Mr President,
THE POLITICAL developments of this past week, which were widely expected, dictate that you resign and that you and your Finance Minister Mr Stavrakis take stock of your collective responsibility for having led our economy to the brink of bankruptcy today, to be followed by a de facto bankruptcy in a few weeks.
The situation will now deteriorate ever faster, as many more businesses swell the ranks of the hundreds that have already gone bust, while the thousands of jobless – which you created – will multiply.
It is through your fine-sounding slogans and by sweeping problems under the rug that you have brought misery and poverty to this land, which up until three years ago had enjoyed prosperity. You have also brought upon us the derision of foreigners, on whose support we had relied not only for our national issue but also our economic prosperity.
Now, on both these counts, decisions will be imposed on us from abroad.
At the time you boasted that Cyprus would remain unscathed from the global financial crisis, yet these fine words were not matched by decisive action when it was most needed.
And indeed, were it not for you, we would have emerged unscathed.
The people have now completely lost their faith and confidence in you, and they are protesting and demanding that you step down immediately.
Your resignation, and that of your minister Stavrakis, is the only service you can do the country, given that your mentality and lack of skills required to administer – as your three-year rule has shown– have stripped you of any legitimacy to govern.
Even worse, your dogged commitment to the communist dogma, as you yourself have repeatedly stated, has stripped you of the drive or capacity to manage a modern economy.
Throughout your term – indeed, throughout your life – you have focused on propaganda, which is the only thing you are well-versed in. You never bothered to learn about the economy. Besides, that would have contradicted your dogma.
As for Mr. Stavrakis, he may have been capable of managing the economy, but chose to become your fellow traveler and your beast of burden, with devastating results on the economy.
Therefore, Mr. President, you must resign. And if you, as you claim to be, are driven by patriotism and by pure intentions, then you should take the initiative along with the parties in nominating a new, upstanding and capable President. A President who, aided by the political parties (themselves heavily indebted to the people), would rule for the following 19 months until the next elections and one who would implement the measures which you refused to take.
The Constitution affords you that option. It is therefore up to you.
Constantinos Lordos
