Transparency and Accountability in Government
OVERVIEW
From October 30 - November 5, we hosted a delegation of policy makers, attorneys, anti-corruption advocates and journalists from Portuguese-speaking countries. The project examined how transparency and accountability in government ensure public trust in the integrity and fairness of elected officials, public servants, and the institutions of government. In addition to highlighting mechanisms for transparency in government in the United States, the project addressed the roles of civil society and the media as watchdogs and catalysts for the creation and maintenance of transparent and accountable government.
PARTICIPANTS
Mr. Manuel Armando Da Costa EKUIKUI
General Secretary, JURA National Union for the Independence of Angolan UNITA
Ms. Ondina Maura C Francisco MELO
Assistant Project Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Mr. Pedro DUARTE SANTOS SOARES JUNIOR
City Councilman, Rio de Janeiro City Council
Mr. Mariano PAGANINI LAURIA
State Prosecutor, Public Ministry, Rio Grande do Norte
Ms. Laura Helena NHANCALE
General Inspector of Public Administration, Ministry of State Administration and Public Service (MAEFP)
Mr. Sergio da Conceicao Fernando Antonio SAUALE
Adviser to the Provincial Secretary of State of Cabo Delgado, Office of the Secretary of State of Cabo Delgado
Ms. Evandra Goncalo UAMUSSE
Presiding Judge of the 10th Criminal Section, Maputo City Judicial Court
Mr. Leonidio FERREIRA
Deputy Editor, Diario de Noticias
Ms. Ana Karina MENDONCA SILVERIO DE CARVALHO
Executive Director, Transparency International Portugal
Mr. Inald Kelve NOBRE DE CARVALHO
Public Attorney General, Public Prosecutor Office
Mr. Lindley RODRIGUES MONTEIRO DE JESUS
Director of Study and Planning, Ministry of Planning, Finance and Blue Economy
Mr. Paulo ANUNO
Investigator, Anti-Corruption Commission (CAC)
ACTIVITIES
New Orleans City Council Vice-President J.P. Morrell welcomed the delegation to City Hall to discuss mechanisms of local government that bring transparency into the political process.
At the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, Professors Landyn Rookard and Markus Puder led a dynamic discussion on judicial ethics and fairness and transparency in laws that regulate government agencies. The group also discussed the nuances and complexities of Louisiana’s hybrid legal code, influenced by French, Spanish, and English law traditions.
Michelle Foster, Vice-President of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, discussed how this citizen-led organization works to expose and eliminate public corruption and improve the administration of justice in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana. The group also met Darrin Browder and Jesse Manley from Courtwatch NOLA, an organization that trains and supports volunteers in observing and reporting on court proceedings in Orleans Parish. Courtwatch collects data to inform the public on whether judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and other public servants are doing their jobs professionally, ethically, and transparency to improve the quality of the justice system.
Sandy Rosenthal, founder of the citizen-advocacy organization Levees.org, joined the group at the Levee Exhibit Hall and Garden, located at the site of the London Avenue Canal floodwall breach during Hurricane Katrina. Sandy shared her organization's vital work in exposing the Army Corps of Engineers’ failures in levee construction—ultimately leading to a multi-million-dollar cover-up of its mistakes.
Finally, the group visited the Historic New Orleans Collection and received a guided tour of Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration, an exhibition that examines the linkages between slavery and mass incarceration in Louisiana.
