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The Polyviou Inquiry concluded its work on Monday and issued a damning report that, although non-binding, has infuriated President Christofias and the communist Akel party for “overstepping” its mandate and handing out lessons about “responsibility” and “authority”.
The president appointed Polyvios Polyviou, a highly respectable lawyer, upon the recommendation of the Attorney General, thinking that, perhaps, the inquiry would shy away from throwing any of the blame on Christofias and his closest associates. However, despite the initial public reservations over appointing a one-man inquiry, Polyviou has worked meticulously with a high standard of professionalism that has helped reinstate confidence in the Cyprus legal system. By suggesting that the president has most of the political blame for the deadly blast and the handling of the munitions blast, Polyviou has also raised the bar as regards public responsibility and political credibility.
Watching Polis Polyviou deliver the conclusions of his exhaustive report on Monday served as a lesson to all young budding politicians and apprentice lawyers on how to keep one’s coolness while not forgetting the gravity of the case. It would also be good if the current generation of mature politicians also watched Polyviou’s address in order to gain a sense of matter-of-fact professionalism and to rid themselves of the shallow-speak we are all subjected to day and night in the printed and broadcast media.
He said that the readiness to undertake responsibility is a fundamental part of maintaining the people’s trust in those that govern and state institutions: “The higher the office, the greater the sense of responsibility. If the people at the top of the political and societal pyramid do not undertake responsibility for their actions, then they encourage social and political degradation.”
Polyviou also reproduced part of an editorial that was published in The Time just five days after the explosion at Mari:
“Popular trust depends more than anything else on a culture of personal responsibility. The best regulation of the exercise of power is that the privileged should take responsibility for their own actions and for those of the organisations they run. ….. If the people at the top do not hold themselves accountable, they legitimise a witch-hunt of everyone beneath them. It is not enough to deflect problems by invoking due process or by pleading ignorance. Serious problems that occur, and cultures of wrongdoing that spring up, are the responsibility of the person at the top. Authority has many prizes but they come with many responsibilities.”
