Onasagoras
A female inmate in the Central Prisons claims she was taken to a prison official’s apartment to provide sexual services in exchange for better treatment. Say what? Something stinks in the kingdom of Denmark and it’s not the fruit in the prison canteen. “Mama Anna” says she’s shocked and insists she would never allow anything like that. Well…OK then.
I’m not one to blindly buy into “where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” but here the smoke is so thick that if there’s no fire, someone’s roasting the world’s largest spit just to get in the Guinness Book. We shall see. Until this scandal is cleared up, God help the prisons. Truly, God help them.
Amateur hour strikes again, according to the Audit Office, this time over the Cyprus Ports Authority tender for the Vasiliko project. Among other things, they found shoddy preparation, endless changes, and, in the end, awarding the most expensive bid. In other words, the Auditor confirmed what we all know about big projects: “money talks, Aris.”
“My lawyer’s statements do not represent me.” Former Metropolitan Tychikos
The eternal question remains: are some public servants (with all their perks) really that hopelessly incompetent, or is it more about corrupt practices than sheer inability? Either way, corruption or ineptitude, it needs to be stamped out, though I see no sign of that happening. Until then, every big project will remain a disaster on the island of saints and elites, with the poor citizen paying through the nose for works that either never finish or are riddled with flaws. Will Cyprus change? I wouldn’t bet on it, but hope dies last.
Tsipras leaves former minister and close associate Varoufakis embarrassingly exposed, blaming him for reckless behavior that provoked unprecedented hostility from creditors. In truth, Haris Georgiades had already hinted at this, indirectly but unmistakably, and we should credit him for it, even if belatedly. He was among the first to see the dangerous absurdity of Varoufakis, who, let’s face it, earned the nickname “Baroufakis.”
“My lawyer’s statements do not represent me,” says former Metropolitan of Paphos, Tychikos, once again proving he’s out to drive us mad. The pattern is familiar: whenever one of his associates sticks out their tongue, offending everyone and everything, Tychikos swoops in, feigning surprise and distancing himself. Perhaps he should remind his team and lawyers of the old saying: “Let the tongue not outrun the mind.” Because public, and Archbishop, patience has its limits.
