(НЭХ)

(Summary of presentation given to National University of Mongolia students on 18 December 2018)

The development and prosperity of a nation and the livelihood of its people depend on combination of a democratic government and a free market. The democracy needs to have good governance most importantly, besides a good government and a strong leader.

Good governance means it is transparent, accountable, and responsible. Free market means private properties are protected, prices are set by the market rather than the government, and free competition exists. When it comes to free market in Mongolia, we have not walked the walk, only talked the talk.

Mongolians have recently gotten into the habit of talking a lot about corporate social responsibility and how the private sector has an accountability before the society. Same goes for talking about transparency in public governance. This focus has resulted in the ‘glass account’ law, which was passed for improved transparency in government organizations. However, the law and its implementation have been waning lately.

The key ingredient sorely needed for our development today is social accountability. It is highly timely that Mongolians have started talking about what social accountability means, why it is important, and how it can be brought to life.

Mongolia’s limping democracy

Public servants and politicians use public resources to deliver services to people. Given those resources are owned by the public, people need to be involved in overseeing how the resources that belong to them are being used and what outcomes are being delivered. The concept of ‘social accountability’ is at the core of this oversight process.

For social accountability to be effective, the government needs to keep its door for people’s participation, and the public needs to be willing to get involved and engage in the oversight process. Civic engagement and democratic elections are key pillars to democracy. In Mongolia, the door to our government is not fully open to civic participation while our people are sitting back from being involved and engaging with the government. This is why we have not seen mutual trust build up between people and the government.

Elections are not the only way people can exercise their power, granted by democracy, to impose their influence. In between elections, people must be overseeing government activities and making sure mistakes are identified and fixed. In this sense, social accountability comprises of three key components – reporting, engaging, and enforcing accountability (R. Mulgan, 2000).

For social accountability to be effective, the government must report its activities, people need to engage in discussions on those reports, and public servants are held accountable against their duties and responsibilities. The following conditions need to be formed to enable such environment:

• Organized and capable citizen groups taking on projects and initiatives 

Mongolia is seeing the formation of its civic society. However, due to lack of funding, there is a large number of inactive non-governmental organizations (NGOs) despite having been registered and having their own stamps and certificates. The number of active organizations is very small in reality.

In highly advanced democracies, taxes are not imposed on donations given to non-governmental organizations. But it is not the case in Mongolia, which forces many organizations to seek funding from abroad. On the other hand, our NGOs are not consistently publishing their operational and financial reports.

• Government institutions showing leadership in social accountability and aligning laws, regulations, and activities accordingly

What this means is that the government should be reporting to the public on how effectively public servants have performed against their duty to improve public services, enhance livelihoods, and protect people’s rights.

Previously some governments used to hold an open day session once a year, where our ministries and government agencies participated in. However, there is currently no platform available to people and the private sector to directly engage with the government and express their opinion.

The local government houses in aimag and soum centers need to be town halls, where people can freely come and go, use conference rooms and libraries, and enjoy free access to the Internet. This would align with the social accountability priorities.

Also, people currently have a very limited opportunity to provide input in planning, approving, implementing, and reviewing public budgets at national and local levels. There is no independent oversight on planning and performance of public budgets that are formed by public resources, including the taxes people pay.

• Context and cultural appropriateness i.e. culture of political transparency, fairness, and justice 

Under the constitution, Mongolians have the right and freedom of speech, information, and association. However, people have a less than serious attitude towards exercising their rights and freedom. The whistleblowing culture is still immature in Mongolia, and people are still being treated differently before the law. If you were a senior official in the government, law enforcement institutions will treat you differently than ordinary citizens.

• Information to access i.e. information intended to the public being fully accessible, available and accurate

Ensuring data is analyzed and interpreted by competent groups or experts is essential to having constructive engagement. However, the 2016 election report on donations and expenditure is still not made available on the website of General Election Commission.

We now need a law that prohibits the government from using private information without permission. Access to and availability of information means that people should be able to not only see the source but also receive the information in a digestible form.

At this stage of Mongolia’s development path, our people need to start getting more involved in overseeing what government is doing and what outcomes they are achieving, and enforce accountability.

2018.12.20

Trans. by B.Amar