It seems Albania has something to celebrate, and the some of the local media were confused as to whether they should have seen this particular item of news as a positive or indeed a negative. Of course I am speaking about Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2008, and to the delight of many Albania has improved by achieving a score of 3.4 compared to 2.9 in 2007 (10 being very clean, and 0 very corrupt or dirty whichever you like). As you can see there is an improvement, but there is also a long way to go and many changes must be made and many laws must be imposed and most important of all some big heads have to roll. I personally found it very comical that PM Sali Berisha gave out his personal phone number in a televised add urging citizens to get in touch with him personally to inform him of corruption. So you can imagine what my first thoughts were when I came across an article entitled: EU grants Albania 245 million Euro in development aid.
Whose gonna get the money, I mean yes of course some of the money will go to agriculture, transport, energy etc etc, but the real question is which fat cat is gonna get fatter?
We all know in Albania there are quite a few fat cats, which brings me back to the Transparency Index. If a guy like me who has only been here for two years has this kind of impression, how many years will it take the few selected experts to change their view and thus improve Albania’s Corruption Perception index?
1 response so far ↓
ZeriPopullit // September 26, 2008 at 6:41 pm |
I couldn’t agree more on your statement of “some big heads have to roll”. IT IS LONG OVERDUE. Unfortunately the “old wolves” whom are still under the influence and ideals of old Comunist Albania continue to operate and control most of the country.
I have been away from Albania for the last 10 years and little has changed since. Each time I come to visit Tirana I see positive changes but from my point of view too slow. It breakes my heart to see that even after the falling of communism and the suffering of the Pyramid Schemes politicians have not learned and work for the benefit of the general public.
Somehow I remain very sceptical about Mr Berisha as I personally think he should not be in the political scene anymore. It is time for the young and forward thinking politicians of Albania to take over and make real changes that will benefit the ordinary peole whom need it the most.