Filenews 18 November 2024 - by Andreas Assiotis
Interesting, but not convincing, are the positions of the Minister of Interior in relation to the multitude of problems faced by the Reform of Local Government, almost five months after July 1, as repeated in his interview with Mrs. K. Eliadou (POLITIS) on 17/11.2024.
There are endless problems in implementing the reform, about which, before three words have been spoken, petitions are mounting everywhere.
However, when the problems of today (and the next several months UNFORTUNATELY) were raised by some candidates in the local elections of June 9, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs either bypassed them, referring to the responsibilities of any third party, without recognizing its own, or responded by highlighting issues (such as the number of deputy mayors) that were not directly related to the unhindered or problematic and deficient start of the Reform. with the obvious aim of distracting from the glaring inadequacies of the preparation that was (not) done by his Ministry!
To avoid misunderstanding, in relation to the issues that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had raised before July 1 and continues to highlight as the main causes of the huge problems faced by the beginning of the Reform, I personally believe that:
- there should be no more than one or two Deputy Mayors in each Municipality, their remuneration was rightly linked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the population of the districts and their duties should be defined in the Law, instead of being left to the will of each Mayor,
- the Municipalities in Cyprus should not exceed a total of 8-10,
- most of the Communities that joined Municipalities should remain Communities, while strengthening the institution of Clusters.
However, I maintain that none of the above issues has a direct effect on the smooth start of the reform and operation of the new District Self-Government Organizations, the new Municipalities or the Clusters.
From the day the Ministry took over, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, instead of limiting himself to expressing doubts and comments or pointing fingers either at the bills submitted by his predecessor Ministers, or at the outcome of the proceedings in Parliament and the role of political parties, should have discussed rapidly with the Parties his own proposals for amendments to the Reform that his Government considered necessary and convince of them. but AT THE SAME time he should decisively take the reins of the preparatory work for the smooth and unhindered start of the Reformation, which was in any case his responsibility.
District Self-Government Organizations
For the sake of discussion, let's focus on what concerns the District Self-Government Organizations, where the most critical problems are currently being addressed.
Mr. Ioannou, in his 14 months in charge of the Ministry of Interior, merely indicated that his Ministry does not have the main responsibility for coordinating the preparation of the implementation of the Reform for the 5 EDAs and that the responsibility lay with the Provisional Coordination Councils. He is not right! Let's see why.
The SCPs consisted of the Mayor of the homonymous Municipality of each District (special arrangement for Famagusta), and members the Director of Town Planning, the Presidents of the Boards for Water Supply, Sewerage and Exploitation of Household Waste Disposal or Recovery Sites and the Presidents of the Unions of Municipalities and Communities (or representatives of all the above officials). That is, 2 state officials and 5 local government (minimum). All of them, during the 30 months given for adequate preparation, had the duties of their posts at the same time.
It is therefore reasonable for the Minister of Foreign Affairs to expect that these elected officials and state officials would have time and effort to prepare what was needed, without the Minister of Interior (i.e. the one who has full political responsibility towards the citizens of the country) to press, control, indicate, push for timely results. point to gaps and delays or reprimand indifference and neglect of this mission? Personally, I believe that such an expectation was, and is, unfounded and dangerous, and amounts to an abdication of political responsibility.
At the end of the day, if the Minister saw disaster coming, due to the negligence or indifference of the members of the SCPs, he could immediately appeal to the Parties and the Parliament and urgently request to be given any additional powers he deemed necessary and sufficient to ensure that the preparation would be done adequately and effectively. He didn't! He was content to "complain" and move the discussion "off the field", raising other issues.
The mighty instrument
At the same time, however, (and this is the other half-truth that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to forget) the Law (article 102(4)), apart from the 5 SCPs, defines something else: The Central Advisory Committee, chaired by the Director General of the Ministry of Finance, and members the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and the Presidents of the Union of Municipalities and Union of Communities. This, in my estimation, powerful body, which should have been the heavy hand of the Minister of the Interior in order to assume his political responsibilities as Minister of Local Government Reform (and not as an observer and commentator on it) had the responsibility (and responsibility) to:
"(i) approves the proposals of the SCPs;
(ii) coordinate and assist the work of the Interim Coordination Councils;
(iii) formulate proposals, suggestions and recommendations to the SCPs regarding the organization and operation of the provision of services, as well as any other matter it deems necessary.
(iv) submits for approval to the Minister ....".
In addition, subsection (5) of the same article stipulates that "The preliminary draft budget and the establishment plan of each new organization, as well as any other decision of the Interim Coordination Councils concerning the transitional period until the establishment of the EDAs, shall be submitted for approval to the Minister:»
It is due to the above clear and unambiguous provisions of the Law that the Minister of Interior must finally stop relinquishing the responsibilities he had to supervise, recommend, help, propose and recommend to the 5 Provisional Coordinating Councils, but also to approve any other issue he deemed necessary.
Much more can and should be said in subsequent interventions about the failures to prepare in time for the implementation of the Reform and the resulting responsibilities. The bad thing is that both the Minister of the Interior, the Ministry of the Interior and the Presidents and members of the Central Consultative Committee and the Temporary Coordination Councils have known for many months what they had to do to protect citizens. And they did not do so when they had to.
Clarification needed: Both the Interim Coordination Councils and the Central Advisory Committee ceased to exist after 1 July 2024.
- Former Director-General of Ministries
