“I am ashamed,” is the honest truth. There are many things about our country that cause me shame. But when even the head of state expresses embarrassment, it feels like we cannot lay the blame solely at the feet of fate.
A journalist recently interviewed President Christodoulides and, with some reluctance, asked him why presidential intervention was necessary to replace a bed and two toilets at the Troodos Regional Hospital. The President replied, “I, too, am ashamed that such intervention was required, and it is necessary in many cases. These are the procedures that need to change.”
Imagine a hospital in need of a bed and toilets, yet no one addresses the issue. They wait for the matter to reach the desk of the President for a resolution. The hospital is in Kyperounta, so by the time the issue reaches Nicosia, more years may have passed than it takes for the Parker Solar Probe to approach the Sun.
Isn’t this a shame for our state? Isn’t it embarrassing for the Ministry of Health and SHSO (State Health Services Organisation)? It is an even greater embarrassment for the central government, which promised to change everything, yet even the simplest things remain unchanged.
At least the President acknowledges the shame! Perhaps now, something will be done. Because if presidential intervention is required for a bed and toilets, one can only imagine what is needed for the CT scanner that has been sitting idle for a year at the Kyperounta Hospital due to a lack of infrastructure. Citizens from nearby villages requiring a CT scan are sent to Limassol.
Unbelievable! Yes, these are shameful matters that must be urgently addressed if the President wants to make a difference.
Another incident that has caused me shame, and I hope the President feels the same, is the recent revelation that a man with a criminal conviction for attempted destruction of property using explosive materials, malicious damage, and transporting explosive substances, and who was prohibited from possessing a firearm, almost became a police officer. He passed all the exams successfully, and it was only at the last minute that his background was discovered. Imagine if he had been given a weapon!
Mr. President, let me also share with you my embarrassment upon reading the verdict regarding the 2019 fatal accident that took the life of Petros Petrou, a Greek literature school inspector. The driver who hit Petrou as he was crossing April Street 1 in Agia Fyla, Limassol, was acquitted.
I am not ashamed that the driver was acquitted, but I am ashamed that the court found one of the reasons for Petrou’s death was inadequate street lighting on a central road! Residents had been complaining, but no one listened until we lost Petros. Only then were new lamps installed, along with a built-in dividing island. They couldn’t prevent the tragedy, but they acted afterwards. Didn’t this also require presidential intervention to ensure the safety of citizens?
The other issue that has environmentalists up in arms is the candidacy of an individual for the community council in Mari. Seven years ago, this man was convicted of animal cruelty and killing a dog named Tyson, who had escaped from his owner and wandered into the National Guard’s Evangelos Florakis base in Mari. The National Guard handed the dog over to the community authority, who tasked this individual with taking Tyson to a shelter for stray animals. Instead, he tied Tyson to a tree, abused him, and eventually shot him at close range.
Animal lovers and ecologists protested loudly, and the man was eventually sentenced to three months in prison. And now, he seeks election to the community council. Has his crime been forgotten? Has he truly changed his ways?
Mr. President, now that you, too, have felt shame, I hope you will act swiftly to bring about the changes you promised. Otherwise, this shame will persist.
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