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Now that we have officially entered the election silly-season, voters should consider John F. Kennedy’s famous comment in his 1961 inaugural address before going to the polls next May – “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
So, the question is very simple: what HAVE the current deputies done for their country?
We all know what the country has done for the 56 members of parliament.
Apart from their privileges and fat salaries (plus benefits), the current parliament has been on automatic pilot for the past four and a half years, with the communists denying the crisis had anything to do with their incompetent regime and the ruling DISY hoping that a “deus ex machina” will get them re-elected. As for the smaller parties, well, let’s not waste any space or effort on them.
True, we cannot disregard the genuine efforts of perhaps a handful of deputies who have done good work, or at least have seemed to be doing so. And they deserve to be in the next parliament.
But the vast majority, who showed their “expertise” when their arrogance in March 2013 plunged us into the current economic crisis, do not deserve to be on the election tickets, let alone get re-elected.
They have yet to convince us that they are competent enough to handle legislations and draft new laws. For all we have seen from them is to amend proposed bills, simply to prove a point, and, in the worst case, delay crucial legislation, such as those that regulate foreclosures and insolvencies, that caused a chain reaction (inaction, rather) with the banks unable to restructure loans and recover debts, thus also not pouring desperately needed cash into the market.
The stage we are at, only those who have no party affiliations or friends and relatives in high places in government will be hunted down to pay up or hand over the keys to their homes. The rest will make sure that their greed will continue well into the next year and nothing is done before the May elections.
This is why voter apathy is expected to rise, especially among the youth, which is surely a mistake.
We are stuck with the incumbent President who was elected on the premise of a business-friendly attitude, whose record so far has been half-convincing. At least, he may compensate for his inability to slash the vast numbers of civil service if there is true progress in the Cyprob, as he has let us believe in recent days.
So, in order not to be stuck with the same parliament we have today, voters should seriously consider going to the polls and making their frustration felt, by voting for any serious alternative.
Is there an alternative out there?
