Odysseas’ prospects of a stellar political career are undimmed

NEW auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou may have been sworn in on Wednesday, but Odysseas has warned that he will be watching him.

In an interview published on Saturday in his semi-official mouthpiece Phil, which has made its mission to keep the Odysseas legend alive, the ex said that if Papaconstantinou “proves a good auditor-general I will be fully by his side,” before warning. “If not, he will find me in front of him. We shall see. He will be judged on his work.”

Has he appointed himself supervisor of the auditor-general? And will he be issuing reports published exclusively in Phil when his successor gets things wrong or turns a blind eye to blatant acts of corruption?

He could have issued a statement about the swearing in ceremony at which Papaconstantinou was accompanied by his mother. A mummy’s boy cannot possibly carry out the duties of auditor-general adequately.

ODYSSEAS will not be keeping an eye just on Papaconstantinou. He will also be monitoring the deep state which “buried” him. Although he had ruled out any involvement in politics while at his post, after the black day for Kyproulla things have changed, and “one thing is certain – I will deal with public affairs.”

He said: “The next day has changed many things. The weight of responsibility that I felt, already heavy on the ramparts from which I served the public interest, became heavier. And to paraphrase Kazantzakis, if the world is lost, I will also be to blame.”

He should not stress. The world will not be lost because an inconsequential, midget country is “sinking in the cesspit of corruption”, even if it is the centre of the universe.

A SMOOTH transition appears to have been made by Odysseas from incorruptible technocrat to saviour politician. He told Phil:

“The most tragic thing is that this rotten system seems invincible. We are going from pits to pits and even deeper. The optimistic thing is that the society of citizens has the power to challenge this rotten system. Our Cyprus cannot be the one we are living in today.”

And with Phil thinking it has unearthed the new Makarios – a new political saviour it can worship and make its readers do the same – Odysseas’ prospects of a stellar political career cannot be underestimated.

For now, the paper, which urged him to enter politics as soon as the court decision was announced, is keeping the legend alive. Last weekend it carried a feature of his achievements and this weekend it had the interview. Next week we could read about his five-year plan to dismantle the deep state and make Kyproulla a corruption-free country.

ALTHOUGH Prezniktwo tried to claim he had nothing to do with the extermination of Odysseas the latter still named him together with Preznikone, the attorney-general and his deputy as being responsible for his “beheading”.

They had history, he said. A month after his election the Prez protested to Odysseas about his son’s critical posts on social media. And the crafty Prez also set him up. According to Odysseas, he had sent two of his minions to inspect the €1.2m renovation of the presidential palace, but the First Lady of Kyproulla, sent them away.

The prez insisted that Odysseas should be present at the inspection, so he went to the palace, against his better judgement, but suggested he sat in the prez’s office. The prez insisted that he should carry out the inspection, which then allowed his advisors to accuse Odysseas in the media of invading the presidential bedroom to check it out.

This should have been a warning to Odysseas, that the crafty prez was out to get him, but he really believed that, like the rotten system, he was invincible.

UNPRECEDENTED decisiveness was displayed by the prez regarding the case of the escaped murderer. As soon as his plane landed in Larnaca last Sunday he sacked the police chief, the deputy chief and the head of the prisons, punishing them for the latest embarrassment suffered by the force.

The buck stopped with the chief. He did not deem it necessary to get rid of the man who has the political authority of the police, Justice and Public Order minister Marios Hartsiotis because he is a pious churchgoer. The pious Hartsiotis saw no reason to repent and resign although there was a political precedent.

The late Kypros Chrysostomides immediately after a murderer escaped from a hospital at which he was being treated, tendered his resignation as justice minister of the Tof government – perhaps it was less forgiving because it was atheist. The pious Hartsiotis defiantly refused to take any responsibility.

Meanwhile the prez’s decisiveness was well rewarded. He appointed his koumbaros and chief of the presidential guard as deputy chief of police, despite there being many higher ranked officers eligible for the post.

THE FIRST lady of Kyproulla decided to end her extended leave without pay from the foreign ministry and return to work, from October 2. At least that was what was reported last weekend and as there was no denial, we assume it was accurate.

There has been a lot of speculation about the reason for the decision in the press. She was bored of her life of leisure and not getting much fulfilment from attending charity and social events was one explanation. A more plausible explanation was the money.

It would be stupid of her to go without her salary for another three-and-a-half years especially as a second term, which would mean another five years of all expenses paid existence (no rent, no bills), is looking extremely unlikely given her hubby’s job performance so far.

And she has been given an undemanding post – head of consular services – which will allow her to take a fat salary by popping into the office whenever she does not have first lady duties to perform. It is doubtful the perm sec of the foreign ministry will take disciplinary action in the event that she decides to work from home.

GOING from being head of EU affairs at the foreign ministry – a post she meritocratically held when her other half was the minister – and lording it over all other ministries, to head of consular services, seems like a demotion for the first lady.

From dictating the state’s dealings with the EU she will be in charge of mundane and trivial consular matters that, on the plus side, will require a minimum input from her. Another minor issue is raised by the first lady’s return to the foreign ministry. Will she be able to handle the first lady’s charity fund? As a working civil servant, she cannot be taking donations from businesses and wealthy individuals for a charity she handles personally as it compromises her role.

If Odysseas was still in his job, he would never have allowed this to happen.

AFTER the rejection of the three judges he nominated for a place at the European Court of Human Rights, because his personal choice (a woman who had been his lawyer before she became a judge) did not satisfy the requirements, the Prez is now facing the embarrassment of another rejection.

His nomination for the post of European Commissioner, Costas Kadis, could be rejected for his role in the Pentakomo waste treatment scandal, while serving as agriculture and environment minister in the Anastasiades government. Although the hapless Kadis had nothing to do with the setting up of the facility, for his five years as minister he turned a blind eye to the burying of the waste, which was in violation of EU law.

An honest man, he could be deprived of a dream posting as punishment for loyally serving the corrupt Nik. As for Prezniktwo, a rejection might be embarrassing, but he could turn it to his advantage. He probably has another koumbaros or relative of his wife waiting for an obscenely well-paid, high-status job.

THE NEW police command within a few days of taking over had a major success to boast about. Police arrested a 47-year-old woman in connection with a bomb explosion under the car of a 78-year-old man, with whom she allegedly had a money dispute. After hundreds of bombings of cars, the police have, after decades of a zero-success rate in finding a perpetrator, finally cracked a case. The woman could be innocent, but an arrest is major progress.