The power of the clans
BY BLENDI FEVZIU
A serious conflict between RTV Director Klosi and TV Director Maz(i) has effectively rendered the country’s largest and most important information institution... [source text is truncated/garbled here]. General Director Klosi, in a letter, without the propo... [source text is truncated/garbled here] of TV Director Mazi and without the approval of the Governing Council, dismissed Deputy Director Gjoka, but the latter considers the decision unlawful and does not recognize it. Gjoka will not hand over the keys to his office, and more than 1,200 journalists and RTV employees wait every morning for the outcome of this duel, unprecedented in public administration. Unfortunately, the case above is not merely an isolated dispute. It is an expression of a mentality that for more than a year has been destroying every possibility of rebuilding the state and making it function. We are all aware that, after March ’97, Albania’s first and foremost priority was to build state institutions and strengthen them. This objective, which earned the PS more than 70% of Albanians’ votes, seems to have failed, plunging the country into complete chaos, or bringing it to the brink of it. Clans, party lobbies, smugglers and “fareshists” have taken the law and its temples hostage. The courts have been replaced by vigilante justice, the police by illegal Kalashnikovs, while state offices are increasingly regarded as private cashboxes, from which their occupants often reap substantial income. The saying “There is no state in Albania,” repeated sorrowfully and with a heart weighed down by fatalism, is heard increasingly often in this country. The power of the clans must give way to the power of the law, and this is the only and final lesson for every Majo-Mela, if they want to succeed. Klosi–Gjoka is the clearest example of the imposition of the state and the taking hostage of institutions by petty interests. No manager can dismiss an employee simply because he wants to, and apparently considers the employee worthless. In any country in the world, this would be a scandal, and the scandal would make plenty of noise. Whether someone is capable or not, whether they should be dismissed or leave, the procedure prescribed by law must be followed. If these procedures are set aside in favor of clan-based, personal and likewise clan-based interests, Albania cannot... [source text ends abruptly].