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By:
Flaka Surroi
- April 9, 2022 10:00 am
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I know that neither Ukraine nor Kosovo are the only cases in the world where the public good has been devoured by a handful of people who became rich overnight, not caring about the fact that in this way they harm the state they belonged to more work, rather than pushing the processes forward, because unfortunately, we have witnessed the treatment of the state as private property for years
Since last week, KTV started broadcasting the series "The President", in which the main role is played by the current president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
It is unbelievable how an actor, who had been very popular before becoming the head of state, had entered such a project, and that after a few years he was really chosen as the head of the state.
The episodes, already aired, despite the comic elements they contain, are in fact a very direct depiction of a state eroded by corruption and which lives in constant fear of being devoured by Putin. This is because since the country's independence, there has been a leadership that has submitted to his dictates and has actually done business with him for personal gain.
The decision by then President Yanukovych not to sign the political union and free trade agreement with the EU and to prioritize the Eurasian Economic Union and very close ties with Russia caused what became known as "Maidan Revolution".
Yanukovych fled to Russia, where he was granted political asylum, and Petro Poroshenko was elected president. Oligarch, media owner and politician, Poroshenko took the first steps towards rapprochement with the EU and as a result Russia occupied Donbas. This seems to have given him even more wings to fight for the protection of the Ukrainian language, to strengthen Ukrainian nationalism against the Russians who claim that Ukrainians have neither a nation nor a language, and to help form the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He remained in power until 2019, when he lost the election to Zelenski and fled Ukraine after being accused of corruption.
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Zelenskiy, an independent who later formed his own party, won the election with an incredible majority in the second round, while his supporters won an absolute majority in Parliament.
He tried to find a solution to the problem caused by Russia, which had occupied part of his territory, but it seems that Putin saw him as a comedian before, rather than a counterpart with whom to solve serious political problems.
Russia invaded Ukraine, and Zelensky put himself in charge of his country's armed forces in the fight against the occupier. One of the most famous people who joined was Poroshenko himself, who returned from exile, even at the risk of arrest, and was placed under Zelensky's command.
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I don't know how the series will develop further and if at the end of it he will have foreseen the war with Russia. I didn't want to watch the episodes earlier, because I'm intrigued by the way he builds the whole narrative and how in each episode he brings to the surface a little bit of the routine, which the corrupt politicians have built in the state that this, with all his modesty, he takes it to put it in order.
And when you watch the episodes, you see that what is being presented on the screen is not far from what we have had for a long time: blind people, who, as soon as they get a piece of power, think that the world and everything it has for them offered are their free.
I know that neither Ukraine nor Kosovo are the only cases in the world where the public good has been devoured by a handful of people who became rich overnight, not caring about the fact that in this way they harm the state they belonged to more work, rather than pushing processes forward.
Unfortunately, we have witnessed the treatment of the state as private property for years, which brings us to the situation where even after 14 years we are not able to elect a chief state prosecutor - that is, the key person for fighting crime and corruption without violated the procedures.
Anyway, the news of the week was firstly the election of the chief state prosecutor by the Prosecutorial Council of Kosovo and then the reaction of the head of the EU Office in Kosovo, and then of the British, German and American ambassadors. All expressing disappointment with the process and sending messages to Vjosa Osmani that perhaps the new chief prosecutor should not be decreed, due to procedural violations.
Moreover, the reaction of the American ambassador also speaks of a violation of the law - which, if true, would make the decree even unconstitutional.
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What Osmani will decide remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Kosovo does not need to replace Lumez with any new Lumez. The outgoing chief prosecutor has been in office for seven years and cannot be proud of any work done that had a positive effect on Kosovar society. On the contrary.
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In Zelensky's series, the core of his criticism starts from education. In the series he is a professor, who, I don't even know how, becomes the head of state. From the very first episode, the decay of the education system is manifested, through the principal of the school where he was employed, who as a teacher had not been accountable. At the moment when he is elected head of state, she changes her approach and starts the disgusting scandal, with the sole interest of pleasing her and continuing to hold the position she has.
In Kosovo, yesterday the Constitutional Court took the decision to give the right to the former mayor of Kamenica, Qëndron Kastrati, for the reform that he had started in the municipality that he presided over for four years. His reform was shattered by a decision, which turned out to be unconstitutional, by the Minister of Education. In the end, it turned out to be an election promise, in my opinion, very wrong, which at least helps the children of the municipality with an ever-smaller number of students.
Kastrati was right when he insisted on closing the schools and reorganizing the existing ones. The reasoning was very logical and sound: the municipality was forced to pay large sums of money for the salaries of the teachers who worked in these schools with few students. Instead of spending money on salaries, he wanted to use those funds, which are still scarce in a municipality with a large emigration, to improve the teaching conditions in schools.
The decision was called political and reckless, and in essence he was the only one who had a vision to reform education in his municipality, to bring greater quality that would also have an effect on the students' learning.
Kosovo has about 23 teachers at all levels of public pre-university education with around 319 students, which includes nurseries, preschools, 13 years of school up to university. According to a statement by the Deputy Minister of Education, given three months ago, it is already estimated that the number of teachers is about 1000 more than it should be. And the reasons must be sought in two directions: the drop in the birth rate and the emigration that has not stopped for years.
Kosovo also has the worst results in PISA and also has an army of teachers who, through their union, refuse to undergo any kind of testing to measure their capacities to be teachers. There are many, many other problems that cannot be solved just by repeating that reform must be done. Reforms are often painful, but without radical action, they cannot succeed. A good example, however serious, was that of Kamenica, which was destroyed in a hurry and in violation of the Constitution.
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After the series, Zelenski became the president for good and has now become the symbol of his people's resistance against the Russian invaders. I already said, I don't know how the series will end, but I still hope that he will come out victorious from this fight.
On the other hand, I wish that in Kosovo too, a way will be found to get things back on track. Things are moving very slowly and even though we are seeing some positive movements after a year, we still remain bad, because the movements are very small in education, there is almost no positive movement in health, there is a blockade in justice and lack of money in the market and uncontrolled price increases.
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Unlike Zelenskiy, we don't have to fight with weapons. We must fight with ideas and pragmatism and preferably without anger.
