This article has been written for Albanian Free Press newspaper and www.afp.al
He removed Fatos Nano from politics and he became the “de facto” leader of the Socialist Party. He won the local and parliamentary elections against Sali Berisha, and this was followed by the resignation of the latter for the first time as chairman after 23 years. He also won the local and parliamentary elections against Lulzim Basha taking the support for the Democratic Party to the lowest level in these 27 years. After entering a coalition with Ilir Meta in order to make sure he came in power, he “removed” him by making him a president of republic and his party obtained 74 seats in parliament, making sure he governs alone like nobody else in these 27 years. Today, Edi Rama is entitled to boast by combining his “Adidas” shoes with his “Valentino” elegant suit, because the winner cannot be judged. It’s very simple. Now, Edi Rama is triumphant amid Albanian politics. He has entered history as the 33rd prime minister of the state, in the same list as Ismail Qemali, Turhan Pasa Permeti, Fan Noli, Ahmet Zogu, Mehdi Frasheri, but also Enver Hoxha, Mehmet Shehu, Aleksander Meksi, Ilir Meta and Pandeli Majko. Even when he planned to enter the high spheres of politics, he must have not been this confident that he would achieve all of these things that he has achieved. After achieving all of this, with a four year mandate in office already gone and another one ahead of him, Edi Rama has only a “small problem”: How will he end his political career? Will this be a good four year in office for him to remain in history with the same numbers that he has now or will he fail and end his career in the worst way possible as a result of the euphoria and complacency? Both of them are possibilities, because there are several challenges that Edi Rama has ahead of him and the way he manages them will decide his success or failure.
ECONOMIC GROWTH
With an economic growth of 3%, Edi Rama not only must not feel enthusiastic, but he must feel humble because of the pompous promises that he made that life would be so much better once he was head of the government. Albania is ahead of the biggest challenge in history and this challenge cannot be addressed with his programs to make urban improvements and paint buildings, but with economic growth. I partially agree that the surrounding environment has an impact in our life. Like a family that lives in a 30 square meter space and in a dirty surrounding cannot live a quality life, a city cannot make a quality life either without a beautiful center and clean streets. But before having a beautiful surrounding, people want work and want to secure their daily bread, which most of Albanians don’t have.
We must admit that our society also has lazy people who want to do nothing all day and always blame the government, but more than lazy people, our society has people in need who want to make their ends meet. This is truly the number one problem that Albania has today and this can only be tackled with economic growth.
FIGHT AGAINST CANNABIS
With cannabis plantations all over the country, with outrageous international reports, Edi Rama will be remembered as the prime minister with the biggest records of the cultivation and traffic of cannabis. And if the green plant was not enough, a recent report ranked Albania as the biggest consumer of cocaine per capita. For four years in a row, Rama has tried to conceal or blame the others about this situation. He even found people to blame within the majority, in order to create a perception that some police chiefs or even the minister of Interior were responsible for this. Is it normal for the minister of Interior and some police chiefs to be responsible and the Prime Minister not to be responsible? Is Rama not responsible even for the fact that he hasn’t reported once in front of Parliament about the situation? Is Rama not to be blamed for not taking measures, while according to a report released by the Informative Services, 21 tons of cannabis entered Albania illegally with the aim of being cultivated? How did it enter the country? Of course, it has entered the country through customs, but it seems that even in this case, Rama blames “Berisha who left customs in a dire situation or SMI, because that party is the evil part of the governance”!!!
FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
Edi Rama is the only Prime Minister in the history of the Albanian state who has either blamed his predecessor or his governing ally for the corruption. There hasn’t been a single case when Edi Rama has said a single word about the fact that ministers, directors and officials of the Socialist Party, have been involved in corruption. If Edi Rama will declare war to corruption, then he must start this with himself. If ministers, MPs, directors and senior officials are involved in corruption, then they should be handcuffed. This is the only way how this could work. Otherwise, Rama and his government, big or small, is destined to fail.
EMIGRATION
200 thousand Albanians have left in four years. This is a number which is a heavy burden for Edi Rama. And on top of it all, there was the 13 June 2017 report issued by Gallup, suggesting that 56% of Albanians want to leave the country. This is very alarming. In this list, the only country that Albania leaves behind is Sierra Leone. Oh God! This sort of figure makes you want to scream. It’s outrageous. Edi Rama must have a special and clear strategy to stop this great hemorrhage that we’re seeing among Albanians in the 21st century. A prime minister may well obtain 74 seats and may enter history as the prime minister who was in power for 8 or even 12 years, but it’s more serious to be the prime minister of a country whose population shrank significantly while you were in power. Is PM Rama worried about the fact that the UN has predicted that in 2100, Albania will only have 1.8 million people? But what do we care what will happen in 100 years? We’re living our life in our own time!
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
One day, I heard a citizen who was in a public institution that if his problem wasn’t solved, he would go and complain to PM Rama. But is this an efficient way to reform an administration? We all know that the Albanian administration is far from the one he trumpeted four years ago. It is filled with arrogant and rude people who are not interested on solving problems. The interest that Edi Rama expresses for this must be hailed, but the solution doesn’t come by attacking Berisha of leaving the administration in this condition or the SMI for that matter. Edi Rama has nobody to blame for the ridiculous appointments that he made in customs and tax administration. Edi Rama has nobody to blame about the fact that the directors that he appointed cannot take care of themselves, let alone of the people. This is why Rama alone must be the reformer of the administration. If he doesn’t do this, then this will be his biggest failure.
Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
