The repeated postponements of the meetings of the Shkodra Municipal Council have slowed down the progress of the city’s projects. With an atypical configuration, where prior to the local elections on May 14, 2023, the Municipal Council was entirely dominated by the left, while the mayor belonged to the right, the political clash has also been reflected in the council’s vote on the projects sent for approval by the municipality.
INA Newsroom
Esmie Verri, from the village of Oblikë in the circuit of Shkodër, is the mother of two young children aged 7 and 8. She was left widowed two years ago. Since her husband’s death, Esmie and her children have returned to live with her unemployed parents.
With no source of income, they only have one source of survival, and with the little money they earn from selling milk, they support a family of five. The only income for this family is the monthly economic assistance of 7,000 ALL that Esmie receives to support her two young children.
The meager earnings her husband had from working abroad disappeared in the first few months after the tragedy. Since then, they have been receiving food aid, but delays in repayment have placed them on the list of “bad debtors,” and they no longer receive cash payments.
Even the minimal income from the economic assistance often becomes a victim of disputes within the Shkodër Municipal Council, causing delays in reaching families like Esmie’s. Esmie reveals that there have been cases when the economic assistance was delayed by up to two months, forcing her to borrow even for basic necessities.
“The economic assistance is the only income I have to support myself and my two children. We never receive it on time, and in some cases, it has been delayed for up to two months, leaving me to borrow even for bread,” Esmie tells Investigative Network Albania.
Due to these delays, this family relies on the mercy of relatives and charitable organizations operating in the area.
“Even when my children started first grade, I couldn’t afford to buy them new clothes or school backpacks. They wear whatever others give us,” Esmie tearfully recounts the heavy burden she has to bear.
The 27-year-old woman has frequently sought employment, but living in the village has made it impossible for her due to lack of transportation. With only 8 years of education, she finds it difficult to find a job and reveals that her children have been “held back” due to the distance of the school.
“Even the children have a school that is 30 minutes away, and I have to accompany them in the morning and pick them up again at lunchtime because they are very young,” she explains with resignation.
Similarly to Esmie, 191 families receiving economic assistance in the Municipality of Shkodër also face frequent delays in receiving this financial support. The failure of the Shkodër Municipal Council meetings has become the cause of suspending numerous decisions that directly affect the lives of the residents.
Throughout 2022, the Shkodër Municipal Council canceled meetings on four occasions, and one meeting was only held on the third attempt.
Municipal Council, with only one color
With an atypical configuration, as they belonged to only one political party, the 51 councilors of Shkodra from the previous legislature have repeatedly canceled the meetings of the Municipal Council. During the year 2022, 4 meetings of the Municipal Council were postponed, with the last one being on December 20, 2022. The record for meeting cancellation is held by the September 2022 meeting, which took place after three postponements. The reasons were related to the absence of councilors and the failure to reach the necessary quorum. In this meeting, 12 draft decisions were supposed to be approved, including 6 agenda items related to the budget for 2023, as well as some reallocations of funds within the medium-term project budget for 2022-2024.
“The postponement of project decisions has caused delays in projects. There are 1.2 million euros of infrastructure investments that, due to the postponement of approval in the Municipal Council, have also delayed their implementation, meaning that deadlines are not met, and citizens are left without services,” say official sources from the Municipality of Shkodër.
“The importance of these project decisions is high, as they block investments for the city, the release of funds for the upcoming years, considering that we are talking about the medium-term budget, 2022-2024, but also the approval of some changes to the budget plan for 2023,” says Fatlum Nurja, an expert in local government policies.
The absence of councilors and the failure to reach the necessary quorum to approve project decisions have been the cause of meeting postponements, meaning that out of the 51 councilors, not even 26 of them have been present.
In the September 2022 meeting, the first item on the agenda was related to the use of additional funds from the conditional fund for economic assistance for the month of July 2022. 191 families were penalized solely due to the failure to hold the meeting on time to withdraw this fund in July.
Shkodra is a municipality that is often subjected to extreme weather conditions. Frequent floods or even fires during the summer months keep civil emergencies on constant alert. However, the draft decision for the approval of the reallocation of funds for civil emergencies was also another postponed decision in the September meeting, hindering the work of the civil emergency structures near the municipality, which intervene in cases of fires in public areas of the municipality or in cases of floods, or even in the maintenance of problematic roads, etc.
In early March, the residents of Dukagjin protested for the road. Left for years at the mercy of fate, the villages in this administrative unit cannot survive without roads.
