Pluralist elections have been held. The chairmanship of the people’s council is doing quite «well», considering the severe shortage of raw materials. The pluralist Government was formed. It was necessary to eliminate monism from every aspect of district governments. Thus the district’s political parties proposed candidates for the new pluralist committee, and the Council of Ministers approved them. But were the most capable people elected? Those who deserve these important posts in the district and can truly handle them? Time—and above all their conscience—will tell. At present, our district, like many others, has numerous problems. THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE has engulfed the entire life of the residents of our district. UNEMPLOYMENT. An incurable wound, which is growing day by day, adding more and more people to its ranks, chiefly young men and women in the prime of working age. HOUSING. The greatest concern for the citizens of our district. Apart from the small number of apartments built, what has made this situation even more dramatic is the unfair distribution that has taken place among the enterprises and its prospects. The chairmanship of the people’s council is doing quite «well», considering the severe shortage of raw materials. Can this economic hardship, this rise in prices, be endured on current wages, even with a 25 or 50% increase? Everyone experiencing it says NO. Not even with a 25, 50, or even 500% increase, considering that however much wages rise, prices on the black market will rise too. The consequence: Privatization and foreign investment as soon as possible. Are you aware of these problems and the people’s concerns, gentlemen of the new pluralist committee? I believe you are. Did you take them into account when you accepted these posts? I believe you did. Are you able to deal with them? Since you took the jobs, I believe you are. Could it be that you liked the chair, as those before you did, who talked a lot and did little? I want to believe not. Could it be that you, too, will grow fond of the privileges? I want to believe not. Could it be that you will work only for yourselves, your families, relatives, and friends? I want to believe not. Could it be that you will soon tire of the chair and turn the clock back to twelve, like your predecessors?! I want to believe not. Gentlemen! If you do not repeat what they did, and now do what they failed to do—the things your predecessors should have done—you will be on the people’s side, and they will support you. Otherwise… Do not forget that the parties elected you, but the people will remove you. They have forgiven enough already. The cup is full, and they will no longer tolerate empty words. ALEKSANDËR FRANGAJ

Reading Mr. H. Isai’s interview in the newspaper «Zëri i popullit», I immediately became convinced that it does not justify him, but makes him even more responsible. Reading Mr. H. Isai’s interview in the newspaper «Zëri i popullit», I immediately became convinced that it does not justify him, but makes him even more responsible, because of the extremely important positions he held in the highest state and party bodies. Naturally, the question arises: with what he said in the interview, did he succeed in justifying himself before the people? Curiously, among other things he says: “Was harsh criticism of him by the party considered hostile?” When it came from individuals, it was treated under the article on agitation and propaganda, which was opened and closed like an accordion. All right. But did you forget that these demands were cooked up in the «kitchen» you ran, Mr. Isai? Do you not feel responsible when you say that this notorious article “was opened and closed like an accordion”? Were you and your fellow senior leaders of the PP not the ones who opened and closed it according to your own interests and wishes? You who swear by honesty and devotion did not even obey the law. I can give you an example. In 1986, the soldier A. [partly illegible] … THE BLACK MARKET is ruining citizens financially more than anything else. Prices soaring into the stratosphere are skinning workers and ordinary citizens alive, while cadres somehow manage to find salvation in salary supplements, with tax stamps and forms being passed around and processed. The famous 80 PERCENT is gradually taking over in series And it comes from you, since you regularly attended the court hearings and immediately ordered the arrest of the «criminal». The former prosecutor of Lezhë district, Adnan Kërxhaliu, did not approve the soldier’s arrest. But could you let matters stand without having your way?! The prosecutor’s «stubbornness» apparently challenged your authority, so one day the prosecutor was summoned to the office of CC secretary Simon Stefani, in your presence, together with the Prosecutor General and the Head of the General Investigation Directorate, and reprimanded?! You told him: “You are not fit to work in the prosecutor’s office!” Later in the interview you describe your membership of the Political Bureau as a misfortune, whereas when you set off for trials in Ishull Lezhë, you accepted having the entire road blocked by police to escort you! And then, how could you have feared your predecessors when two of them, K. Hazbiu and F. Shehu, were executed while you were Minister of the Interior, and their trial was held behind closed doors as an extremely «secret» proceeding! You should have told us about this «secret» in the interview. I wrote these things because your interview seems to me to lean more toward demanding accountability, when you, above all, ought to give an account. Who, besides you and the former senior officials, should be held accountable first? What responsibility do you feel for the sentencing of the alleged coup groups in the army and the economy? Were those groups really engaged in espionage, or were they staged? Why were the trials of B. Balluku and his associates held behind closed doors, and why did Murat Koni, deputy director of the Investigation Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, take part as prosecutor in that trial? Was there really no prosecutor’s office employee available, or did the secret have to be protected..?! So, the interview is not so simple after all; it raises other questions like these, which you could have answered in your interview. And before a journalist asks the questions, it is only fair that any former senior official who undertakes to appear in the press should ask himself a few questions and, if he passes the «test» of the interview’s author, then address public opinion as well. If you have retained even a little honesty... ZEF DEDA Prosecutor of Lezhë district

