Former Socialist Party minister Ermelinda Meksi has harshly criticized Prime Minister Edi Rama's ideas about the way he is handling the daily problems of citizens.
Through a post on social media, Meksi emphasized the "BESA", "Prania Besnike", "PasqyrAlbania" and "Radar" initiatives that Rama recently presented and raised the question of who is really solving the problems of citizens.
The former minister also brings to attention a number of concerns related to the security and maintenance of buildings, elevators, sewers and urban infrastructure.
According to Meksi, citizens should not need the individual intervention of a politician to resolve issues that, according to her, should be addressed through institutional mechanisms.
Ermelinda Meksi's full post:
"BESA", "Prania Besnike", "PasqyrAlbania", "Radar" — but who among the institutions solves the problems? Today, citizens are rightly concerned about security in hotels, on the streets and in public spaces. But how safe do we feel in the buildings where we live?
It is enough to look at the elevators. Some of them are not licensed. Residents pay for maintenance, but who checks whether the service is performed by licensed persons, what maintenance is actually done, and who is responsible for implementing the law on housing administration? When residents, for various reasons, have not chosen an administrator, should the municipality intervene to guarantee common administration and security?
What about the sewage pits that have not been cleaned for years and one rain is enough to flood and stink up the entire area? In one case a few days ago, the area's manager advised: "Don't throw paper down the toilet." While a resident, with humor, recalled that we used to throw newspapers too, but the pits were cleaned regularly and we didn't get flooded. The humor hides a serious problem: who is responsible for maintaining and preventing a situation that has been repeated for years?
What happens when a tower suddenly rises in front of the palace, changing the environment where we live and weighing down on an infrastructure that was not designed for such density?
When we bought our apartments, we also valued distance, space, light, and quiet. Who is responsible when these change without seriously considering the capacity of the infrastructure and the interests of the residents?
Therefore, the question that arises is: how will "BESA", "Prania Besnike", "PasqyrAlbania" and "Radar" address these problems? Will they serve to strengthen institutions and accountability, or will they remain new political buzzwords, repeated in chorus by MPs, while citizens continue to demand individual intervention for the rights they are entitled to and must be guaranteed by the state?
When some of them open offices specifically, skepticism becomes even more understandable. The citizen is not a "case" that the politician must pursue, but a citizen with rights, while the institution has the obligation to guarantee them in accordance with the law and the public interest.
The presence of the politician makes the problem heard; but only the institution is able to solve it. More than "Faithful Presence", we need institutional responsibility.
PS Many of the daily problems of citizens are directly related to local government. Therefore, we need to talk about more competencies, responsibilities and a real role for local councilors, as the closest representatives to the community. The solution is not to bring every problem closer to the government and the prime minister, but to bring decision-making and responsibility closer to the citizen. E.Meksi, September 4, 2026. /LAPSI.al
