Publicist Rexhep Shahu gave an interview to “Bota sot” in which he commented on the protests in Albania and stressed Prime Minister Edi Rama’s responsibility for the country’s political and economic situation.
Shahu called on Rama to cut off any foreign hand seeking to destabilize Albania.
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“Cut off the foreign hand destabilizing the country, Edi Rama. Cut off the foreign hand that is destroying and destabilizing Albania, Mr. Rama. Cut it off and save Albania and yourself. Or stop spouting nonsense,” he said.
He added that, as a citizen, he had pleaded with protesters to take off their masks and not wear them at demonstrations, because he wanted neither a change of government brought about by masked people nor a government of masks. He also said he would not want young people—students or high school pupils—to protest wearing masks, because they spread fear. However, he noted that most high school pupils wear masks to hide from the police, who come to their homes at night to carry out searches, masked or unmasked.
He stressed that he did not want masked police officers, plainclothes officers wearing masks, or patronage operatives and bodyguards in masks, because he did not want a masked state.
Shahu also said he did not want masked Islamists or women and men hidden behind veils and black face coverings, or frightening masks. He clarified that he was not against headscarves, since their mothers had worn white headscarves all their lives without covering their faces and eyes. In his view, criminals without masks were preferable to criminals wearing them.
The publicist also called on the state to use all its resources to protect the headquarters and flag of the Holy See of the Vatican from any criminal attack, masked or unmasked. He recalled that Albanians are a people of the Bible and that the Vatican is our protector.
Shahu also called for forceful intervention to protect the Israeli embassy and dismissed as malicious the claims that Israelis had occupied us or that they were invisible and came from the air. He said that fate and Kosovo bound him to Israel.
He also criticized the way Rama’s government treats the opposition and the protests, calling on government propaganda not to declare the Democratic Party (PD) an enemy.
In his view, the PD is the main opposition force, but this protest is being fueled from the outset by small left-wing parties seeking power. He cited calls for another left-wing government, for the creation of a new communist party, for power outside parliament, and for banal adventures.
However, Shahu stressed that the protest is being fueled more than anything by the greed and insatiability of the thieves sustained by the government and Edi Rama himself.
He said it was unclear how much Prime Minister Rama had made himself hostage, but that the following scandals could even stir the dead. In his view, more than any foreign hand, the protest is being fueled by his administration, poverty, a health service that is supposedly free but requires under-the-table payments, schools without teachers, the devastation of the country, and thick-headed officials.
Shahu concluded by listing 28 cases and projects over which he accused the government of mismanagement and causing harm to Albanian citizens:
1. The Tirana, Fier and Elbasan incinerators; 2. The 5D case; 3. The Llogara Tunnel; 4. AKSHI tenders; 5. Tirana’s Great Ring Road; 6. The Arbër Road; 7. Public-private partnerships (PPPs); 8. The Becchetti trial; 9. Compensation payments stemming from ECHR rulings; 10. The Check-up concession; 11. The sterilization concession; 12. The laboratory concession; 13. The Tirana–Durrës–Rinas railway; 14. The Port of Durrës; 15. The Kanye West concert; 16. Kayo and Timak Defence; 17. Smart City; 18. The €120 million fine waived for Bankers Petroleum; 19. The bankrupt Air Albania; 20. Vlora Airport (Bexheti as in Beketi, and what a pity for the budget); 21. Tiger 1 and Tiger 3; 22. IPARD funds; 23. Other international arbitrations; 24. Spending on consultancy; 25. Propaganda funds; 26. Giving away the coastline for construction; 27. Charging four to five times more for each kilometer of road; 28. More than one million of Albania’s university-educated professionals driven from their homeland and granted legal status in Europe during the decade of Edi Rama’s mafia rule.
He concluded that he believes Edi Rama, having governed through a personal clan, has become a thing of the past for Albania, speaking to “Bota sot.”
