On June 14, the citizens of Moldova will vote the new local administration. IPN News Agency set the goal to determine how the local public authorities coped during the current term that is coming to an end. Experts, opinion leaders and representatives of civil society from different settlements will assess the activity of the local authorities of the country’s districts and municipalities. IPN series: Cahul district
---
Cahul district has 55 settlements and 37 mayor’s offices and a total population of over 120,000.
Silvia Strelchuk, executive director of the public association “Centrul Contact-Cahul”, considers most of the mayor’s offices in Cahul district should be kept. In essence, the territorial-administrative division and reformation should start from the district authorities because there are too many functionaries in these public bodies and high costs are incurred unjustifiably. There is no impact and positive effect on the development of the Moldovan communities.
The expert said the efficiency of the local public authorities depends greatly on the people. In Cahul district, there are mayors who have administrative capacities and during the last few years significantly contributed to the development of the settlements. But the largest part of the village authorities do not have capacities and resources to efficiently organize and manage the public affairs.
“It is hard to determine the role and impact of the activity of the district authorities. These are more like statistics divisions that collect data rather than bodies managing the district that can identify the priorities and develop the potential and can make use of the competitive advantages of the territorial-administrative unit. The financial resources between the ruling parties are distributed through the public authorities of the second level,” stated Silvia Strelchuk.
She also said that the local public authorities didn’t focus primarily on concrete local actions and programs. The political parties tended to strengthen their positions by distributing posts and allocating funds and less by identifying viable solutions to the existing problems and implementing community development programs.
The expert stated that some of the mayors of the district, who are able to draw up competitive projects, were more insistent and attracted financial resources to the settlements, but many of them waited for allocations from the district or form the state. In general, not all the public authorities coped well over the last four years, while the political instability in the country and the tensions in the region discouraged them even more.
Many persons from villages, with whom the expert discussed, said that many of the candidates running for the post of mayor in their settlements do not know what local public administration means, but these were promoted and supported financially. Some of them do not even know to read and write in Latin script. “We, the civil society organizations, encourage the settlements to stage local electoral debates that do not imply costs. All the candidates for mayoralty can be invited to these debates for the people to find out their views and platforms and to make a conscious and correct choice,” said Silvia Strelchuk.
She considers that a national program is needed to select, motivate and grow a new elite or political class that would generate the necessary effervescence. It’s hard to set priorities when there are many necessities, but the activities to stimulate local economic development should be the first to be promoted so as to create more jobs for the country’s people.
“I can say with pride that some of the mayor’s offices of Cahul district achieved results in fostering local development by attracting funds through projects. The attracted funds were several times larger than the local budget. The local public authorities were successful because they worked out local development strategies and different programs and projects, having a clear view as to the community development course,” said the director of “Centrul Contact-Cahul “.
She noted that those who understand that the community development must be a participatory process, based on cooperation between the neighboring communities, also achieve results. But the largest part of the settlements were stagnant, mainly because the local elected officials didn’t understand very well their role in the local public administration. Programs and software should be worked out for optimizing the work of the local authorities. New criteria for occupying the public posts should be adopted, while the salaries of public servants must correspond to the work done and the tasks carried out.
As to the promises made in the previous election campaign, Silvia Strelchuk said most of the electoral promises of 2011 were too ambitious and some of the assumed responsibilities weren’t even within the competence of those who made promises. The candidates promised many things profiting from the people’s ignorance. Civic education programs for the people should be thus developed.
The expert said the stake of the June 14 local general elections is rather great, especially in Balti, Cahul, Comrat, Soroca and other large towns. The people are very disappointed and the results will determine the government’s actions after the elections, and the electoral system could be even changed. If the political class is changed as a result of the elections, this will be a sign of the people’s level of education and political culture.
Elena Nistor, IPN
