A group of civic activists from different fields decided to launch the civic initiative PMAN – the National Alternative Municipal City Hall. By this movement, they aim to present the problems existing in the municipality of Chisinau, which the local public administration either ignores or hides.
In a news conference hosted by IPN, civic activist Ala Revenco said the idea of such an initiative appeared due to the necessity of discussing local problems that do not appear on the agenda of the Chisinau City Hall. “In the recent past, the meetings of the City Hall have turned into a political platform. They resort to political narrative and discuss the problems faced by the city and the citizens to only a small extent. Even if they discuss them, they do it in a limited way and only on aspects wanted by the mayor and persons close to him on the agenda. It is practically impossible to add other problems to the public agenda,” stated Ala Revenco.
According to her, the local problems are discussed less because the meetings are held online and these involve only functionaries of the local public administration. “They speak, resort to populism, but do not take measures to discuss the real issues. There is a list of projects that was announced by the mayor, but we saw that these were populist projects. Promises were made to solve the problems that bother the citizens, but these weren’t fulfilled. Among these, I would like to mention a problem from the educational sector – the shortened schedule of kindergartens. The schedule was reduced by about an hour and a half during the pandemic. After the restrictions were lifted but, the kindergartens didn’t return to the ordinary program,” stated Ala Revenco.
Animal protection activist Anastasia Kozlovski said the problem of animals without an owner is usually ignored even if it is within the municipality’s remit. The local authorities create impediments to activists working in the field. Through the agency of this initiative, the activists intend to raise problematic issues and identify solutions to them.
Civic activist Roman Guneavyi said the Chisinau City Hall became less transparent. The work of the Chisinau Municipal Council also leaves to be desired. There is practically no opposition on the Council, with particular exceptions on some of the issues. PMAN will monitor and cover the work done by the Chisinau City Hall and the Chisinau Municipal Council.
Civic activist Alex Buretz noted that the first online meeting of the civic initiative PMAN will be held on Tuesday and this will center on real problems experienced in the city. “We do not form part of any party and are not paid by a party. We work as volunteers and do not claim posts in the City Hall. We do not intend to run in the upcoming elections,” stated Alex Buretz.
Note: IPN News Agency gives the right of reply to persons who consider they were touched by the news items produced based on statements of the organizers of the given news conference, including by facilitating the organization of another news conference in similar conditions.
