Cofounder of BudgIT, Seun Onigbinde, has dismissed insinuation that the Open Government Partnership (OGP) is aimed at advancing the values of the Western world.
Onigbinde, while sharing his ideas on open governance as a candidate for the 2021 OGP civil society steering committee, said that the OGP was rooted in common values of humanity.
The OGP is an international initiative aimed at promoting open governance, citizen’s empowerment, fight corruption, and harness new technology to strengthen governance in member states.
But some government critics argue that the initiative primarily serves the interests of the Western world.
‘We have to sell the OGP as a form of global value system. It is not a western value’, the BudgIT CEO said during a public webinar monitored by Development Diaries.
‘I do not think there is anything that has to do with western values, we just have to keep emphasising that, even though a lot of people might want to muddy the pool by making sure they keep saying this because they want to create that dichotomy’.
Onigbinde noted that OGP is an idea that a public official is accountable and responsible to the people, adding that it is ‘the idea that you respect humanity and you derive legitimacy from the people’.
He also talked about empowering civil society organisations (CSOs) to effectively engage the government.
The OGP steering committee is interviewing 13 candidates, including two from Africa, as it looks to fill four civil society seats ahead of October 2021.
In partnership with government counterparts, the OGP committee creates a space for renowned civil society leaders to steer the global open government agenda.
Alongside the Nigerian, Onigbinde, and Moroccan, Tarik Nesh-Nash of Impact For Development, the OGP is considering Antonella Valmorbida of European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) from Belgium, Doug Rutzen of International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law from the United States, and Geo-Sung Kim of Transparency International from Korea.
Other candidates are Luben Panov of European Centre for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting (ECNL) from Bulgaria, Shushan Doydoyan of Freedom of Information Centre of Armenia (FOICA) from Armenia, Anabel Cruz of Instituto de Comunicacion y Desarrollo (ICD from Uruguay, Hilda Ajeilat of Jordan Transparency Centre from Jordan, Lucy McTernan of Open Government Network Scotland and Open Government Network UK from Scotland, Natalia Carfi of Open Data Charter from Argentina, Paulina Ibarra of Fundación Multitudes and Civil Society Pillar of the Community of Democracies from Chile, and Rob Davidson of Information and Communications Technology Council from Canada.
Since the launch of OGP in 2011, civil society steering committee leaders have successfully elevated national issues through global conversations, playing an important role in the landmark reforms OGP has delivered to date.
It is understood that 78 countries and a growing number of local governments, representing more than two billion people, along with thousands of CSOs are members of OGP.