Why hasn’t OGP put US government under review?
Alexander Howard
Dear OGP Community —
I am sorry to be unable to join you in Spain due to family commitments. I have been honored to attend summits since covering the launch in 2011 in New York and meet many of you. I wish I could learn, document, and be inspired by all of the good work you’ve done in recent years.
I write today with an update on US participation, having seen or heard little recognition of how bad the situation has gotten here in 9 months in the first day of the summit.
On the occasion of this event, the Open Government Partnership appears functionally dead in the USA, as President Trump and the White House make a mockery of core values daily and OGP officials tout successes from around the Global South while studiously ignoring the 8000 pound elegant in the room.
After New York City joined OGP local in January 2024, the Mayor was indicted for corruption and has shown no sign of co-creating a plan with New Yorkers or implementing it. (Perhaps the next Mayor will do more in the winter: hope springs eternal.)
Given the regression that’s apparent to the world, will the OGP steering committee keep kicking the can, or finally acknowledge the concerns of US civil society, &
OGP wrote this week that “OGP’s greatest strength is its community of open government reformers, activists, and champions.” If so, why has OGP kept ignoring the pleas of the reformers, activists, & champions in the USA? Is OGP’s greatest weakness its inability to hold nations that backslide accountable politically, financially, or legally?
OGP claims that its model “has accelerated progress on the adoption of open government reforms since 2011,” but that hasn’t been the experience of US civil society organizations for a decade.
How can Independent Review Mechanism reports published months later online with no official requirements for promulgation or press conferences with civil society and media partners have any positive effect on behavior, standing, or participation? How can OGP be relevant to politics or policy if it doesn’t exist in Congress?
The cold, hard truth is that OGP model has failed in the USA for a decade. It is failing now. OGP was originally designed as a foreign policy initiate to nudge other nations into adopting good governance reforms while being far from power, policy, or politics in the United States.
Look no further than the absence of US leaders from the Summit in Spain to see how whether they trust OGP to be an effective platform.
After major regressions on transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption in the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, a coalition of leading US government watchdogs called on the Open Government Partnership to place the US government under immediate review, where it should have remained since 2019. But CEO Aidan Eyakuze & the Steering Committee have repeatedly declined to do so.
After the coalition filed an addendum listing further open government regression under the Trump administration, OGP opened a response case, sent the Deputy Secretary of State a letter, & hired consultants.
OGP Summit participants should know there is no ongoing co-creation, much less a 6th US NAP built with all Americans — an outcome which has never occurred, even under OGP co-founder Barack Obama’s administration. The letter Eyakuze sent the US government has unsurprisingly gone unanswered.
Meanwhile, for months the USGSA has been misleading the American people & OGP members about co-creation & a 6th NAP. To recap:
- The Open Government advisory committee that was to act as a multi-stakeholder forum is long gone. The GSA’s Open Government Secretariat has been disbanded.
- There has been a complete breakdown of communication and collaboration around past, present, or future commitments as officials denigrate nonprofits, advocates, and the press, threatening legal action against any who dissent or speak truth to power.
- Outside of OGP, civic spaces, press freedom, access to into, & the rule of law are all under dire threat.
- The President has directed the Justice Department to prosecute his opponents and calls journalists and the People he serves enemies.
Yet, somehow, the US government remains on OGP Steering Committee and is a Member in good standing? Which official is actually showing up to meetings?
Bottom line: OGP should immediately suspend the USA if there is no NAP 6.0 co-created with the American people at the end of 2025 accompanied by a vigorous embrace of the Open Government Declaration by the President and State Department.
Countries and cities that refuse to uphold values, adopt illiberal policies, engage in authoritarianism, & overt corruption can’t be allowed to remain in governance of multi-lateral organizations explicitly focused on fighting those plagues.
The status quo of openwashing and silence is neither tolerable nor tenable for any organization or leaders committed to democracy and open government.
Respectfully,
Alexander Howard
E-PluribusUnum.org