TIRANA, Aug. 3 – Amid the justice and electoral reform turmoil and possible clashes with the ruling junior ally, Prime Minister Edi Rama and Koà§o Kokà«dhima, one of his closest allies and political mentors, have parted ways. The Rama-Kokà«dhima ‘divorce’ was confirmed this week through an editorial carried out by Arben Rrozhani at the daily Shekulli, founded and owned by the former MP. Rrozhani’s editorial piece was a response to numerous articles written by journalist Mero Baze attacking Kokà«dhima and his political actions. “Mero Baze is the spokesperson of those people who conspired against Kokà«dhima’s mandate to force other MPs in abiding by party chairmanship. Baze and his masters are concerned that Kokà«dhima did not get rich while in politics, but he entered politics while being rich. Kokà«dhima, 57, does not fear the justice reform. Instead he seeks new paths that guarantee its implementation,” Rrozhani argued.
Kokà«dhima, a businessman and media owner who entered politics in 2013, lost his MP mandate earlier in May after the Constitutional Court found his mandate non-compliant with the Constitution after a company he previously owned had won several public tenders. Ever since that day, the role of Koà§o Kokà«dhima in the Socialist Party began to shrink. Opposition parties may have succeeded to closing all paths that would bring Kokà«dhima back to politics, but Prime Minister Rama’s actions might have given a final blow to the former MPs reign in the coastal town of Vlora.
Once described as Pasha (ruler) of Vlora or Southern Commissar, Kokà«dhima found himself bypassed and off the ruling coalition grid. Not only did he no longer had the political blessing of his ally, but he was also losing ground among Socialist Party activities in his own home town.
For the past couple of months, Kokà«dhima has been at the center of accusations for misusing public funds and influencing administration employments and abusing power. Lately, he seemed to get closer to the senior coalition ally, the chairman of the Socialist Movement for Integration Ilir Meta. The two, along former President Rexhep Meidani got together earlier this week causing a media frenzy about Kokà«dhima’s new political affair with Rama’s ‘frenemy.’ Meta acted nonchalant about the meeting describing it as a random and casual encounter, but experts and analysts argue that their meeting is far more than a working lunch.
Experts have argued that the Kokà«dhima-Rama divorce was due to many irreconcilable differences on issues such as the import of chemical weapons, ‘repressive’ policies against marijuana growers, lack of reform within the party, the justice reform and the coalition with the Socialist Movement for Integration. Kokà«dhima has been a long supporter of liberalization of cannabis. He even opposed the government’s military intervention in the village of Lazarat previously known as the Europe’s marijuana capital, arguing that this plant would give the state billions of euros in revenues, open new jobs and make Albania rich. According to Kokà«dhima, the legalization of marijuana would seriously damage organized crime and mafia. In addition, Kokà«dhima also opted for a total reform of the Socialist Party’s political structure, but many argued that Kokà«dhima was eyeing the position of Gramoz Ruci the head of the ruling Socialists parliamentary group and the chairman of the Socialist Party’s assembly.
Kokà«dhima’s supporters have described him as a divergent with real political weight and power in the district of Vlora and that the Socialist Party leadership stabbed him in the back and pushed him like sheep amidst the wolves forcing the Constitutional Court to deliver his mandate on a silver platter. The division between Rama and Kokà«dhima went deeper when the latter argued against amending the Constitution in favor of foreign experts involved in the justice reform. Kokà«dhima said that national interest should be “at the DNA of Albania’s left wing” revealing that the two former allies are giving each other the cold shoulder not because some hard feelings. Their divorce is more an issue of principles.
