FLASH
Shkruar nga Mero Baze
The "popular" consultation on the possible new territorial division resembles a mailbox where the wishes of political actors, incumbent mayors and aspiring local mayors are collected...
A few weeks ago, in a small municipality in the south of the country, I saw a protest of residents, about 20 people, in front of the municipal office. I approached them to ask what they were asking for.
-"These heavy rains have fallen," they said, "the road has shifted, the water pipe has burst and we can't even go to the village, we don't even have water, while two light poles have fallen."
How could I explain to them that the water supply does not depend on the municipality, the road does not depend on the municipality, and the electricity does not depend on the municipality? If I told them, they would probably curse me because it would seem to them that I was defending the mayor. I left them to their fate while protesting.
But in fact they still haven't solved that problem.
Municipalities lack real competences on the ground and territorial reform should aim to restore local government to the municipalities. This is especially true on the eve of membership in the European Union, where I do not believe it can be acceptable for the village nurse to be appointed by the Minister of Health, the village water supply to be managed by the Ministry of Infrastructure, local taxes for large businesses to be ridiculous, the natural resources of a tourist municipality to be a forbidden apple for its income, and so on.
The “popular” consultation on the possible new territorial division resembles a mailbox where the wishes of political actors, incumbent mayors and aspiring local mayors are collected. The situation seems very relaxed, because those who listen neither intend to do what the interlocutors say nor do they have any plan of their own about what they will do. Thus, by not orienting the debate around a concrete government project or a contested opposition project, the debate on the Territorial Reform is now a bazaar chatter where any kind of delusional or sane person is free to speak without being heard.
The government does not have its own version of territorial division. There are about four options, which sometimes go up to six, while the opposition, and worse, has only one option: to increase the number of municipalities even further so that it does not look like it did not win any in the elections.
In order to have a rational debate not only with the "people" who come to meetings, but especially in Parliament, where the vote will be held, we must set the priorities for which we need to change the territorial division. It does not seem to me that the number of municipalities is very important in the current situation. Having no real competence in managing their territory, today's municipalities, whether they are 61, 161, or 21, are not municipalities.
True territorial reform would be a new circle of local powers that should be separated from the central government and go to the elected officials at the grassroots level.
Only on this principle can we then discuss a new territorial division. If it is doubtful to entrust all these powers to a few small municipalities without human resources or without many inhabitants, then a new composition of the territorial division can be made, based on districts concentrated in up to 20 such, where the district mayor is elected by the people and the district council is a local parliament where the missing powers of local government are delegated. Then let the municipalities function as they are, but within a certain district that has power over infrastructure, water, electricity, medicine, natural resources, taxes and everything related to the economic potential of the district.
If the parties agree on this principle, that is, on the principle that local management powers should be removed from the central government and its subordinate agencies and transferred to the district, then the number of municipalities does not matter. You can double the number of them or halve them, but they will still be useless.
The real power is the competences and not the number of mayors. And they need to be reduced to a number of manageable centers with human resource potential for Albania to be a country with local government. As it is, there is neither local government nor competences, but only a few mayors who have nothing to do except beg the government for funds for 12 months in a row and participate in inaugurations.
Otherwise, have fun with these popular consultations and close the consultations by saying that we will do nothing, that neither the people, nor the government, nor the opposition agree to have local government. And don't waste money on elections. Appoint those mayors because they are useless.
Lini një Përgjigje