By Theano Kalavana
The Christodoulides government came to power under the banners of effectiveness, accountability and changing the way Cyprus is governed. After all, it sold voters the story that it was anti-establishment.
None of the president’s cabinet reshuffles so far has been accompanied by a clear assumption of political responsibility.
It seems that, for President Nikos Christodoulides, accountability begins and ends with changing personnel, not with changing the way the country is governed.
Citizens have seen the same pattern repeated whether the issue was Videogate, last year’s deadly wildfires in the Limassol mountain region, the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that devastated livestock farming because timely measures were not taken, or the Takata scandal.
The end of the road for all these crises has been the same: investigative committees, a report, a few statements, a reshuffle and then… the next crisis.
It is as if the state operates on the assumption that political responsibility expires with the news cycle.
We have reached the point where it is considered normal in Cyprus for people to lose their lives, for serious institutional failures to occur and yet for nobody to feel the need to say: “I take political responsibility.”
The Christodoulides administration has made it abundantly clear that once an investigation is completed, once a lengthy report is published and once experts detail the mistakes, omissions, failures and ignored warnings, something almost metaphysical happens.
Responsibility simply disappears.
We live in a democracy that does not suffer from a shortage of reports, but from a shortage of accountability.
Only citizens are expected to be responsible in this country, even facing imprisonment if they waste water.
Such behaviour is certainly condemnable in a country facing such severe and critical water shortages. But what have those responsible for the issue done over the years while nearly 30% of Cyprus’ water is lost through an outdated water supply system?
Citizens should accept the responsibilities that belong to them.
But when will state officials accept theirs?
When will those responsible for the fact that this country and its people do not enjoy the level of wellbeing and quality of life they deserve accept responsibility for their role?
To a large extent, one could argue that we survive through sheer luck.
Then came the report into the Takata airbags.
One day after Alexis Vafeades was removed from government as part of a cabinet reshuffle.
Not a coincidence at all.
The report describes a state that functioned without coordination, without effective oversight mechanisms and without the speed required when human lives were at stake.
It describes a state in which departments and officials shifted responsibility from one office to another until the cost was no longer measured in administrative paperwork but in human lives.
And while all of this remains part of the public debate, the government’s answer is yet another reshuffle.
As though competence and responsibility depend solely on those who are removed or transferred, rather than on the government itself, which for three and a half years has shown no serious signs of accountability or responsibility.
The latest reshuffle was presented as an attempt to restart the government.
But if it is not accompanied by a clear admission that something deeper must change in the way government operates, then ministers, together with ministry directors, will continue functioning without feeling the obligation to account for their actions or accept the responsibilities attached to the roles they serve.
The only consistency and responsibility that can be attributed to President Christodoulides so far is his consistency in changing people.
And even that, as has become evident since the beginning of his administration, was not about appointing capable technocrats or the most qualified individuals.
Instead, it was about appointing people from the governing parties who complete the puzzle of what has become a fully failed administration.
