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: Causeni district.
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Causeni district has 27 mayor’s offices for 43 settlements, two of which are towns. The district’s population is over 90,000.
Director of the Causeni-based Information Center Tighina Tudor Caslaru said particular results were achieved in the district, but the number of failures is higher. The projects promised in the previous election campaign were 5-10% fulfilled. A solution for improving management in the local public administration is to establish local public-private partnerships with the more active involvement of the people.
Tudor Caslaru considers the current format of the territorial-administrative division is inefficient for managing local affairs, but dividing the country into eight regions now will not be a solution either. The division by counties was the most efficient one until now. A measure that is now needed is to halve the number of personnel units/services in Parliament and other state bodies and to institute local services, closer to the people.
Asked how the local public authorities coped over the last four years, Tudor Caslaru said they coped with difficulty and very slowly. The situation in the district is disastrous. The public services are of a poor quality. Corruption flourishes and the people are disappointed with what is happening. They see and expect no changes in the near future. Things would go better if Romanian specialists came to work in all the state institutions, of any level. An important thing is to directly finance the beneficiaries, without dozens of intermediary ministries. The 2% Law for funding NGOs should be promoted.
The expert said that a feasibility study for Causeni town was carried out last year. It revealed that the town pays US$1.5 million a year for electricity and US$3.5 milliamp for gas. “With this money, we can set up solar batteries on 10 hectares and fully shift to self-management in the energy sector, and the money will remain at home and will be used for devolvement. But imagine what happens if the money remains at home. Professional district/local centers should be created immediately to attract investments, including European funds, to different areas,” said the director of the Information Center Tighina.
Tudor Caslaru also said a ban should be instituted to prevent oligarchs and businessmen from holding public posts. The people who migrated aboard must be encouraged to return home, while the parties should unite and act strategically so as to promote the national and local interests.
Elena Nistor, IPN
