Ten to Eight – Ventilators affair or straying from the point?
You are reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous day.
By Ljubomir Filipović, CdM observer
The situation with the pandemic is alarming, and we have learnt that phrase by heart. The worst thing is that we are completely indifferent. Not a day goes by that we don’t hear that someone we know has suffered or is fighting for their lives. My colleague Miraš Dušević did an analysis of the situation with the pandemic that you should read. While we all see that the situation is alarming and that people are being sent abroad because it is impossible to provide them with adequate care here, the medical director of the Clinical Centre of Montenegro (KCCG) Dr Zoran Terzić claims that the battle with the virus hasn’t been lost. While a guest in the RTCG’s morning show, he says that the KCCG also has the capacity to fight. When explaining the reason of a large number of deaths on a daily basis, he points to different and new strains of the virus, as well as comorbidities, i.e. other dangerous diseases.
Minister Jelena Borovinić Bojović will travel to Serbia to meet with PM Ana Brnabić and her colleague Zlatibor Lončar, in order to negotiate about vaccines that will be produced in Serbia. She also stated yesterday that some ventilators were used and bought defective. Her former colleagues, such as Mr Nermin Abdić, reacted immediately, but also the Glosarij company, which imported the named ventilators. Instead of dealing with current issues, the Minister also resorted to PR tactics of straying from the point by taking a role of prosecutors and investigators. Many people rightly wondered on social media how it was that the Minister had only spoken just now when she had been the head of the KCCG’s pulmonology ward since the beginning of the pandemic, and all the information was available to her. If someone messed with the ventilators it is the bottom that is rarely touched and should be punished as if it were a war crime. But, if the Minister has fabricated the affair to divert attention from the catastrophic situation, then it is 10 times worse.
Although everyone claims that everything is under control, PM Zdravko Krivokapić decided yesterday to slightly change the composition of the council for the implementation of activities on the removal and eradication of infectious diseases caused by the new coronavirus. Instead of the Minister, he will personally lead the council, and he brought 4 more ministers with him.
Oil and URA
Environmental activists who supported URA have fiercely criticized the Government’s decision to continue the work on the exploration drilling project in the Montenegrin offshore due to the search for oil. When URA gave a meaningless answer about the balance of environmental and economic interests, and when it welcomed Minister Mladen Bojanić and his invitation for dialogue, one of the leading environmental activists, Mr Aleksandar Dragićević, called this a call for a monologue on Facebook. While many people recall the almost hysterical campaigns of the former opposition parties and the media relating to the same project, the SD specifically recalls what URA’s views were on the issue.
Interference in Nikšić elections
After the EU warned about external interference, and now about double-registered voters in Serbia and Montenegro, PM Krivokapić reacted by saying that a part of voters was revolted and voted for DPS because of interference from Serbia. While Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić claims that he didn’t influence the elections in Nikšić, the CDT is asking for the formation of a parliamentary committee to monitor foreign interference.
Score-settling with FCJK
At the invitation of the chair of the parliamentary Committee on Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Damir Šehović, the dean of the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature (FCJK) Adnan Čirgić addressed the Parliament, referring to the Ministry’s harassment and the obvious intention to close the faculty. According to him, the closure of the faculty is also indicated by the fact that there has been formed a working group which intends to exclude from the law the existence of faculty institutions outside the University of Montenegro. Mr Šehović said that the statement of the representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, that the financing of this one faculty was a problem was, difficult to understand, considering that there were no such problems with any other spending unit or faculty.
That’s it for today. Have a nice weekend.
