Cabinet slashes political bodyguards

UNDER pressure to reduce the bloated number of political bodyguards, the cabinet decided yesterday to slash their number by half.

The 160 personal bodyguards for the various leaders will be reduced by 50 per cent, saving the state some £2 million a year, said government spokesman Christos Stylianides.

The cost-cutting moves also include those employed to protect the Presidential Palace and President Clerides.

Following complaints that bodyguards were being underemployed and used as personal shoppers and gardeners, the government has decided to redeploy many of them on the beat, principally to join the war on organised crime, drug smuggling and road deaths.

“We decided there were too many bodyguards, and all political leaders have had their protection drastically reduced,” Stylianides said.

After the presidential guard – reduced from 147 to 99 policemen — House president and Diko leader Spyros Kyprianou tops the government hit list.

He is reported to have around 30 guards, costing the tax payer £300,000 a year.

It was the previous justice minister Alecos Evangelou’s public row with Kyprianou, then a government partner, over the number of his minders that saw him axed in a reshuffle.

Not far behind are Archbishop Chrysostomos and Edek leader Vassos Lyssarides, occupying nearly 20 officers each with a combined cost of £400, 000 out of a total protection budget of £4 million.

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