In September 2022, the Municipal Council of Shkodra made two decisions to increase funds for the maintenance of this road, and one decision in November, but two of them were refused by the prefecture, which is also led by socialists, leaving this road without maintenance.
The Municipality of Shkodra blamed the prefecture for the boycott and requested funds from the government to invest in this road segment.
“The Municipality of Shkodër expresses regret that such refusals, blockages, and lack of investments occur from the Albanian government and its representatives even in local government in Shkodër,” stated the vice-chairman of the Municipality of Shkodër in a public statement.
The previous Municipal Council took office in August 2019, immediately after the local elections of the same year. These elections officially had only one candidate, that of the Socialist Party, as the Democratic Party decided not to participate. As a result, the selected and appointed councilors in this Council were all from the same political side.
This Council had a continuous contentious relationship with the Mayor, both with Ms. Ademi and Mr. Spahia, who was elected to this position in the partial local elections of March 2022. This conflict led to a deadlock, creating numerous problems for the community.
Ervin Gjini, civil society activist and local government expert tells Investigative Network Albania that all the postponed meetings have been detrimental to the city.
“Nothing good comes from the deadlocks caused by the councilors, as the administration operates based on their decisions. We have witnessed significant limitations for the Municipality of Shkodra, such as fund reallocations or delays in approving funds for civil emergencies,” he says.
He accuses that as a result of these deadlocks, which may also have political motives, Shkodra has suffered during floods.
“The blockage of funds results in the municipality being unable to operate. The Municipality of Shkodra has particularly suffered during floods. Reallocations have been blocked twice, and this could be a political orientation,” he says, arguing that such schemes are expected when dealing with a monochrome council.
“The latest fund reallocation was not approved until October, and after October 15, you cannot conduct public procurements through a Council of Ministers decision. Therefore, the funds have been delayed, and this year we still don’t have any investments,” argues activist Ervin Gjini.
“I have raised my voice several times regarding the non-participation of councilors in the meetings of the Municipal Council because there are several agenda items that they must absolutely attend,” says Tereza Brigja, who served in this Council.
She considers the postponement of Municipal Council meetings shameful, as crucial decisions for the residents of Shkodra, especially for the poorest segments of the city, remain unapproved.
“6% of the population might go to bed without dinner for their children because decisions are not being approved. And we, as representatives, are not there. The Municipal Council meeting gets canceled! It’s shameful to me,” Tereza adds with revolt.
According to her, the participation of councilors is a duty towards those who have voted for them, to be their voice in the Council.
“Some don’t have this principle, and it doesn’t bother them why they don’t attend the Municipal Council meetings. I don’t know why! It’s not just bad; it’s very evil because there are people in need,” she emphasizes.
She reveals that she has kept a record of every canceled meeting, and the data is not at all optimistic.
“At least one-third of the meetings have been canceled in the three years I have been there. The biggest absences are from the directors, those who hold positions, and I don’t know what they think of the Municipal Council,” Tereza Brigja concludes.
Councilor Arbis Vjerdha acknowledges the problem of meeting postponements due to the absence of councilors, and he even adds that after the first cancellation, the meetings have been postponed for up to a month.
“Once, the meeting was delayed for a month while someone didn’t have bread at home,” says Vjerdha.
He emphasizes the fact that the same meeting has been postponed multiple times until it was finally held.
“It was postponed twice, and on the third attempt, it was approved,” says Arbis Vjerdha, former councilor.
“If something will be remembered about this Municipal Council, it will definitely be the meetings that were not held,” reacted another councilor, Age Martini, on social media.
Her reaction came on June 6, 2022, a day after the cancellation of the Municipal Council meeting.
Even the MP of the Socialist Party, Edona Bilali, has drawn the attention of Shkodra Municipal Councilors to be more responsible and participate in the meetings, which for them are an obligation that must be fulfilled with responsibility.
The former Mayor of Shkodra, Bardh Spahija, tells Investigative Network Albania that the postponement of Municipal Council meetings hinders projects and investments and has created a deadlock in the functioning of the administration.
“The postponement of meetings affects decision-making, especially in those project decisions with had timeframes to be fulfilled, with services provided to citizens, but also obligations towards third parties. There have been cases where the Council has rejected proposals related to investments and services that the community itself had requested. The only obstacles in the Council come from the councilors,” says the former Mayor of Shkodra, Bardh Spahija.
