By Andreas C Chrysafis, Author/Artist/ Writer
Is there hope for the little island of Cyprus? Who can say but developments certainly display worrying factors; politically, socially and economically! A successive bungling leadership and the political parties have reduced Cyprus to its present state of affairs! But today, there are more important matters to consider: that’s to win the imminent elections on 9 of June 2024!
The battle of words begun with frenzy! Kommatokratia (politicocracy) have sharpened their tongues—and knives—to win seats for their candidates. Citizens will select a new crop of 705 MEPs for the failed EU parliament but for Cyprus the selection is more complex; it means the election of new Mayors, Deputy Mayors and Municipal Counsellors including Administrative District Heads all on the same day! Voting could turn out to be a feast for some as well as tears and famine for others!
Restructuring the existing antiquated municipalities in Cyprus is meant to bring about radical changes. That ambition however is far from reality and could instead create a nightmare! Given the current disclosures, voting for the “best party candidate” would simply be jumping from one frying pan straight into another!
But in the absence of transparency and accountability that’s how things are done in Cyprus; trial and error without meaningful planning for what is best for the nation but what’s best for the “mighty” Komma!
Under Troika’s Directive, experts from the UK, Canada and the EU were commissioned by the government—at a massive cost to the taxpayer—to make a study and come up with a solution as to reform the archaic and squandering Cyprus Municipal System; a system that had become the throbbing heart of institutional corruption and nepotism!
The experts’ conclusions called for the reduction of the existing 30 Municipalities down to 6 but that did not go down well with the political parties or the elite! If adopted, Kommatokratia would lose its power base over the minds of the people, the local administrations as well as the national institutions.
In complicity with one another, the political parties in parliament—after years of back room horse-trading and haggling—they have tossed the experts’ recommendations onto the rubbish heap! In its place, they grafted their own “wise solution to reform” the municipal system!
From 30 municipalities the government decided to reduced them down to 20 along with 20 Mayors; 93 Deputy Mayors; 442 Municipal Councillors; 5 District Head Administrators and not only! It is envisioned that instead of reducing costs, the new system would in fact increase costs and squander millions!
The small municipality of Polis Chrysochous for instance, it will elect 1 Mayor and 14 Deputy mayors. One can only ask why? Why such squandering madness in order to accommodate backroom political party deals at the expense of the taxpayer?
But, that’s Cyprus, where political parties prefer to cement their dominance and meddling deep inside all the institutions as opposed to the interests of the people or the country! In fact, they have no shame; for none can resist the sweet taste of power!
Meanwhile the public are manipulated with sleek EU campaigns bombarding them each day to exercise their civic duty and go out and vote to “protect democracy” and the status quo!
Irrespective to how many fabled promises are made, one thing is for certain: people have wised up and the abstention rate will be the winning party across the EU for one more time but also in Cyprus.
Active citizens are not to be blamed for refusing to vote for a bad system that has betrayed their trust. Public apathy can be attributed directly to irresponsible government policies and politicians that soon forget their role as elected representatives of the people.
Those are the very reasons why nationalist parties and movements are gaining mass popularity among European citizens. The angry protests of thousands upon thousands of farmers on tractors throughout the EU—including Greece—are a prime example of EU social policy failure that exposes a misguided EU Commission that prefers to provide billions to Ukraine in support of a war rather than help to improve the lives of citizens— an ugly war that could have been prevented!
There is a growing public mood that citizens feel betrayed by EU bad policies and do not deserve their vote! In fact, it must be recognized that citizens’ votes are earned with deeds and cannot be handed out like candy to petty politicians!
LINKS TO ANDREAS’ WORKS
www.artpal.com/chrysafis
