In these days when we have been observing the disturbing events in Portimão, the original idea behind the initial impetus to create Portimão Semper, almost three years ago, comes to my mind once again:
The need to contribute to civil society in Portimão gaining dimension, by increasing its own self-awareness, by encouraging civic participation, by encouraging debate and by scrutiny and demanding together with local political decision-makers.
Having the (perhaps erroneous) notion that there would be a deficit of debate and scrutiny by ordinary citizens about the public space that surrounds them, I always had the impression that this gap in participation also implied a directly proportional deficit of transparency in governance local.
Thus, the ultimate goal of contributing to increased transparency, by increasing the spirit of demand on the part of ordinary citizens, has always been one of the objectives of Associação Cívica Portimão Semper (ACPS).
With eyes set on this objective of contributing to the increase of this transparency, by encouraging the civic spirit of ordinary citizens, we at ACPS took the decision to organize some initiatives, such as the debate on the theme “Corruption in Portugal”, which took place on the 25th of April and had as speaker Dr. Paulo Morais, Vice President of Transparency and Integrity Associação Cívica (TIAC).
We also give as an example the “Participative Citizenship” course that we are organizing for the next 5,6 and 7th July, in which we will have a module dedicated to “corruption and public expenditure”, also given by Dr. Paulo Morals.
We feel that the debate on combating corruption is important in Portimão, just as it will be important throughout the country. And recent events are proof of this.
Knowing that all suspects in this case of alleged corruption in the Portimão City Council are innocent until proven otherwise (and I stress this fact vehemently), we also know that there is a clear and clear need to increase transparency in our local governance.
Through not only the adoption by the government of good practices of governance, but also the inclusion of control and scrutiny mechanisms, including a constructive but demanding posture, typical of a mature and vibrant civil society.
This transparency only benefits all those involved in this context. It benefits citizens as taxpayers and users of local public services, as they will be guaranteed better services, benefits employees and service providers to the municipality, for the clarity of rules and justice in working conditions, and also benefits political decision-makers. These because they reduce a burden of suspicion, which only hinders the proper exercise of their functions.
Although I am concerned about the development of these recent events in Portimão, I am convinced that we will witness a regeneration and strengthening of our civil society, which will have a positive repercussion in terms of local governance and the level of the consequent development of this land.
As there is still a significant path to go, I see that the debate on our public cause is increasingly participative and plural, with the fear and embarrassment to participate being less and less.
This, I confess, gives me a great deal of satisfaction, as I see fulfilling the plan I set out for when creating Portimão Semper and which I now share with the members of our Civic Association.
It remains for me to conclude, hoping that these recent events will be quickly resolved by the courts, so that we can move forward as a community, towards the goal of fulfilling the enormous development potential that Portimão has for its people.
Author João Pires is the manager and founder of Portimão Semper Civic Association
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