“Never forget that power is temporary, meant to benefit the many rather than serve the few. Remember that we’re here to advance our nation, not to merely put out fires,” President Christodoulides advised his ministers during their swearing-in ceremony, while urging them to break with the established order. “We will be a government for all Cypriots. I call on you to challenge the status quo. Favouritism will not be tolerated. We may not have magic wands, but we do have sincere political will, vision, and planning. Keep your standards high.”
Some might have actually believed this, like Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou, who decided to stop coddling football clubs that owe millions to the state without making any effort to repay, even gradually, as had been agreed.
When questioned, he dared to publicly acknowledge that the club being taken to court the next day was APOEL. This was, in fact, an open secret. Everyone knew about it, though some took quiet pride in concealing it.
Although the club acknowledges its obligations, its organised supporters (read: potential voters) revolted, warning the President that this would be his first and last term. He immediately switched to firefighting mode – precisely what he’d told his ministers not to do 23 months ago. But his damage control effectively threw his minister under the bus. The minister, being an obedient pupil, fell in line: “As the President pointed out, naming names could have been avoided,” he notably remarked.
They called him a gossip, a populist, accused him of lacking seriousness and ethics, implied he was biased, claimed he was inadequate (saying he was a nobody seeking publicity by naming APOEL), and even suggested his mind had been addled by the team’s victories… And the President, instead of defending his colleague and the substance of the matter (not to mention the tone of public discourse), chose to appease the angry supporters, lest they follow through on their threat not to vote for him in the next election. (Although when they say “the Christodoulides government, trying to cover up daily scandals and all the absurdities we’re experiencing in this country, decided to direct attention where they know it sells,” they’ve likely already moved on. And when they say “You won’t get away with this,” it sounds rather threatening).
Meanwhile, we’re meant to believe that “power is temporary, meant to benefit the many rather than serve the few, and the goal is to advance our nation, not merely put out fires.”
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