Diaries of folly in North Macedonia

Robert Nesimi

If it passes, it passes. After a relatively quiet period during the transfer of power, time came for the new government to continue the good old way of employing its people, that of using political connections. For the past few weeks a number of brothers, sisters, sons, daughters and all kinds of other relatives of current office-holders were employed in state institutions and companies. According to high officials of ruling parties this was quite normal, as these people had no chance of getting employment during the “regime”. And if they don’t get into state institutions now, where would they work? In the private sector as thousands of normal people with no political connections do?

Since this triggered massive negative reactions in public, the Prime Minister decided to get into the story himself, which only made things worse. He called on all “nepotists” to resign from their new work places, and thought that this solves the problem once and for all. But the question of how these people were employed remains wide open. If they really deserved their positions since they were the best candidates for the job, isn’t it discriminatory to now ask them to leave? Or if they were employed through connections, shouldn’t someone be held accountable? For example those that intervened on their behalf, or those that gave them jobs.

In the end this whole episode of nepotism returned to the good old saying “If it passes, it passes”. And if it doesn’t, it will be soon forgotten. Which is exactly the same philosophy that brought us where we are in the first place.

 Raping of Gostivar. Within a year the government for the second time decided to take away all legal powers in education from the municipality of Gostivar and its mayor Taravari. Ostensibly Taravari did not respect the laws of the country, and thus these powers had to return to a place where they know what law and order is: the Ministry of Education! It now turns out that of all municipalities in Macedonia, the only incompetent ones are those governed by the Alliance of Albanians. It seems that all around education is blooming, and it is the Alliance which is guilty for any and all bad conditions in schools around the country. But now that the powers have returned to their true and proper place, milk and honey will once again flow into our education system. Screw decentralization and the separation of powers; if the mayor is not ours, the Ministry knows better.

Of course the true reason for the constant raping of Gostivar is the tendency to destroy any resistance and opposition in the Albanian bloc, so that Albanians are left to choose only between DUI and SDSM. For the simple reason that of the big four parties, the Alliance is the only one not criminalized and that it refuses the role that the triangle VMRO-SDSM-DUI wanted it to play to replace DPA. And as long as that remains true, it will continue to be a thorn in the eyes of the three.

In any case the first thing the Ministry did with its powers was to name the husband of an MP from DUI as director of a middle school in Gostivar. Why? Because during the “regime” they did not have the chance to be bosses? Which brings us back to point 1 and the philosophy “if it passes, it passes”. In this case it passed, but it won’t be forgotten soon.

 First trials for a consensual President. A few days before that Zaev embraced the idea of a consensual President and started a round of meetings to find support. Among others he was scheduled to meet the leader of the Alliance, Ziadin Sela. But of course a day before the meeting his minister took away the powers in education from Sela’s party fellow Taravari. Sela of course canceled the meeting. After all support for a candidate should be a matter of trust, and who in their right mind would continue to trust someone after that fresh stab in the back.

The only one surprised by the cancellation seemed Zaev. Asked about the decision of his minister, he said that he fully understands Taravari since he was also a mayor once, but warned him that the law is the law and it should be respected. He forgot to add that it should be seen differently depending whether you are a mayor in opposition or Prime Minister in power.

 Mile, Spiro and Trajko. A new dose of enthusiasm swept among the naive after news that Mile, Spiro and Trajko have to go to jail. Mile thus returned to prison, and Spiro tried it for the first time. For Trajko it was necessary to wait for Parliament to take away his immunity.

The whole episode reminded me of another event that was developing in parallel in USA. Jussie Smollett, a famous actor from “Empire”, a black man and homosexual, was attacked last month in Chicago. The attackers yelled racial and homophobic slurs, and even “this is MAGA country”, which is a synonym for Trump. The whole political, intellectual and cultural establishment was up in arms to decry the attack. However it turned out that the attack had not even taken place, since it had all been a hoax perpetrated by Jussie and two of his friends. Jussi Smollett now faces charges and may lay up to five years in jail.

That is how justice works in a normal country. In Macedonia it is quite complicated, and it is often preferred that such things remain foggy. That is what happened with the “attack” on Mile and Spiro in prison, of which we do not yet know if it really took place. Mile and Spiro claim that it did and that they were hurt; the doctors say no. Zaev says that Mile is faking it, but then asks the warden to resign. Meanwhile the officially unhurt Mile is back home. No one knows what really happened; those who do refuse to speak. The whole episode is slowly being forgotten.

The process against Trajko took a similar, foggy turn. The Parliamentary commission did not refuse, or accept, the request to take away his immunity. The same thing happened in the plenary session. So Parliament could not decide, and since now its past deadline, which is king of kings in justice in Macedonia, it cannot even decide in the future. Parliament’s hands are now tied and it cannot do anything, unless the prosecution asks for the removal of immunity again. If it asks. I would not be surprised if in the future we hear a bomb that sounds like this: “What to do with Trajko? You go ahead and send a request, we will review it, let it past deadline, so both you and us are covered. And it will soon pass”.

For the whole farce DUI blamed SDSM that it has a secret agreement with VMRO, and SDSM blamed DUI that it has a secret agreement with VMRO. In the end it turned out that it was the fault of regulations (that cannot go to jail), and three days later SDSM and DUI made another agreement, ostensibly against VMRO. But that is a matter for another column.

Views expressed in this article are personal views of the author and do not represent the editorial policy of Nezavisen Vesnik