The DP deputy chairman celebrates with partners and opponents. Majko and Meta are absent Pollo leaves him alone, the Doctor walks out of the wedding pages 14–15 The DP deputy chairman celebrates with partners and opponents. Majko and Meta are absent A wedding with Daja, a divorce from Berisha Pollo leaves him alone, the Doctor walks out of the wedding pages 14–15

Perhaps this is what was expected. Some government officials resigned because they could not keep their promises. The major, unprecedented event took place somewhere in Albania and featured local officials belonging to different parties. Having failed to fulfill their commitment to bring water to the village, the members of the council of a small village resigned from their positions. The effect this act by the councilors of a village that may be hard to find on a map will have is of little importance, given that the municipality to which they belong has little power. It is also not known exactly what impact this collective resignation will have on those officials who have the power to move the pieces and bring water to the village of Shalës. These villagers, who know the reality in which they live better than politicians do because they are closer to the problems of everyday life, had made a contract with their fellow villagers; they had received their votes in exchange for bringing them water. And, by breaking this contract, with their resignations they returned the voters’ former vote to them, having realized that they were powerless to bring water. The value of this civic act by several village councilors becomes many times greater when set against the pathological insistence of senior officials, who are also the main actors in “big politics,” on holding on to their posts at any cost, despite having flagrantly broken their contracts with the electorate by failing to fulfill any of their earlier promises. Specifically, the government, which, in the face of a multitude of electoral promises and projects left on paper, can no longer count even one commitment to genuinely solve this country’s many problems, has left the villagers of Shalës with the task of restoring the spirit of the villagers collectively. If the positive aspects of such an act of collective resignation in time can be justified by the negative consequences it might have for the country’s development, this cannot serve as an argument when it comes to certain officials—not because of the consequences for the sectoral interests they manage, but because of their desire to remain in power unlawfully. Perhaps it is the limited scope and opportunity to carry out what their position requires that keeps these officials attached to power, rather than their goals in public administration. Their act of resignation as an example should be seen as an example for some of their superiors, who have remained in office for a ... continuation ...

Skrapar, 22-year-old kills a couple, then himself With the Kalashnikov he was carrying, K. Kaloçi fired 8 times at 37-year-old Yzedin Guri, bringing him down, lying in a pool of blood. Yzedin was the first victim of a quarrel that began with an ordinary dispute over an unpaid satellite dish. But the extreme reaction over the unpaid satellite dish. But from the extreme, devilish reaction it became clear that this was not about paying for a dish. The argument over the dish could not have caused such a tragic event, because the 22-year-old had a very close relationship with the couple who became the victims. The investigation has focused on a love story that ended badly. page 10

page 3

September 5, 1999 * an apartment * a car * a tourist trip Only 50 lekë