The newly-built Lake Park in Paskuqan area in Kamze municipality, Tirana, is the newest revamped public space in 30 years after having been transformed from a barren land and dump site into an outdoor green park with more than 10,000 trees planted most recently, a pedestrian street, bicycles lane and resting places, equally serving the entire capital city, regardless of the park’s location.
Prime Minister Edi Rama attended a gathering with local young boys and girls to discuss the tangible transformation of the Kamze municipality, as well as to share opinions on the current challenges of this time of crisis, hardship and woes, but also a time of ample opportunities.
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Prime Minister Edi Rama: Hello everyone! I am very glad to be here in this totally transformed reality. I remember when I used to serve as Tirana Mayor and I endeavoured to do what is actually happening today. However, it was impossible to deliver on such projects. Repeating what Lindita already said a bit earlier, I would like to say this is the visual example, this is what you see on your way to school every morning, the newly-built schools here in Kamze, one of which we already came across on our way here and it was actually a spectacular educational facility for everyone to realize how wrongful is to think that your votes are useless, how wrongful is to think that it doesn’t matter who you vote for or whether you don’t cast your vote at all because “they are all the same.”
If we were to be all the same, or the two sides of the same coin, this view you see now would have remained the same, exactly that barren field turned into a dump site, a wilderness, overrun with thorn bushes, other vegetation and mushrooms emerging here and there because of the irresponsibility of those having the power and the competence to make decisions, buildings that shouldn’t have normally never erected over there, just like many other buildings that shouldn’t have been built on the side of the river to cause then the river overflow its banks and flood the area any time it rains.
Quite the opposite is true. Not only are they not the same, but the position of each citizen in a democratic system is very important. Not only because many have been executed, imprisoned, maimed and persecuted so that a democratic system is in place, for each and every one of us be provided the opportunity to have their say through the vote, not only in a gesture of respect for them, but also for a very simple reason, for a very simple choice, namely the choice of being a good and decent citizen.
Kamëz is today one of the areas experiencing the biggest transformation in recent years, thanks precisely to the fact Kamez has been transferred from irresponsible hands to responsible officials; precisely thanks to the fact that Kamez has been transformed from a stronghold of the Democrat votes into an area with everyone being respected and where regardless of who you vote for, regardless of what you think and what your opinion is, your children now go to much better schools, much better kindergartens and nurseries that one could have ever imagined, including a new educational facility that has been awarded an international architecture prize, the civic and urban infrastructure has been upgraded, new water supplies have been built, and a more human environment in social terms.
I highlighted all of these facts, because this is really the right place to do so and not because this is the goal of this meeting. The goal of this event is that we talk about issues concerning you, talk about ways to do a lot more and what we are working and trying to do much better and a lot more for you and what you think can be done better and more.
Therefore, I would conclude my remarks and give the floor to you.
– First of all, before I focus on the Youth Council, which is the main reason why I am here today, as a Kamza resident, but also an Albanian national, I would like to voice my concern about the youth emigration. You Mr. Prime Minister say that this is a widespread trend in the region and not only and, in a recent interview, also said that the departure phase will be followed by a return phase of the Albanian citizens. My question is when will the time be ripe here in Albania for the young people not to eye leaving the country and not be lured to leave the country at the first given chance?
We should actually acknowledge the fact this is not a phenomenon that has been observed during your terms in office, but it is the effect or the consequence, I think, and a domino effect of the politics and the degenerated parade of politics since the democratic system was established in the country, but we can’t call the past to account. We can project the future from the present and Albanians have trusted you with the key to change for the third consecutive time, because it is regrettable, to put it bluntly, it is awful that a country blessed by God is neglected and not properly appreciated by its own people. This was about the youth migration. As to the youth councils, I think this move actually represents a concrete central and local government step to boost cooperation and clearly shows interest for the well-being of the young people.
Thanks to the passion and cooperation of the Mayor and his team, a genuine youth council is already in place and is constantly expanding. We enjoy the moral and legal right to demand certain conditions so that we can improve the emotional and mental wellbeing of young people. This would also include creation of a youth centre. We need a centre that would plan and tackle all these needs of the young people. I would also like to put emphasis on the need for creation of an information technology centre to host IT programming and computer literacy teaching for free. We also need sports grounds. I also think that we need a much larger stadium. Revitalization of this space, once a kind of wilderness, overrun with thorn bushes, is now becoming a very popular site. We call for central government support to further upgrade this park.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Thank you very much for outlining a series of issues. I will start with the first one, namely the youth emigration and I would like to correct you, because it is important to quote correctly someone. This is no longer a trend in the whole Europe of today; it is a historic trend for us, a phenomenon that all the countries have been through previously. And I would say it is very simple, as well as very superficial to state that “the youth emigration and migration in general over the past 30 years is a consequence of the degenerated politics,” because no type of politics and no political team – and you best know that I don’t respect and appreciate the previous government and political team and this is not to justify them – but no political team would have ever succeeded in the efforts to shut the doors and keep all Albanians here. If all of this was to happen because of the bad and wicked politicians, politicians and leaders of other countries would have acted to stop such a trend in their own countries and would have curbed this phenomenon and would have developed their countries to be on par with the wealthy nations. This has yet to happen.
