By SONILA MEÇO
The ambition to drive on your own, when you’re following the wrong path, is meaningless. If the fable that was chosen to appeal to voters with the aim of governing on his own would be successful, then the driver should reveal where he intends to drive the government “car”, by making a full inspection of all of its parts before leaving, in order to check the state under which he has brought it up to this point. But–by sticking to the metaphor–the pilot calls on the public to have faith on his muscles and mind, even if the engine doesn’t pull, brakes don’t work, fuel is running out, lights on the cockpit signal problems and at a time when he, himself, confirms that “joint driving” has caused damages to the car systems.
This election campaign is poor in content. First of all, no analysis has been made about the four year term which has just ended. Holding on tight to the need to govern on his own and the alibi that it is impossible to do more, if the votes require joint governance once again, no responsibility is articulated in the declarations and public appearances of the acting Prime Minister.
With a fallen morale as an electoral card, without content, without a clear political manifesto presented by waving the flag of integration, economy, justice system, healthcare, education, corruption, once again, in 2017, Albanians are seeing how the campaign is dividing the fronts of good and evil, of those who want and those who don’t want a state, those who want and don’t want integration.
Today, we see a taxi driver who believes that the left should be voted, given that it is building Tirana’s central square (with our money), although its costs have increased significantly due to the problems with traffic congestions. But we also find an administration employee who is ready to vote for the DP, because he believes that it’s better if Basha governs with Rama, in order not to hear orders given by the SMI official any longer. Although those who are in power are public servants who must explain every penny that they spent, voters are lost in this conspiracy of electoral tactics. What they really need to do is to see how they were living yesterday and how they are living today, what they were promised and what promise was not kept at the end of this four year term in office.
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An uninformed electorate is easily manipulated, it creates wrong ideas and deformed perceptions. Today, political debates on the media, are limited to a handful of analysts and politicians, who have a serious lack of arguments. But the fact that people do not make any research also penalizes those politicians who do have some sort of political morale. The choices that voters make would be more accurate if they knew how to make research, how to understand and analyze the necessary information. The Prime Minister himself, who is known for his propaganda machinery, knows the importance of information in democratic participation. He has killed this possibility by calling the entire media in the country a “big pot”. It’s enough to repeat these attacks, leave people uninformed, bombard them with propaganda, not allow them any room for analysts, judgment or morale for the vote of the people to lose all value.
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Elections are held to generate a responsible government, but also a strong opposition to control the government. But at the time being, no analysis is being made on responsibilities of the current government and no future opposition is being shaped.
The lack of a debate between experts in TV studios, the presence of monologues or dialogues of the acting Prime Minister, where the analysis of the four year term in office (44 months to be accurate) is lacking, make the Prime Minister of the country a populist leader.
In his analysis, the Prime Minister has not yet talked about the failure in the efficiency of the increase of profit tax and dividend and of passage from a flat tax to a progressive tax. Tax evasion rose and the failure to meet revenue targets led to the lowest level of capital investments since 1997. This means fewer public investments in road infrastructure, education and healthcare.
Also, large companies which could offer more employment, could not open new jobs, due to the high tax burden.
Tax policies have failed and this is confirmed by all business representatives in Albania, while public space has been invaded by the good effects that the vetting process has on the economy. Albania’s economic model is practically a failed one. With this economic growth, with the lowest level of lending seen in years, with the lack of efficiency in tax policies, the economy is practically heading to certain failure. But no one from the responsible team of these four years is being held accountable for this. The media never asks, because it is filled with propaganda.
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The driver who wants to drive the state’s “car” on his own, is yet to reveal how far has the country moved forward in this journey which has started four years ago and how does he intend to move on even further without fuel, with a worn engine, with a broken clutch and brakes which are always confused with the accelerator. He might as well say: “If you don’t like the way I drive, then get off”.
You can find the full article in Albania on pages 2-3 and on www.afp.al
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Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
