1 The deputy director of “Macedonia Road,” Sasho Drango, proudly posed for a photo with a dead bear, and the case will be taken up by the Anti-Corruption Commission. Why should the Prosecutor’s Office get involved? The Anti-Corruption Commission is responsible for the personnel appointed by the ruling party. Naturally, that institution, renowned for its credibility, will rule in favour of the director and confirm that the bear died in a traffic accident. It woke up from its winter slumber and hit the road, it was on its way to Bitola for a stroll along Shirok Sokak, and the deputy director, diligently fulfilling his work duties, happened to be conducting road surveillance with a rifle and binoculars when he found the run-over bear.
The Animal Protection Association “Anima Mundi” is calling for the deputy director of the public enterprise to face prosecution. He claims that the bear had died in a traffic accident on the Bitola-Resen road, he stumbled upon “the scene as part of his work duties, and together with employees of the public enterprise moved the bear off the road before taking a photo with it.”
“Anime Mundi” points out that no traffic accident involving a bear has been recorded in any bulletin of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and that no one has reported a killed bear, which is mandatory according to two laws – The Game and Hunting Act and the Animal Protection and Welfare Act.
Still, something about this story doesn’t quite add up. If the deputy director of the public enterprise found the dead bear, why did he take a photo with it? Drango also happens to be the president of the Union of VMRO-DPMNE Veterans in Demir Hisar. It’s truly heroic to find a dead bear on the road, drag it into the forest, and pose with it, rifle in hand. He didn’t stop at just taking a photo but went on to post an entire gallery of himself posing with the bear from every angle possible. Behold the mighty VMRO hero.
2 In a country where public shame, especially in political life, has long ceased to exist, any excuse holds water.
You might wonder, doesn’t the ruling party have other candidates to find a suitable replacement for some deputy director of a public enterprise? Really, what’s the big deal? They’ll give him a suspended sentence and close the case. He won’t be able to be a director, but they’ll find him another job. It’s not the end of the world.
But that’s never the case. The party finds it more important to defend its own staff than to defend the rule of law. And the guy posing with the bear is just one of hundreds, if not thousands, who act like protected bears themselves, simply because the party appointed them. Check out my power. I can kill a bear, pose with it, and post the photos online. You can’t touch me.
This case is similar to the one when DUI ministers were caught playing basketball and football in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi, and Bujar Osmani said that that footage shouldn’t have been made public. He didn’t say they shouldn’t have played football in a government office. Or take the time when Dime Spasov, as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs under Nikola Gruevski’s Government, crashed into several cars while running away from paparazzi to avoid being seen with a girl, and the party’s Communications Centre fed a story to the pro-government television stations that he was being chased by criminal gangs from Serava.
In a normal situation, people feel ashamed of their mistakes. Back here, people brag with them.
If the personnel appointed by the ruling party enjoy killing bears in forests that much, why not change the law? They’ve got the majority in Parliament. That way, killing bears will be “everything’s according to the law, boss.” That’s much more honourable than justifying every violation of the law in a way that’s an insult to the intelligence of anyone with even a shred of common sense.
The government under VMRO-DPMNE and “VLEN” can change as many laws as it wants, appoint its own directors, replace judges, prosecutors, create thousands of new jobs, launch new ski lifts, renovated kindergartens, and sports halls, but none of it will function properly until the party leaders stop their party members from running wild.
This country will be undone by the relentless partisanship and the impunity that arises from having no shame. It’s terrible that our young people are leaving. But what’s more terrible than the absence of young people is the absence of shame.
P.S.
Dear friends, Happy New 2025 and Merry Christmas. Wishing you good health and happiness.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
