Since the announcement of the tender for the treatment of stray dogs in the Municipality of Ferizaj, our organization has contacted the Director of the Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, Burim Bajrami to request access to monitor this project, whose contract was signed on March 22, 2021, in the amount of € 89,960.00. The winner of the contract is the veterinary entity Ambulance and Veterinary Pharmacy “Goni”, with representative DVM Agron Pajaziti.

Although we have sent official letters four times to the municipality, Mr. Bajrami has consistently ignored our request for monitoring, never responding.

This silence of the officials of the municipality of Ferizaj, for us as an organization raises many doubts. Why is the municipality of Ferizaj not interested in being transparent about a project that deals with the treatment of stray dogs, a very delicate issue, for which a considerable amount of public money has been allocated? What is preventing the municipality of Ferizaj from allowing citizens to monitor a public project which is being financed with their own money?

In addition, from the announcement of the tender until the signing of the contract, the municipality of Ferizaj has not made even a single notification to inform the citizens about its implementation. How is it possible for a municipality to finance a project with such a large financial value, and not inform the citizens about it at all? For these (non) actions of the municipality of Ferizaj, the question arises: Was this contract awarded only to enrich certain individuals / entities, or was this project initiated to contribute to increasing safety and public health and animal welfare?

It is very important that stray dog ​​treatment projects are done in a professional and transparent manner, in order to achieve the desired effect of implementing such a project.

The team of our organization went to the dog treatment center in the village of Lloshkobare, Municipality of Ferizaj, but the team of Mr. Pajaziti did not allow entry. This is not the first time that the veterinarians of this veterinary entity are not transparent and cooperative because even during 2018 and 2020 during the state projects for the treatment of stray dogs, they have hindered the visits of our organization.

Seeing the passivity of the Director in question, we have also made a request for access to public documents, to request monitoring reports of work to date (from the contract manager/ Municipality) in this project.

Authorizing a civil society organization for projects of this kind would be a great help to state and municipal institutions to ensure that publicly funded projects achieve the desired effect and citizens’ taxes are not being mismanaged and public money is not being abused – as has happened in some cases in the past (2018-2020).

Finally, Article 120 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo states that public expenditures and the collection of public revenues must be based on the principles of accountability, efficiency, effectiveness and transparency.