Mr. Prime Minister,

I believe you remember the year 2007, a time when you were the head of the opposition and the country was governed by the party of that man who lives at the pompous “castle” in the Arberia neighborhood. In that year’s elections, this man’s arrogant government was deservedly thrown out by the citizen’s vote. In the midst of the many stresses of every day life, people were fed up by stories of relentless corruption, mismanagement of public funds and the visible lack of that government’s political will to take the country forward.

As a result of these elections, the citizen’s votes (and the pressure from international diplomatic offices) brought your party into power. Among independent voters like me, there was some hope that you had learned something from the punishment that was given to the gentleman from Arberia. In your first days in government you seemed to signal to us that that the protest vote would pay off – you took immediate steps to cut wasteful spending and started to build many schools and roads (although with suspicious costs and qualities). The fact that you were “better than the others” seemed to temporarily satisfy us, but it seems like it made you feel self-satisfied eternally.

It didn’t take long to see that your first days in power were nothing more than the first sparks of what was later to become the grand public myth about “the successful government”, a lie masterfully cooked in the kitchens of PR specialists which still to this day continues to be propagated by those media outlets which are happy to receive benefits from you as well as by those that seem to be increasingly bowing down to your power. It seems that even you, since your early days in government, became a victim of this myth and decided to live within its illusions. You forgot that, in order for a leader to be successful, it doesn’t suffice to be just “slightly better than the others”.

Behind the run-down façade of the “successful government”, there now rests a sad truth: during the last two years you have not changed the quality of governance in any substantial manner. You only took it from point -1 to point 0. And zero, Mr. Prime Minister, is a number without any value.

One of the biggest compliments you received upon taking power was that you were a strong leader who, unlike his predecessors, has full control over his government. Having such a position is a great advantage because it enables cohesive governance which is oriented strategically by the leader’s vision. But this style of heavy handed leadership can also carry a heavy cost for the leader if he does not use its advantages properly. Hence today you are personally responsible for the failures in your government and cannot hide behind any of the ministers. If during this entire time they were zero, then you were the Zero in Chief.

Despite having the possibility to do a lot of things, during the last two years you have proven yourself to be a mediocre leader with no vision, someone who patches and does not solve problems, an improviser lost in his own backyard. If governance was to be compared with playing in a musical orchestra, you did not resemble at all the conductor of classical music who guides his orchestra on the basis of predetermined musical notes. Instead, you were more like that impulsive and improvisational clarinet player of tallava music (*turbo folk) who produces sounds on the basis of how he feels at a particular moment, without having any idea about the direction in which he is taking the song. You, Mr. Prime Minister, are a typical example of a talava politician !

Two years in government are indeed not enough to produce results in solving the major problems facing Kosovo. Indeed, even the best possible government would most likely fail to bring tangible effects in such a short period of time. But during these last two years you could have at least started some important reforms which would materialize with time and which would give you important political credits ahead of the upcoming elections. You did not initiate any such changes during the last two years, thus wasting the country some very valuable time.

You not only forgot about the reforms in the justice sector, health, education, administration, etc – but you were also incredibly slow in starting up some of the vital projects which would incite the engines of the economy. Through an increase in government expenditures – mainly for physical infrastructure objects – you achieved to temporarily increase activity in the economy and to brag about yearly increases in the GDP. But what will the value of most of these investments be for the sustainability of the economy and the private sector at the time when the government expenditures are cut? Capital investments should be made in accordance with a long-term developmental vision, and not through improvisations which burn money and create no added value for society and the economy in the long run.

I believe that most citizens have an understanding for the difficulties you face in governance and that, under certain circumstances, it would be possible for them to forgive you about many of these failures. We are all aware about the complexity of the problems Kosovo faces as well as about the significant lack of experience that our society has in matters of governance.

But a citizen clemency would only be possible if during these last two years your public attitude would reflect a sincere attempt and desire of yours to work for the interest of the country, and not the behavior of a charlatan who seems to be looking only at his own private interests. We were witnesses to the fact that you wasted more time and energy in preserving and expanding your power than you did in using the power you already have to produce results. It became very clear that you are the kind of politician who, for psychological reasons, sees power explicitly as an end in itself, and not as a means to serve the public interest. It is precisely for this reason that you deserve no forgiveness. 

With one of your latest gestures you have, more than ever before, put a stamp on your image as a leader who is completely out of touch with the reality of his citizens. Today, Mr. Prime Minister, in front of the eyes of a society that is shattered from pain and awaits the absent results of your work, you are building for yourself a “castle” with a space of 2000 square meters and a garden of three hectares in one of the capital’s new unregulated neighborhoods with the highest real estate prices. A very tactful gesture, Mr. Prime Minister!

Congratulations on your new house, but I have some questions. To me and too many other citizens who live from one salary to another it seems a bit strange how you were able to gather the money to build this house. Could it be possible that, just like in the case of the gentleman from Arberia, your house “was built voluntarily and without any compensation from your fellow KLA fighters”? Many people are curious to know how you managed to stack up all those millions of Euros Mr. Prime Minister because the calculations from salary savings do not provide any answer.

It is quite possible that you do not care what citizens think about this issue because you are well aware of the fact that you lead a very patient and apathetic society which shuts its mouth even when faced with the harshest injustices, just like it did in the 90’s in the face of the harsh Serbian repression. But as one of the leaders of the war which gave an end to this patience, you should know one thing very well – when this patient society explodes, it explodes in a very bad way! As an illustration, I would ask you to remember how the March riots of 2004 uncovered the repressed and unexpressed frustrations that live underneath this society.

The main sources of this frustration are of an economic nature and today they perhaps have an even more explosive potential than in 2004. And you have chosen particularly this moment to play filthy games with this society’ patience, just like that spoiled child who approaches a needle to an overblown balloon. With this lack of sensitivity, with this scandalous arrogance, you are telling us that you have embarked on the path of those African despots who, after having led the anti-colonial wars, in the days of freedom thought that they stood above any law or moral. Today, Mr. Prime Minister, with your behavior you unfortunately seem more like Robert Mugabe than some Western European leader.

As a conclusion to this letter, I have a very direct question for you: Do you have any shame, Mr. Prime Minister? I personally believe that you don’t. Because if you would have some shame, it would not even cross your mind to build a sultan’s house with suspicious funds at a time when a large number of your citizens are forced to take dangerous routes in search of a better life abroad. I believe that this faceless attitude of yours would be envied even by those Wall Street bankers who today gather millions in bonuses while the world continues to suffer from the crisis caused by their irresponsibility.

I hope that one of these days you will come down to earth from your imaginary mythical world and reflect more clearly about your condition. Then perhaps you will understand that it will not be long until the citizens of this country, just like they did in the case of the gentleman from Arberia, will remove you from power together with your flock of gangsters and pasha’s for turning Kosovo more and more into a Banana Republic and for stepping with both of your feet on the citizen’s hope to live in a dignified country.

When this day comes, you will perhaps retire from active politics and, having in mind the clinical death of your moral sensitivities, you will sleep peacefully in your luxurious new house. But remember one thing – nothing, not even your contribution during the war, will be able to erase the shameful stains of your character from this society’s memory. If in your role as government leader you will be remember as Prime Minister Zero, when it comes to your personal character and morals you will be remembered as a crook buried deep down in the dungeon of negative numbers.  

“Sincerely yours”

Agon Maliqi

(The author has a BA in political science from the American University in Bulgaria and was engaged for a while as a civil society activist)

Source: zeri.info