16 years ago, on the verge of the change of the millenniums it was speculated in the media that computers would fail worldwide due to the so called Year 2000 problem, also known as the Y2K problem or the Millennium bug. Problems arose because programmers represented the four-digit year with only the final two digits. This made the year 2000 indistinguishable from 1900.
This glitch was supposed to cause many problems until of course it didn’t. Nothing happened when the midnight hour stroke and computers all over the world proceeded to work very well. This week the Constitutional Court of Albania revoked the mandate of the Member of Parliament, Koco Kokedhima, a very well-known entrepreneur known to many as 2K, the two initials of his name as well as the name of his company ‘2K group.’ Kokedhima is also allegedly according to many analysts one of the most influential advisers of the head of the executive.
He has been officially appointed the representative of the Socialist party for the southern regions of Albania and wields considerable power in the affairs of the coastal areas from Vlora to Saranda. He is also recently designed as SP Coordinator for the Structural reform and Migration. Since Kokedhima is a very controversial figure inside his party, disliked by many of his colleagues, it is safe to assume that his power source is the party leader himself. Kokedhima was stripped off his parliament mandate for having profited from public tenders while in public office.
The fact that such an important MP is thrown away from the legislative body is a hard blow on the ruling political party. Indeed this is the second time an MP is expelled from this party for the same reasons. The first one to have suffered this fate is currently doing quite well as the Minister of Healthcare. The declarations of the Prime Minister that ‘the decision upon Kokedhima is one of the reasons why the justice system should be reformed’ are quite concerning. They raise serious questions over the true motifs that the head of the executive might have for carrying out the justice reform. Rama should rather reflect on the decision, taken almost unanimously (8 to 1) in a court that usually splits to half in every major case.
This problem of misuse of public office and corruption with state budget funds of course is a phenomenon that goes well beyond one particular figure, no matter its poignancy. It is eating away legitimacy and undermining the efficiency of the much needed structural reforms. It feeds into the public distrust and disappointment with politics. It is also the main bug that is causing severe malfunctions in the ‘server’ of the ‘renaissance’ the ambitious policy program of the executive in power.
The similarity between the 2K global problem and the 2K Albanian problem exist only in names, in reality while the computer problem went away with no harm for the desktops of the world, the virus of corruption is wrecking good governance, welfare and integration hopes for the Albanian citizens.
