Filenews 11 March 2021 - by Dora Christodoulou
Today's work stop in the Municipality of Paphos is not an event that concerns only the Mayor or the Municipality of Paphos. It concerns the entire Local Government and society of this country, as it reveals and highlights attitudes and situations that for decades have plagued the wider public sector and kept it stagnant and anachronistic.
This is supported by the Mayor of Paphos, commenting on the attitude of the employees in the Municipality on the occasion of his alleged intimidating behaviour. Phaedonas Phaedon referred to the case of the officer who also made a complaint to the Police against him, stressing that a senior official of the Municipality, when asked to inform of when a particular court case, which lawyer is handling, and what the main issues were, told him disarmingly that this is very difficult and will try within the day to find the evidence.
"For me it is inconceivable that the Head of the Office and since there is a specific computerised system for managing judicial cases cannot find this information within a few minutes," Mr Phaedon said. "Then she informed both me and the Municipal Secretary that she does not know how to handle the system and that the Assistant Secretarial Officer who handles it is absent and that is why she cannot find the evidence. I have indicated to her that in today's digital age, it is inconceivable that she did not know as head of the system and that it was her duty and she should have known. In any case, I told her to find the evidence and make sure as soon as possible that she was trained in handling this system. The answer is disarming again. She said she had no obligation to know and drew preliminary comparisons of roles and obligations of Departmental Officers and other senior city officials.
Given that this official has been head of the Municipal Judicial Affairs Office for the last 20 years or so and the existing computer system for judicial affairs has been operating in that Office for some 13 years, I sent her a letter yesterday in which I pointed out my assessment of the existence of a negligence of duty in relation to its ability to adequately respond to its duties and obligations. At the same time, I called on her to act as quickly as possible to obtain training in the handling of the system. After informing the official of the Municipality to whom she was assigned to train that she does not intend to train, yesterday, after receiving the letter and after a day, she made a complaint to the Police against the Mayor of Paphos for intimidating behaviour against her. Based on the facts, she called the police to make a complaint yesterday Wednesday, a few minutes after she was served the letter and yesterday afternoon she went for a deposition. That is, all day on Tuesday she had no complaint to report, and this came to her the next day, a few minutes after she received the letter. The conclusion is very clear."
I was in no way threatening or intimidating, but strict and intense because that is what I believe was imposed by my role as Head of the Municipal Service but also by the fact that in other cases in the recent past, this officer has shown a negative attitude in relation to the creation in the Office of Judicial Affairs of the appropriate mechanism for recording, processing, monitoring and checking data relating to judicial cases, argues the Mayor of Paphos:
"Let's look at the big picture now. Behind today's work attitude are the guilds who, deaf to the messages of the times and turning a blind eye to the state of our society, have tried to support a senior official who wants to choose her own duties and obligations. Instead of guilds admonishing their members to be constantly trained, they come to encourage neglect of duty and indiscipline. Is what we have before us, in the end, a preventive block from the subordinates to the heads and officials of the Municipality, either personally or through political persons or through guilds, so that they do not have control and so that they themselves choose their duties and obligations free from consequences? Unfortunately, the Guilds have become defenders of anachronistic and provocative privileges and morbid mentalities in the wider public sector. As Mayor, I opposed the erosion that for decades brought about by extreme trade unionism in the Municipal Service, which of course the guilds do not forgive me.
Another motive for today's artificial turmoil is political purposes. For those who know and want to combine, I recall what happened a few weeks ago in another District with the "representation" of the Committee of Refugees of the House and the fact that next December we have Municipal Elections".
In the meantime, EDEK Paphos expresses its full support to the workers of the municipality of Paphos, who denounce unacceptable behaviour and psychological violence against them by Mayor Phaedon Phaedon.
The party's statement points out that the EDEC's firm position is to fully respect the integrity and dignity of each official and to ensure conditions of democracy and freedom of employment, away from pre-elections, insults, and oppression.
"The institution of local government does not take such voluntary and authoritarian attitudes wherever they come from and society has an obligation to prevent them. The municipal team of K.S. EDEK in the Municipality of Paphos supports the fair (self-evident) demands of workers for human working conditions and protection against any attempt to intimidate and de-obsolesce them.
In fact, on the occasion of today's protest of the officials, the municipal group of K.S. EDEK in the Municipality of Paphos will proceed to the registration of a topic in the plenary and will ask for explanations of the situation as well as clarifications on the complaints on both sides".
