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: Rezina district.
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Rezina district has 41 settlements, including Rezina town, and 25 mayor’s offices. Its population is about 48,000.
Valeriu Rusu, director of the Regional Development Agency “Habitat” based in Rezina town, said some of the settlements of the district are very small and there are mayor’s offices even for villages with 200 residents. Such an administration system is inefficient, leaves room for public money laundering and affects the quality of the services provided for the population. “I consider there should be 12 or even 9 mayor’s offices in Rezina district. We live in an information age and it is abnormal to keep a mayor’s office for a settlement with 200 people,” said the expert.
The quality of governance in Rezina town is rather low. The mayor of the town didn’t present a progress report for the last term in office. The head of the district, who is a woman, remedied somehow the situation. She attracted some projects and did something for the district. A number of social projects were implemented over the last four years. The roofs of a number of lyceums and of the Family Doctors Center in Rezina were replaced. The sidewalks in downtown were paved. In the center of the town, there was erected a common monument to those who were killed in World War II, the Nisru war and as a result of the Chernobyl cleanup.
A real separation of powers in the state is needed so that the public institutions remain outside political influence. Without the will and involvement of the central authorities, the local authorities cannot do much to ensure development. A profound reform of the public administration system is needed. As deputy head of the Anticorruption Alliance, Valeriu Rusu told the UN representatives who visited the country that such a reform is needed immediately.
The promises made in the previous election campaign at local level were at most 25% fulfilled. “When you do not have courage to come and present a progress report, you can say that you did nothing. The situation at national level is not better,” said the expert. Valeriu Rusu does not have great expectations of the June 14 local elections as the political players, no matter how good they are, will not manage to do anything in a system of a poor quality. Moreover, this system could even corrupt them. The only solution is to radically reform the public institutions. With a minority government, such reforms are not possible and early parliamentary elections could follow the local elections.
Mariana Galben, IPN
