy benefits from it.”
