It was a big news story all day: a deputy minister was caught smoking in a bar and the interior minister decided to fire him. A cigarette turned into a government crisis, an “extraordinary event” for the ministry that was supposed to deal with the safety of citizens.
In the afternoon, Albana Koçiu decided that this story should not remain only on the portals, but should be explained to us personally by herself, with a status on Facebook. In serious tones, the minister told us that she had received a denunciation from a compatriot in New York, had verified it and had applied the law: the deputy minister had to leave.
And so, the country learned between the "iron fist" and "principled stances" that in Albania you can fall from power not for corruption, not for abuses, not for connections to crime, but for lighting a cigarette. And if the denunciation comes from the diaspora, so much the better - it also serves as additional decoration for the next status.
But the question is: has Ms. Koçiu ever met the director of the State Police? Has she spoken about the reform of the law enforcement forces, about the crime that the law is committing on the streets, about the events that every day show the weakness of the police? Or is her first reform the spectacle of extinguishing cigarettes?
Instead of providing a serious vision for public safety, the minister chose "makeup": one less cigarette, one more status. A media show that helps no one, except to question the intelligence of Albanians.
Because Albania is not in a crisis from cigarette smoke. Its problem is the flame of crime and perverted order. And a Facebook status is not enough for that.