He acknowledges that the situation that the Municipality of Shkodra went through is not at all normal in terms of politics and representation. According to him, being the sole political force, the political colors of the Municipal Council have also influenced their decision-making.
“Of course, they have become obstacles,” he says. “They have been the only majority in the Council, without political rivals to provide opposition. They have made all decisions, weighing them in their own political interest, and we have cases where our proposals as an administration have been rejected, which directly relate to investments and services for the community.”
Specifically, he explains that this concerns the reallocation of funds or the determination of investment priorities.
“Although public hearings were requested by the citizens themselves, the vote of the Municipal Council has postponed or rejected them with political arguments,” he says.
An entire city “at the mercy” of meetings
For years, the Municipality of Shkodra has complained of being neglected by the central government due to political representation. Consequently, this municipality has faced a meager budget compared to the real needs of the city. Within a year, a municipality like Shkodra spends around 32-33 billion ALL or up to 28 million euros, the utilization of which is approved by the decision-making body of the Municipal Council.
In this situation, the delay in economic assistance for the most vulnerable categories or the prolonged approval of long-term plans, such as the budget, which undergoes a multi-month procedure, further exacerbates the difficulties faced by this municipality.
Fatlum Nurja, an expert in local governance, believes that the behavior of these councilors, more than being an abuse, reflects a lack of responsibility. According to him, this Council has acted incorrectly.
“The Municipal Council, in the performance of its duty, has a fundamental mistake, which is that it convenes only when the administration prepares draft decisions. In fact, when the Municipal Council holds a meeting, on that same day, the administration comes with draft decisions. The opposite should happen,” Nurja explains.
The work and commitment of councilors are sanctioned by Law No. 139/2015 “On Local Governance.”
“The organic law clearly specifies in Article 49, letter e, where it is stipulated that the mandate of the councilor is revoked if he or she does not participate for a period of 6 months in the meetings of the Council,” explained the former Chairwoman of the Municipal Council, Briselda Kadija, through an official response.
“Councilors are also engaged in other sectors of employment, public or private sectors, and in most cases, their absences have been due to these commitments,” she justifies the absences of the councilors.
However, despite the justifications, a quick look at the decision-making of the Shkodra Municipal Council compared to the Municipal Councils of other major cities in Albania reveals a lack of dedication to the responsibilities of the Shkodra Municipal Councilors. While this Council, for the period 2019-2023, has made only 247 decisions regarding the administration and functioning of the city, the Tirana Municipal Council has made 573 such decisions, the Durrës Municipal Council 564, the Vlorë Municipal Council 375, and the Fier Municipal Council over 432. Even the Municipal Councils in the municipalities of Lezha and Vau Dejës, municipalities with a smaller population, economic, and social activity than the Shkodra municipality, have had a higher performance in decision-making, with 625 and over 320 decisions respectively, for the same period.
“It is detrimental because harm is not only done through mistakes; harm can also be caused by inaction. It is an agreement that is violated. You cannot represent interests if you are not present where the community’s interests are determined,” adds Nurja.
It seems that this Council has already violated a series of rights of the citizens of Shkodra at the end of its mandate.
“There is no legal solution to this; it is only a political will, where citizens must react in the next elections,” says Fatlum Nurja, an expert in local governance.
However, the observed political deadlock, which had a negative impact on the quality of life of the citizens of Shkodra for more than 4 years, came to an end with the local elections of 2023, in which the Socialist Party won the position of Mayor, along with 18 members of the Municipal Council.
The coalition “Together We Win” won thirteen positions in the Council, 12 rent to the Social Democratic Party, 5 to the Democratic Party, and one councilor each to the Right-Wing Liberal Alliance, the Legal Movement Party, and the New Democratic Spirit.
Despite the impossibility of penalizing former members of the Municipal Council for neglecting their duties arising from this position, there is hope that a more diverse Council will bring a healthier representation of the interests of the citizens of Shkodra, especially for the groups of citizens that depend on the decision-making of this body.
Ky shkrim është pjesë e projektit që mbështetet financiarisht nga Zyra e Mardhënieve me Publikun e Ambasadës së SH.B.A. në Tiranë. Opinionet, gjetjet, konkluzionet dhe rekomandimet e shprehura janë te autor-it/ve dhe nuk përfaqesojnë domosdoshmërisht ato të Departamentit të Shtetit. / This article is part of a project that is financially supported by the Public Relations Office of the US Embassy in Tirana. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the Department of State.