Campaign and garbage
By ALFRED PEZA
On the day the SP and DP revved up their engines for the post-parliamentary campaign for the local elections, hundreds of soldiers began cleaning up Tirana’s garbage. The first to line up for this operation were members of the Republican Guard. They left their duties protecting political and state dignitaries for several hours. Perhaps not because there was nothing to guard. But the people they protect, after 9 years of peace, a consolidated road network and order, seem at least to have decided that this time they will clean up our garbage.
Everything for this operation began a week ago. That was when some government officials decided that the “broom operation” would start this Monday, with the participation of several hundred soldiers. But the rain that fell that afternoon disrupted the plan. The soldiers and the cameras were informed that everything would resume the next day. And indeed, on Tuesday some trucks were filled with garbage that had been part of the pavements and courtyards of central government departments for years.
The government plan against garbage for yesterday was even more ambitious. At least 1,000 personnel—members of the Guard, Special Forces and the Engineering Corps—were to clean areas along the capital’s main roads and intersections. An operation of that scale seemed set to put an end to the mountains of garbage that are gradually covering us more each day. But the only part of the “Broom” operation that was carried out was the whitewashing of some trees. This left us hoping that the rest would be done later. For yesterday, the leaders of the SP and government officials were busy with their “anti-Berisha” strategy for the election campaign. Besides soldiers, the cleanup operation was also supposed to involve employees of Tirana’s cleaning companies. But the contract of the largest company is about to expire, and it has forgotten the bins. As a result, the garbage will continue to pile up along the roads. And so it will continue for several more weeks, until the tender procedures for the next company are completed.
Instead of institutional solutions, even to the problem of garbage, government officials continue to offer us only projects carried out through campaigns. In any case, these brought “Enver Week” to mind. Volunteer campaigns are also used in Western countries. But they make sense when, for example, people plant trees which, after a few hours’ work, can give us a forest or a park in a few years. Choosing campaigns as the solution to Albania’s garbage problem, in the same way as is being done with the roads, does nothing but add to the mountains of rubbish outside our homes. To see this, all we need do is look at Tirana’s streets and see how effective the “broom operation” launched this week has been. An operation that also coincided with the start of the Local Elections campaign. A coincidence that foretells the horoscope of a continuing transition, filled with campaigns of words, rallies and... garbage.