Unfortunately, the perception that we have an "appeal" to incompetence is confirmed by the events of the last few weeks that concern almost the entire spectrum of public Cypriot reality
Why does it seem that in Cyprus, at the level of public administration, almost nothing "succeeds"? This unfortunate and distressing admission and realization is not due to some obsession in favor of single-mindedly projecting and communicating only our failures and shortcomings. Unfortunately, the perception that we have an "appeal" to incompetence is confirmed by the events of the last few weeks that concern almost the entire spectrum of public Cypriot reality. From the way we operate as a state, to how we left the distortions in a number of sectors, from Education, Justice, the development of our cities and the way we live every day, the formation of our internal market and economy, traffic on the streets , our education and mentality, our interpersonal behavior, laws and politics and many other things that we know.
Of course, identifying problems is not a solution to them, and apart from "murmuring" and externalizing the indignation, it is not useful for anything else. Especially to us Cypriots, who, after all, are not famous for our reactivity, since after thousands of years of subjugation and oppression we have turned "we will get through" into a philosophy and a way of life. With the difference, however, that now we can't even "pass".
Where can we get it? From the continuous failure of the state machine, regardless of government, to manage perhaps its most "innovative" actions? Like, for example, the digitization of some of its works, which was attempted at a cost of several tens of millions and is developing into a farce. Personally, as someone who was in the Public Service for decades, I'm not surprised. Mostly, I'm not surprised by the genuine and deep-rooted aversion to anything real and not, on the face of it, innovative. For example, I will not forget when I once submitted to the competent head of the administrative department of the ministry in which I worked, a suggestion that would allow the State to better manage its resources. I still remember her reaction, which was literally: "Uh… you Americans (who studied in the USA)… I guess that's how you have ideas." That was twenty or so years ago. And fortunately, our ideas and suggestions from "America" were not listened to and we continued to listen and implement your ideas and suggestions from "Cyprus".
It is that mentality that led us to the "circus" that came to stay in our place and gives daily shows with more and more expensive, for our pocket, ticket. The same mentality and behavior that once forced even the then President of the Republic, the late G. Cleridis, to call Cyprus "Banania", a description that until then mainly referred to Central American countries, known for their mismanagement. I estimate that very soon the current President of the Republic will say the same, genuinely indignant at what he sees being repeated. Because it is a "circus" when almost every innovation effort attempted in recent years has failed because it was not properly planned and did not receive proper project management during its implementation. It's like we're doing it on purpose! To take an issue and a problem and, instead of solving it in a methodical and organized way, turn it into a Gordian knot, where the ends of the thread are pulled and stretched by a bunch of expedients resulting in the tightening of the knot instead of its solution. It takes talent!
And no we don't reset but what to forget? The cameras on the roads that were installed without first regulating the traffic lights? (sic). The deficient implementation of the NHS and the distortions it caused to public health? Education that produces more uneducated and "brainwashed" young people without critical thinking and comprehension than the opposite? The funding of innovation and scientific research created by an army of state-fed "academic-entrepreneurs" without commercialization? The Higher Education which, instead of developing the overall knowledge in the place, mainly "develops" the plots around the universities? The tragic and incompetent Local Government of our urban centers that managed to unnerve them and lead them to economic and social decline? Not to mention sustainability, non-recycling, demographics/immigration, energy costs, public transport, dangerous stadium violence, hundreds of unsolved crimes, political disdain and mass public distaste and radicalization and the vitriol it created, the institutionalization of corruption and, of course, the management of the Cyprus problem, where we ended up "licking" where we previously "spit". Literally, we finally managed to give substance to "like Cyprus in essence". Good for us…