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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The theft of municipal power, a 'scam' for Rama's clients...
In the name of "reform," the prime minister is centralizing strategic enterprises like water, pharmaceuticals, and oil, destroying local autonomy and building a superstructure controlled by people without political responsibility but with absolute power.
In a silent but well-considered move, Prime Minister Edi Rama is usurping some of the most important powers of local government, hiding them behind a facade called “reform.” Instead of modernizing and decentralizing institutions, as the nature of genuine reform requires, Rama is centralizing everything under the control of the central government.
At the center of this maneuver is the administration of drinking water and sewage, a strategic sector that involves billions of euros of investment over the years and thousands of employees across the country. Until now, these enterprises have been owned by municipalities, or by joint companies between two or more local units. The UKT of Tirana and Kamza is the biggest example: an economic giant with colossal assets and considerable electoral capacity.
But with the new “reform,” Rama aims to turn this system into a supercorporation, under the OSHEE model, by removing the municipalities’ authority over water and sewerage companies. This move is not simply technical, it is a political maneuver with serious consequences for local autonomy and the balance of powers.
The consequences are clear:
Municipalities lose important sources of revenue.
Enterprises that have become profitable thanks to foreign investment, especially from the German and Swiss governments, are being taken over by the central government.
Decision-making power is being taken away from local representatives and concentrated in directors appointed from above.
This is not an isolated case. Rama has warned that he will follow the same model for the distribution of medicines and the retail sale of oil, thus creating two more supercorporations. If we add OSHEE, KESH, OST, Albgaz, Albkontrol, the Directorate of Vehicles, AZHBR, etc., a “Republic of Directors” is being created, people more powerful than ministers and more trusted by Rama, because they do not bear political responsibility.
This new configuration of power is not accidental. On the contrary, it is a plan to maintain total control over the economy and public administration, while ministers and mayors are used as cannon fodder for SPAK. When an investigation is launched, the responsibility falls on the directors, who, although they are the closest people to Rama, have no political profile and pose no risk to his image.
The director may be arrested, but “Bablok” comes out clean, with the excuse that “responsibility is individual.” This is a classic strategy to eliminate any independent voice within the party and to demotivate any political actor who aims to build a career at the local level.
With this scheme, municipalities are transformed into offices without authority, without budget, without vision and without real power. All those who have invested politically to compete in local elections are left out of the game. Every local entity is abolished as a governing entity and transformed into a protocol office that implements orders from above.
This is why the opposition must strongly oppose this reform. Not simply as a technical battle, but as a political battle for local autonomy and democratic balance. This is the occasion to denounce and block an authoritarian scheme that is leading Albania towards total centralization.
If the opposition manages to build a coordinated action, with public debate, awareness and political pressure, it will gain important political points. Because this is not a debate about water supplies. This is a debate about power. And about democracy./ Pamphlet
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