June ’91. IGLI SULIOTI

INTERVIEW WITH THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF PR, MR. ZEF BUSHATI, GIVEN TO OUR NEWSPAPER’S CONTRIBUTOR VERA IVANAJ — Mr. Zef! The day after the meeting of your party’s conference in Tirana, the newspaper «Republika» trumpeted: Sabri Godo has resigned! The conference «approved» it unanimously. Is this true? — It is true that Mr. S. Godo asked to be released from the position of chairman in the next committee for health reasons, while being ready to contribute to the committee in any other position that might be assigned to him. To clarify the matter concerning Sokol Muho’s article, I can say that it was tendentious, sought to attack PR, and did not reflect reality. Mr. Godo could not have resigned from the steering committee before a chairman was elected and the steering committee was formed. The conference had not yet concluded its proceedings either. For this, the journalist was dismissed. The editorial board secretary, Agim Zeka, was also criticized for allowing such an article to be published. — Do you think it was only the journalist who wrote it who was behind this, or is someone else behind the scheme? — The republication of the article from the newspaper «Bashkimi» in the newspaper «Republika»; «Zëri i popullit» made it clear that those seeking to create turmoil within PR are the spokespeople of PS. The note at the end of the article clearly indicates the campaign this party is preparing against the democratic opposition in Albania. — Is what Gafur Muço wrote in the «Bashkimi» article true, since it mentions many facts, with dates and days? — To answer accurately, I must first ask Mr. Gafur a question. As someone who was an initiator, why did he not continue further along that path and, if he did not abandon it, why did he not speak up then, even through the newspaper, but only today, six months after PR was formed? — You, too, called them spokespeople of PS when they said that Mr. Sabri Godo had become PR chairman through tricks, deceit, internal strife, and so on. What can you tell us about this? — Rather than use an old explanation, I will say that none of it is true; it is all slander and deception on their part. And I believe they themselves have provided evidence of this for quite some time. Otherwise, they would not hesitate to publish even the smallest fact in the newspaper, just as they publish the precise dates of documents written in the ministries. — Mr. Sabri Godo will soon be going to the USA. What can you tell us about this visit? — Mr. Godo is going to the USA to meet several American senators and Albanian-American figures. — Thank you.

Interview with Mr. GRAMOZ PASHKO, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Economy.

Agron Dibra — Chairman Sergj Çaçi — Deputy Chairman Shref Rama — Secretary Kol Kola — Member Qazim Dushku — » Leke Tusha — » Saimir Kraja — Member Ndoc Makaj — » Mark Simoni — » Artan Emini — » Gjin Nikolla — » Jak Simoni — »

Fourth year of publication Friday 2 AUGUST 1991 Weekly No. 51 (173)