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With a European election coming up and international media portraying Cyprus as a hell hole for migrant workers it finally dawned on the government that it misjudged public sentiment over the serial killings.
As the bodies of foreign women piled up, the search for two children presumed murdered and dumped in a lake continued to frustrate, the government was advising people to remain calm until the probe had run its course.
Police negligence, apathy and racism allowed a serial killer to walk among us while he disposed of women’s bodies in suitcases – it’s the stuff of nightmares.
Even the local media seemed reluctant to go down the road in examining how exploitation of foreign workers in Cypriot society manifested itself in unacceptable police indifference because foreign women were seemingly not worth the effort.
This is the unkind and brutal truth that we must all face, as it is an attitude that permeates through government and poisons everything we touch – the lack of compassion and reluctance to help vulnerable groups is systemic.
Apart from foreign workers from third countries, there are other groups in society who get next to no tangible help whether it be young people with mental health problems, families struggling with poverty or domestic violence.
There is a whole range of issues that Cyprus needs to wake up to like reforming a corrupt and inefficient justice system.
For now, we must live with the reality that some of the victims – seven in total – could have been saved if the police just did the simple things like following protocol when children go missing or actually look beyond their desk for clues.
As the horror of the crimes unfolded, our intrepid president went off to China in his role as a roving statesman and nothing was heard from him for several days while Cyprus was reeling from the shock of spawning its first serial killer.
It took President Anastasiades nearly a week to issue a statement to reveal he was also shocked – but not enough to come home early – like everyone else. He advised Cypriots to stay calm and carry on because it wasn’t in our culture to be racist, misogynist psychopaths.
What he and his government failed to realise is that these gruesome crimes are a national disaster, a stain on our house but there was no personal touch from any minister apologising for what happened.
It took Anastasiades a couple of weeks to realise that maybe a sincere apology and condolences were in order to the victims of the families, but he has conveyed this privately to diplomats rather than publicly.
Notice how the Cyprus Church’s Easter message also had no room to offer a prayer for these tortured souls and lost innocence.
This didn’t happen in some far-off place but on our doorstep, they were members of our society but there was no Christian love for these victims.
Throughout this mess, the government set the wrong tone and was caught flat-footed with the world’s microscope focused upon them.
There was no longer an option to just straight bat this horror show with the usual fake smile they serve to local media.
After misreading the whole bungled bloodbath, the President decided he would become the lone ranger, Clint Eastwood style, riding into some lawless godforsaken place to run the sheriff and the mayor out of town.
Cynics among you may point to Euro elections coming up to argue that this tricky administration, along with ruling DISY, were losing votes over the shame of these killings and something had to be done.
Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said his conscience and his political ethics would not allow him to remain in office knowing that crimes could have been prevented even though he was not personally responsible.
Some might maintain that he was the fall guy, to protect the president and his party, or maybe Nicolaou is that strange Cyprus fish who believes that morals are bigger than a seat at the table.
Let’s just say as Cypriot ministers resigning go, he belongs to a rather exclusive club, whose sparse membership gather to be forgotten by the ignominy of history.
After notorious gunslinger Anastasiades shot down his minister in the street, he then went for the police chief who was kindly asked to fall on his sword, but he wasn’t having it, so Anastasiades fired him on the spot.
But the Lone Ranger must go further in ridding this unruly town of; indifference to public service, institutional prejudice, corruption in high places, exploitation of labour (foreign or otherwise), an education policy stuck in the Dark Ages and a justice system that moves slower than a frozen penguin.
Or maybe we should just take the government’s word for it, that sunny Cyprus is a desirable place to work for foreigners and has a spotless reputation for being an equal opportunities employer, as long as you’re not black, young, a woman, gender-neutral or gay.
