Today, PM Rama gave his testimony before an Inquiry Commission on the incinerators scandal during a session that lasted several hours.

Editor-in-chief at Euronews Albania, Neritan Sejamini, and executive director at Open Data Albania, Aranita Brahaj were invited on NOW, to talk about PM Rama’s testimony and the Commission’s overall performance in holding him accountable.

Opening up the debate, Sejamini maintained that Rama headed to his testimony with 2 strategies in mind.

“He went there with a fixed goal and he was more or less able to achieve it. There were two clearly evident strategies at play: one of them was Rama trying to point out the opposition’s weak points and use them to discredit them as much as he could and the second was to forcefully push his agenda by claiming that the way we manage waste has drastically changed [as a result of his administration],” – said Sejamini.

Brahaj on the other hand argued that this commission should have exerted some sort of pressure on SPAK.

“Is it acceptable that SPAK has been sitting on facts that have now been made public instead of launching a much more thorough investigation?” – argued Brahaj.

According to Sejamini however, the Commission has no business telling SPAK what to do, as the whole justice reform was implemented in order to separate the political system from the justice system, while most importantly instating an autonomous judiciary.

However, said Sejamini, this Commission was pretty much good for nothing, except for “continuing the theatrics and the showdown between the opposition and PM Rama”.

“Everyone played the wise guy. Instead of asking the tough questions like why was Mr. Agaci out of nowhere, appointed secretary-general of the council of ministers, when he has no prior experience whatsoever? Or, why didn’t the commission ask about the VAT scheme or the chemical fumes released as a result of the incineration?” – asked Sejamini.

“This Commission won’t be able to achieve anything of importance; it won’t be able to arrest anyone as it so often likes to believe. This Commission didn’t hold anyone accountable, it didn’t ask the right questions and it simply just failed,”- said Sejamini, adding that Albanians only got to see a continuation of a banal spectacle of back-and-forth name-calling between representatives of the ruling party and the opposition.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

• PM Rama alludes to Lulzim Basha’s arrest
• PM Rama has to be held accountable, says analyst  
• Veliaj clashes with Tabaku during testimony before the Incinerator Commission