Onasagoras
The past week had it all: action, adrenaline, intrigue, and some truly killer one-liners. But the story that went viral and had social media trolls completely obsessed was, of course, the presidential armored limousine. The one Daki never dreamed of and young Nikos apparently did not even know existed. Then again, I never had any wild dreams either. I knew that with him, the young man from Geroskipou, I would have little, but good!
I am going to skip over the issue of the cost, which some people have put at nearly €600,000. That is not really the point. Besides, there is money to be found (!!!), and we all agree that pensioners deserve a little something extra. And since our President is also a pensioner, I believe he is entitled to an upgraded limousine. Let us not forget that in just 13 years, Cyprus will once again hold the Presidency of the European Union. Shouldn't we have something worthwhile to show foreign officials, apart from the Green Line? We wouldn't want them thinking we are poor, would we?
Things really started to go off the rails with Christodoulides' classic Cypriot line. It was a bit reminiscent of Artemakis from Vourate Geitonoi with his famous "It wasn't me and..." routine, as well as Christofias and his "I didn't know where Mari was, I'm always the last to find out" philosophy.
The President knew, but he did not phrase correctly what he wanted to say. Yiannis Antoniou, Deputy Government Spokesman
"I didn't know about the presidential limousine," the President told us.
And he did not stop there. He accused Parliament of leaking the information, Annita perhaps?, and claimed that someone was trying to hurt him by bringing the matter to light. Really, though, was this purchase supposed to remain a secret forever? And if it was genuinely necessary, why was the President so worried about the news getting out? Why did he apparently want to keep it quiet instead of simply explaining why the purchase was necessary?
Things got infinitely worse shortly afterward when it emerged that the decision had been made at a recent Cabinet meeting, which, naturally, was chaired by the President himself. Is it really possible that he was sitting there and somehow failed to notice a discussion about a €600,000 car?
You could argue that the man was distracted. Maybe he was posting photos on Instagram while everyone else was discussing the matter. Personally, I could have believed that he genuinely did not know.
Unfortunately, the government spokesman decided to come in and fix things. And that was when, just as we thought the communications disaster could not possibly get any worse, the whole thing became even more ridiculous. We were suddenly told that the President did, in fact, know, but "was unable to correctly phrase what he wanted to say."
I honestly do not know which version is worse, especially considering that, according to reports, a proposal for a solution to the Cyprus problem is on its way, one in which the important details may well come down to the wording. God help us.
AKEL, of course, found the perfect opportunity to climb onto its populist soapbox, conveniently forgetting that the first person to request a private jet and a limousine worth nearly half a million euros, at a time when money mattered a great deal more, was our very own man of the people, Dimitris.
And when he was leaving office, he reportedly wanted to take with him a car with far more horsepower than he was actually entitled to. He also knew about the limousine but apparently did not know about Mari, which was infinitely more serious and far worse.
Pot, kettle, black, comrades?
