THE MEDIA had field day with the internal AKEL email about political favours, which was intended for party boss Andros Kyprianou but was mistakenly sent to journalists. It was not that journalists had discovered something they did not know, but this time they had the documentation to support the widely-held view that rusfeti (political favours) was rampant, regardless of what the president would have us believe.
Not that documentation was needed to support the blatantly obvious – the president’s advisor on Turkish affairs at the presidential palace is his son-in-law; he appointed a retired counsel, who was his close friend assistant Attorney-general; he appointed the retired director of parliament, another friend, Commissioner for the Protection of Competition; he made a party apparatchik president of the University Council. Should we also mention the contractor who is awarded most government projects?
The email gave us an insight into how rusfeti took place. Kyprianou was advised to allow the appointment of the wife of a DIKO official as Chief Customs Officer as she would retire in 14 months, after which an AKEL man (brother of an AKEL deputy) could be promoted to the post. The DIKO official was advised to ask party boss Marios Garoyian to ask for the favour, so he would be indebted to AKEL and the president, when it was granted.
These are the shabby, disreputable activities our political parties engage in when they are not advertising their commitment to high principles and meritocratic values. In the email there was no mention of the abilities, job performance and other qualities of the candidates for the post. It sufficed that one was married to a DIKO official and the other was an AKEL loyalist, whose sister was a deputy. These were more than adequate qualifications for someone to become Chief Customs Officer.
The email also provided an amusing insight into what citizens expected from the political parties. An AKEL member threatened not to vote for the party because it had failed to find his sister a job after she had lost her job as a cleaner at the US embassy. This is the sad reality of political life in Cyprus – the parties win votes by offering favours in exchange. It is a corrupt system that has been with us since the establishment of the Republic and is embraced by all political parties.
This was why none of the parties made a big fuss about the email. It was very much a case of people in glass houses… Rusfeti, incidentally, is a criminal offence, but our parties have always made a habit of disregarding the law.
