1 The additional Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mitko Bojmacliev, embarked on a journey to the Bogorodica border crossing in the middle of the night to personally welcome the truck carrying the 140000 passport forms. The Technical Minister of Internal Affairs, Panche Toshkovski from VMRO-DPMNE, in an attempt to further emphasize the shortage of passports, doesn’t get off the TV stations, spreads VMRO party propaganda and introduces an additional confusion with the citizens, citing form numbers, internal investigations, delay in issuing passports, although the citizens took their picture in December. Perhaps it’s even understandable why this additional Deputy-Minister from SDSM, placed there to control the Minister, publicly claims that there is a considerable number of passport forms that have already arrived in the country, just to soften and cushion the anger towards SDSM as much as possible. However, it is totally incomprehensible to me why he had to take a picture at the border when he went there to greet the truck. The photos also showed how the border police commander reported to him, how he chatted with the police officers from the tiny booths and just to top things off – how he provided a sandwich for the truck driver.
You would think “Okay, never mind the sandwich, never mind the formal greeting with the police, the report and everything, but this social media post, did someone help him with that or did he come up with the idea all by himself?” I wouldn’t be surprised if the ceremonial reception of the passports was followed by another ceremonial reception of the passports by the Ministry of Internal Affairs at their depots in Skopje. And if the Minister Tashkovski personally verifies their presence by counting the forms. Because, neither SDSM, nor VMRO-DPMNE, have an agreement around the number of the passports. I wouldn’t be surprised if VMRO decided to treat the truck driver with a hot meal, as opposed to the cold sandwich he received from SDSM. While they’re at it, they may even grant him a citizenship.
But what stood out for me was that line from the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ official announcements that this was “a demonstration of the concept – the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the citizens.”
It drives me crazy when I assure myself over and over again that the government and the parties, in fact, live in a parallel universe, thinking only of themselves, complacent in their comfortableness and so, from time to time, right before the elections, they would come up with some slogan that they care deeply about the citizens. As if they’ve made an “extra effort”. And they are paid for it, precisely by the taxpayers. For crying out loud, who does the Ministry of Internal Affair work for, if not for its citizens? Who does the Ministry of Finance work for, if not for its citizens? Who does the Government work for, if not for its citizens? It is punishable by law if they work against their citizens.
We know who they work for – every ministry for its own citizens. This technical government has made that even worse. The citizens are divided, depending on which party the minister or the additional minister is from.
This brutal division of the country by parties not only brings forth the incompetence of the party officials who need to be at the service of the citizens, but has once again showed that they don’t care about the citizens at all.
2 VMRO-DPMNE’s MPs Brane Petrushevski and Mile Lefkov also played a part in the whole “in the service of the citizens” play. They had embarked on a diplomatic mission to Bulgaria, through the border crossing at Delchevo, just to prove that it is possible to travel with the old passport, and they had even made a recording of it. They have managed to cross the border – however with a diplomatic passport.
At least they are able to obtain a diplomatic passport. In order to do so, they don’t have to dial a phone number no one answers to, and they are always able to get an appointment for a photoshoot. They don’t have to wait in line at the airport, at the border, or along with all the citizens they serve to. Because, that is all their diplomatic passports do.
Apart from this, I would really like to know how many of the Macedonian MPs carry their Bulgarian passports with them, apart from their regular and diplomatic ones. Even more so, I would really like to know how many of the people who will appear on the MP election list have passports of a “backup” homeland. The reason why I want to know this is because I want to know how should we, who are persistent and only have our Macedonian passports, in fact behave.
3 The fact that VMRO-DPMNE views itself as the winner of the elections at this moment in time is not because the party has offered something much better than what we have already seen during Nikola Gruevski’s tenure. Nor does it have some kind of achievement behind itself.
Quite simply, SDSM haven’t used their historic chance. They were in an opposition role for 11 years. They have been literally beaten in the Assembly twice. In 2012, VMRO-DPMNE’s government dragged their MPs like rags and threw them out of the Assembly hall. In 2017 they came to kill them. And when in 2017 again, they finally managed to form a government without the necessary number of MPs and with a great international help, they gambled away the trust that was given to them. So much so, they have dragged us into a situation where VMRO-DPMNE now holds talks in democracy, rule of law, makes accusations of party divisions, stealing and corruption…
And what have SDSM done? They have granted an amnesty to the VMRO criminals by law. On top of that, we are even required to pay them a compensation. The VMRO party members even have the nerve to moralize: No, we haven’t voted for those laws. SDSM have voted for those laws themselves.
If it wasn’t enough that we pay the MPs to bring into force such stupid laws, we now have to pay for the court costs for the people who were released by the MPs.
We have lived to see the day when VMRO, the ones who dragged people in the headlines, cut the electricity in the TV stations and wiretapped journalists, speak about media freedom. The very same people from Gruevski’s inner circle.
And the most tragic thing about it, VMRO is not to blame for this.
4 DUI have started a campaign that it was about time that an Albanian was to become a President.
Please don’t let them stir tensions that the Macedonians don’t want an Albanian to be a President. The Macedonians do not want a criminal. Albanians too, don’t want a criminal. All the rest of the nationalities stated in the Constitution don’t want a criminal. That is the most important thing. The questions remains, however, whether this party can deliver that.
