Regional survey: Whistleblowers with lowest support in Macedonia

A survey on public perceptions of whistleblowing in Macedonia was conducted by the Regional Cooperation Council in 2017. A representative sample of 1,000 people answered a range of questions on the issue. SCOOP Macedonia was one of the organizers of last year Whistleblower day in Skopje. SCOOP is part of Southeastern Europe coalition for whistleblower protection. The survey reveals the strong need for improved public education and awareness on...

Million euros for big appetites: Less uniforms for more lunches

By Goran Lefkov    They do not have equipment, they wear old uniforms, eat food that does not satisfy their needs. But their superiors eat in expensive restaurants with rich tables and spend a lot on catering services and representation. So for 6 years these two ministries spent 2.8 million Euros only for representation, of which the Ministry of Interior spent 1.5 million Euros, whereas the Ministry of Defense,...

DRINKING WATER FOR EVERY HOUSE INSTEAD OF LUXURY OFFICIAL VEHICLES

DOCUMENTATION authors: Bjanka Stankovich, Angela Petrovska and Angela Rajchevska     Municipalities spend huge amounts for fuel and service maintenance of their official vehicles. Fuel costs are also big and they affect the municipal budget. The SCOOP team sent requests under free access to public information to all municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia. The authorities were asked for information on the amounts spent on fuel annually for the...

Kancheska overnight at Hilton, Sheraton and Ritz and shopping at “Versace”

DOCUMENTATION Four thousand and three hundred Euros from the personal card of former Minister of Culture to goverment of Republic of Macedonia, Elizabeta Kanchevska Milevska were transferred to the account of the famous hotel chain Hilton in just one day. However, not from her private account, but from the account of the budget filled by the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. Yet Hilton was not the only destination...

REPRESENTATION 2: RESTAURANT INVOICES ARE HIDDEN AS IF THEY WERE A STATE SECRET

authors: Bjanka Stankovich, Angela Petrovska and Angela Rajchevska (here you can read Part One) Searching for the true picture of how rationally the municipal bureaucracy behaves and whether for the citizens’ benefit, the SCOOP research team visited several municipalities. Under the Law on Free Access to Information, it addressed all 82 municipalities. From most of them we received data and documents on how and what the mayors and their...

Representation: Empty holes for full stomachs

DOCUMENTATION authors: Bjanka Stankovich, Angela Petrovska and Angela Rajchevska   Fifty cuts of lamb cost 17,500 denars, 30 pieces of white cheese – 7,500 denars, and ten kilograms of hard cheese – 3,880 denars. A total of 30,324 denars, or 500 Euros were paid by the municipality of Ohrid to the company Kamimpex for an undefined “catering” service. But this is not the record of the Ohrid administration. In...

Project on establishing good governance standards in municipalities across Macedonia

14 civil organizations signed Tuesday contracts for grants as part of an EU-funded project on establishing good governance standards in local self-government units based on the so called SIGMA principles of public administration. The project “Monitoring of principles of public administration in preserving good governance values” is implemented by the Center for Change Management in Skopje in partnership with the association for management consulting MKA-2000 and the Center for Investigative...

State institutions were charged 10 times more for heating

SCOOP team reviewed all whistleblower’s findings. We decided to ask him for a meeting to see if these clues were real. After long persuasion and guarantees for protection of his identity, we met in a restaurant at the exit of Skopje. After a short wait, a middle-aged man appeared, visibly frightened for his safety. However, we could notice his determination to share all information of general interest with the...