Beyond a corruptive affair

By Jerina Zaloshnja
The powerful blast at a military ammunitions dismantling factory located close by to Tirana evolved into a tragedy whose death toll is 19 so far and which hurt more than 300 people. This grave event was announced and perceived first as an accident caused by human error or a technical fault. The response was an extraordinary mobilization of all state agencies and institutions assisted by the wonderful solidarity of Albanian citizens and from governments of neighboring and western countries. However, three days after the tragic event, local media and high government officials brought to the spotlight an array of clear facts which confirm that the tragedy was indeed not an accident but nothing less than a pure corruptive affair.
Hence it was made clear that the so-called “factory of ammunition dismantling” was a mere primitive workshop, not complying with any technical safety standards.
The so-called ‘factory’ functioned with no authorization from the state institutions. According to data already accepted by the government, the company with which the Albanian Defense Ministry had a contract for the demolition of the material was an American company. However, this contract has expired on December of last year. It was discovered that the president of this company has established a joint partnership Albanian firm which ran the “factory” in the village of Gerdec, ten kilometers from the capital city, with no agreement or license from the Ministry of Defense.
It was also made clear that the factory employed people with no training or experience whatsoever and moreover local television has broadcasted clear videos where women and children are seen during their working hours while dismantling shells of heavy caliber.
Despite the fact that more than 150 people were employed at this ‘factory’ the only one who has been registered as insured is the president of the firm, who is already under arrest.
One of the most absurd facts is that, in spite of Albania having already set-up factories and military sites for dismantling and neutralizing the huge weapons arsenal it inherits from the times of communism, this particular “new factory” has been built in an intensely populated area, very close to the one and only international airport that Albania has and very close to the highway connecting Tirana to Durres and the rest of the south of the country.
Even prior to any specialized investigation reports, it is absolutely clear that the tragedy of last week in Tirana is a pure corruptive affair. High officials of the Defense Ministry together with the Albanian partner of the firm have been arrested while the Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu has resigned two days after the event.
The investigation of specialized units will bring forward the scale of this corruptive affair which according to all odds includes high rank government officials. The opposition and the local media have launched serious and severe accusations related to illegal international weapons trafficking, which the government has denied. The administration and the opposition have launched harsh criticism back and forth. Three days after the event the opposition articulated its request for the resignation of the Prime Minister.
This event and especially the way this crisis was managed will most likely bring back the harsh political war climate between the opposition and the majority exactly in a time when the first signs of political consensus, in order to accomplish results for important political issues, had just been observed.
It is now up to the justice institutions to shed light upon this corruptive affair and prove or disprove all the accusations. However, beyond this corruptive affair about which there is no doubt any longer, even beyond the accusations for weapons trafficking, which have to be verified by the justice institutions, this grave event has to serve as a moment of deep reflection over the nature of the state and the rule of law implementation in Albania. The slogans about the legal state have faded, especially in the light of what has happened only ten kilometers from the Albanian capital city, where the law has not only been ignored and stepped upon, but the very state expected to uphold it has been present in its unmaking.
Corruption is not an Albanian phenomenon and as we have witnessed corruptive affairs in the high rank of politics occur often even in those states where order and the legal state are predominant. However the matter in Albania is not the lack of the legal state, but the very lack of a state.