Over the weekend, Edi Rama found a new culprit for citizens' dissatisfaction: the administration. But before this accusation is accepted as a diagnosis of the problem, it is worth stopping at a statistic that tells a completely different story.
In about 13 years of governance, from September 2013 to 2026, more than 50 different people have served in Edi Rama's cabinets as ministers or deputy prime ministers. But if all appointments and moves are counted, where the same person has held several portfolios throughout the mandates, the number of ministers Rama has appointed exceeds 100.
The Rama 1 government (2013–2017) started with 19 ministers and one deputy prime minister. During the mandate, due to changes and the creation of a caretaker government before the 2017 elections, the number of cabinet members reached around 36. Gaz Bardhi is one of Rama's over 100 ministers.
In the Rama 2 Government (2017–2021), the initial number of ministries was reduced to 11 ministers and 2 ministers of state. But two major cabinet reshuffles, including the one in December 2018 after student protests, brought another wave of new names.
The Rama 3 government (2021–2025) was introduced with 16 ministers. By the end of the mandate, in September 2025, the prime minister had officially made 42 interventions and moves in the cabinet.
The Rama 4 government was no exception. After the May 2025 elections, a 17-member cabinet was formed, including the first virtual AI minister. Just a few months later, in February 2026, 7 ministerial positions were moved and 4 new names entered the government.
If it were a political force that had produced over 100 ministerial-level politicians, this would be a human reserve that would scare any opponent. If it were a question of 100 top-level technicians, it would be a capital that would be envied even by the sister parties of the Socialist Party.
But the reality has been completely different.
The vast majority of these names entered the ministry with a level of expertise much lower than that of the civil servants who awaited them in the office. In many cases, the administration did not have to carry out the minister's orders, but to train the minister. For many of them, the first managerial position in the public administration was precisely that of minister.
There have been cases when the administration has had to teach them not only procedures, but also things that go beyond a minister's job description. And often it has not succeeded. As they entered, so they left.
Therefore, when Rama today blames the administration for the citizens' dissatisfaction, the question naturally arises: if the administration is so incompetent, who trained the ministers who have passed through its hands for 13 years?
Moreover, if the prime minister's accusations are true, then they open up a much bigger problem than the internal political debate. The quality of public administration is one of the criteria that Albania must meet in the negotiation process with the European Union. The reports submitted to Brussels for this chapter speak of a different reality than the one Rama described at the weekend.
For this very reason, his speech did not sound like the analysis of a leader seeking solutions. It sounded more like the weary admission of a man who, after 13 years in power, is grappling with the mirror of the system he built himself.
