RETIREMENT has not been as easy as Preznikone had dreamed of. He seems to be spending most of his retirement time in non-stop efforts to prove that he was not corrupt and salvage his reputation.
Apart from the libel action he has taken against author Makarios Drousiotis, for the allegations in his three books about Nik’s presidency, the content of the books is being investigated by a prominent Aussie lawyer hired by the anti-corruption authority. Convinced about his innocence he had demanded the claims in all three books were investigated.
Last week he also sent a letter to Politis newspaper, threatening libel action if it dared to refer to him again as ‘corrupt,’ or as the ‘most corrupt president.’ The paper published the letter, dated May 22, which warned:
“I would like, for the last time to make it clear that from now on, any direct or indirect reference to ‘corrupt president’ or ‘the most corrupt president’ and/or ‘the most corrupt government’ and/or any other demeaning reference to my person, will have as a direct consequence the immediate taking of legal measures.”
Nik is the first prez in our short history condemned to spend his retirement in the courts, in the company of lawyers charging maximum rates, to prove he was not corrupt.
THE REALITY is that people can be corrupt, in public perceptions, in many different ways. For some, appointing your wife’s niece to a top post in a government office, with which your family law office has regular dealings with, could be seen as corrupt. Others would see it as helping out your family.
If the prez’s family is flown to an exotic destination like the Seychelles for an all-expenses paid holiday in the private jet of a Saudi businessman, whose extended family (including two wives) are, a few months later, issued Cyprus passports, nasty people could see this as corrupt. Others would see it as helping your fabulously wealthy friend.
When the prez pursues a state policy – citizenship by investment – from which businesses owned by his family make vast amounts of money, there will be people, wrongly accusing him of corruption, when in fact his only purpose is to help the economy.
Under the circumstances, people could have a point in labelling him corrupt, but ‘most corrupt president’ is unfair as we have not yet devised a reliable corruption meter to scientifically measure the corruption performance of each president.
WITH only three years and nine months left until the presidential elections, Prezniktwo has decided to step his campaign for re-election, especially with opinion polls consistently giving him a relatively low ratings.
In an Omega TV poll, broadcast on Friday, 40 per cent have a positive view of the prez and 51 per cent a negative view, while 68 per cent were not satisfied with the job he had done so far.
On Saturday the campaign took him to Peyia where he inaugurated four projects in one day. The first, at 10.30am was the seaside pedestrian path, which according to the municipality is the longest in Kyproulla. He then inaugurated the ‘redevelopment’ of Coral Bay avenue, the new Michalakis Kyprianou avenue and finally some sports facilities.
Inaugurating a new road in a Paphos village is the job of a mukhtar not of the head of state. As for inaugurating an existing road because some improvement work had been done to it, even the mukhtar would have considered it beneath him and would have sent a councillor he disliked to do the honours.
THE SOCIAL engagements department at the presidential palace is probably the busiest government office, especially now it has expanded its range of services and in addition to roads, accepts bookings for presidential inaugurations of offices – always within the framework of the re-election campaign.
On Tuesday he opened the ‘temporary’ (until liberation) offices of Morphou municipality and of the Union of Occupied Communities of the Nicosia District in Aglandjia. He said that until the day of return “we have a duty and obligation to take care of the smooth and as effective as possible administrative function of occupied municipalities and communities.”
He can rest assured the functioning will be supersmooth, considering the mayor and his councillors have nothing to do.
EARLIER, on the same day, he opened the new offices in Nicosia of Philip Morris Cyprus, the CEO of which spoke of his ambitious target to make Kyproulla the “first smoke-free country in Europe.”
The tobacco multinational does not want everyone to give up puffing altogether and hopes they will move from cigarettes to its new heated tobacco and electronic cigarette products. In his address, Prezniktwo, jokingly, pointed out that “I am part of the problem” (he smokes normal cigarettes), prompting a member of the audience to quip: “If only that was the only problem you were part of.”
Good to know he is one of us. I just hope he will join le resistance against the drive to make Kyproulla the first cigarette-free, occupied country in Europe.
AKEL’S women’s wing Pogo, sent a “powerful message in favour of peace” at Femme Fest 2024, its festival for promoting gender equality, held in Nicosia’s municipal garden last weekend, reported commie mouthpiece Haravghi.
The general secretary of Pogo, Skevi Koukouma, said discussions at the festival related “to issues of peace and solidarity for the Palestinian people, the criminal attack of Israel against the Palestinians and the demand for the termination of the war and implementation of UN resolutions.”
Russia’s criminal attack on Ukraine did not get a mention at the Femme Fest which expressed no solidarity for the Ukrainian people nor saw the need to send its powerful message in favour of peace beyond the Middle East.
UNIONS representing all the public parasites – civil servants, teachers, nurses, doctors, cops – met on Friday to discuss the raising of the income tax threshold, because they feel they deserve their disposable income to increase.
The union bosses also discussed the gross injustice perpetrated against civil servants, by the legislature which voted for the end of their right to free healthcare, not covered by Gesy, in state hospitals – dental care and psychiatric treatment. They are demanding the reinstatement of this privilege.
In a letter of complaint to the House president, Pasydy accused the House of “unilaterally removing an acquired right of a category of workers.” This action “raised an issue of violation of the principle of equality and equal treatment,” said Pasydy.
Pasydy was not demanding equality and equal treatment with the second-class citizens of the private sector who pay for their dental care and shrink service but with the other members of the parasitic class – teachers, cops, nurses etc – who do not.
This injustice must end. Tooth implants must be free for all parasites.
YOU HAD to feel sympathy for the poor cops who sat the exams for promotion to the rank of sergeant. The general knowledge questions, set by the out of smartasses of the education ministry could not have been answered correctly by 99 per cent of the population.
“How many independent (outside party groupings) candidacies have been submitted in Cyprus for the forthcoming elections for European parliament?” was one of them. “How many ballot papers will be given to voters registered in communities?”
There were also multiple-choice answers for some questions, one of which showed the examiners had a sense of humour. “According to announcements by the energy minister the terminal for the importation of LNG at Vassiliko… a) we do not know at present when it will be completed; b) will be completed by the end of August 2024; c) is expected to be completed by the end of 2024 or start of 2025 d) is expected to be completed at the end of 2025.”
Pity the poor cop who missed the minister’s latest announcements and chose c) which would have been the correct answer in January.
THE GREAT news is that, according to CyBC, from next month the civil service will stop using faxes for its communications. Will the public parasites be able to cope with such a technological leap forward, given that they are still not entirely comfortable with the use of email? I hear some messenger pigeons will be brought in to government offices to ensure a smooth transition.
