The code base is the project management system - the dialogue between developers is the way code is developed - and the project management system is a pale copy of the real system used to keep non-literate people happy and feel they have some input.

Progress is measured by working software not closed tickets.

No one's trying to hide anything. The target users of project management systems, product owners and anyone with with a project manager title, typically neither care about nor understand the value of rework. In their view, the dev teams should be creating maximum value at all times, which they understand as either adding features or putting out fires. Rework tickets do not get prioritized until they're identified as the cause of lost value.

The inevitable question is "well why wasn't it written correctly to begin with?" even if the reason, as is typical, was pressure from product managers in the first place.