PRESIDENT Christofias has lamented the lack of respect for our institutions in the last week, also reminding us that he had issued a similar warning a long time ago.
“I had been saying since the time of Clerides’ government that we were living through a crisis in our institutions and values… We are fighting to bolster values, customs and traditions of the country as well as our morals. It is not an easy thing,” he said.
Everyone knows that institutions and values in our country are in crisis. But I have the impression that Christofias is the last person entitled to protest, because he is one of the guilty parties for this situation. In fact, owing to his position, he should take the largest share of responsibility for the malaise. As president, the main responsibility for safeguarding our institutions and values belongs to him.
Not only has he not accepted this responsibility, but on the contrary, specific actions of his have contributed to this crisis. Below are two examples of the president’s lack of respect for our institutions:
On July 21, 2008, Paphos District Court sentenced a 32-year-old lawyer to 45 days imprisonment, after finding her guilty on charges of driving above the speed limit, without insurance and without a driving licence, which followed a series of previous traffic offences. It was a courageous court decision, showing everyone that nobody was above the law, but the judge had obviously miscalculated in imposing a custodial sentence.
Christofias, in cooperation with another defender of our institutions – the Attorney-general – arranged for the lawyer’s release almost immediately by issuing a presidential pardon. What was the message of this decision? In Cyprus there are two types of citizen – those who have to obey the law and those who are above it because they are on good terms with the president. This was a big blow to the law, dealt by no lesser person than the President of the Republic.
On January 24, 2005, the Papadopoulos government, after intense pressure from AKEL and its then leader Christofias, promoted 450 policemen for their allegedly heroic resistance to the 1974 coup. Among the beneficiaries was a sergeant, who in 1974 was just 14. On February 10, after a public outcry about the sham, the Council of Ministers rescinded 45 of the 450 promotions of policemen, including that of the above-mentioned sergeant, on the grounds that “during the period of the coup they were not members of the force”.
Some years later, once Christofias became president, the 14-year-old resistance fighter was promoted to officer rank. It is easy to guess where he is serving – the personal police guard of the president. It goes without saying that this was done to bolster the battered institution of meritocracy, in the same way the president had bolstered the rule of law by pardoning the Paphos lawyer.
This is Christofias, the man who said just days ago he was “fighting to bolster institutions and values as well as the morals of our country”. He was right in one respect. Bolstering institutions and values “is not an easy thing”. Not easy at all, especially when the president, instead of reinforcing them, is engaged in demolishing them.