I strongly believe that if we are to see the country in terms of the opportunities, it offers now much more opportunities than in the past. He who claims that Albania offers no opportunity he is just not telling the truth. Of course, citizens encounter difficulties, but he who thinks that it would be easy for him or them abroad, he is simply wrong. However, I would never tell a young boy or girl that he or she shouldn’t try his or her luck and seek to reach the heights.”
As for the other issue, I can tell you I am the same, here and there. I am one person. Politicians speak ill of Albania when abroad; politicians don’t make this country proud when they meet foreign officials, when they hold talks with foreign officials. They are politicians who are afraid of the truth of their own homeland and nation or they don’t know how to tell this truth in front of the foreigners. Such politicians are scum in my opinion. They are literally scum. The country doesn’t need them at all.
Telling the British media that “this is a moment when Albania has become the most dangerous country in the Balkans and Europe.” This is not internal political warfare.
To put in a nutshell, Albania has yet to become what it deserves to be. However, if we are to look back, Albania has significantly progressed in all aspects. If we are to look back, this space here, like all of Albania, is like day and night compared to what it used to be previously. However, if we are to look into the future, this is not definitely what it should be. This is the change!
As to the youth centres, you should cooperate with the local government and become actively involved.
– I am a pedagogy-psychology student at the Social Sciences Faculty and I am also a member of the Youth Council in the municipality of Kamez. Given that you are here today, I would really like to thank you for your consideration, because I am speaking up today as a young girl, who once used to be a child being raised in the suburbs, an adolescent girl coming from the suburbs and always identified as such. But today I am a young girl who has been provided the opportunity to speak up, express my opinion and voice my concern about what local community dislikes; I am a young woman who is provided the opportunity to be a good and decent citizen, as you already put it, I am today a young girl, who enjoys the opportunity to represent something broader other than an individual and I have been granted the opportunity to express my opinion about something I know quite well and I am well-informed about and I know very well what young people need and want. And I can tell you that Kamze young people are no longer the ones spending time in bars, but they have learned how to be active and participate in various events and training programmes hosted by the municipality. It is for this reason I would like to express appreciation for you as the head of the government for the assistance to Kamez municipality so that the latter can provide us more opportunities. This is because Kamez is no longer the city everyone would merely wish to leave and flee as soon as possible. Instead, it is now a city that offers us a range of opportunities to work and live here, building a much better city for ourselves and the future generations. Taking advantage of this opportunity to speak today I would call for closer cooperation between the central and the local governments and the youth council, so that more projects and funding are allocated, because I am convinced that Kamez youth won’t disappoint you as they know to persist and take things forward and I believe this is what we and the municipality are proud of now. I would also like to express appreciation to the local government authorities for the opportunities you have provided us with.
-Expressing first my appreciation for being here today, I would like to voice two main problems. First of all, you commented on the new schools that have been reconstructed and the transformation of the existing educational facilities. I am a high school student and I am completing the high school precisely at the same nine-year school building that is in miserable poor conditions. Mayor Rakip Suli has actually done a lot for our community and several new schools have been built, however he has failed to fully deliver on his promises that we would have been attending another school until construction of our school completes. We want a high school built on the site of the old one. This is the first problem. The second problem; you claim that ample employment opportunities are there, but there are no professionals. Many young people are completing university hoping they will find a job, but many of them end up taking up jobs like waters or sellers. My question is what certainties would you offer to young people so that they attend university and perform best?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Gambling and sports bets are banned in Albania and therefore I cannot bet, but I would express it metaphorically I bet you will definitely watch the TV news reports, quoting this girl as saying that “the school she has been attended was in miserable conditions and Mayor Rakip Suli failed to keep his promises,” which is true, indeed, but it is still half of the truth about Kamza and Kamza Mayor, because if there is an area that has experienced a boom in construction of new schools, this municipality is definitely the area where educational facilities have been constructed in line with the standards of schools in every city across the EU member states. And I have been living in Paris and a high school was near my house and we used to play basketball in its gym. And I can openly tell you that it lags far behind the very school gym we visited earlier today. This is why the half truths are often the biggest lies, but the true reporting about Kamez would be: “Many new schools have been built in Kamez, yet there are several other educational facilities in miserable poor conditions.” Why is this the right way to inform the public? Because it would tell the truth to the public, providing also the dimension of hope in Kamez and whole Albania due to the work we are doing. But the TV news stories are devised to kill hope intentionally. I am sure the media will use and misquote the remarks by this girl, who actually voiced her concern on behalf of the community.
I would invite you all to ask your peers in Europe, England or elsewhere around the world whether they are sure they would be able to take up a job and embark on a career path once they graduate from the university. Ask them how certain they feel about taking up a job in their profession? 90%, 95%? I don’t know, because there is no certainty in any country in this sense.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with the idea that Albania offers no opportunities, no job position is certain in Albania as soon as one completes university, but this is the case in any country around the world too.
Thank you!
