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[Election Debate] Life in Kosovo debates political parties’ plans on education, health and social welfare

08 11 2007  This Thursday’s Life in Kosovo live TV debate on the November 17 elections focused on the political parties’ programmes for education, health and social welfare.

The panel on this Thursday’s show consisted of:

Agron Bajrami – editor of the daily newspaper “Koha Ditore” ;
Bajrush Morina – editor of the daily newspaper “Bota Sot”;
Berat Buzhala – chief editor of the daily newspaper “Express”;
Ibrahim Rexhepi – chief editor of the daily newspaper “Lajm”;
Margarita Kadriu – chief editor of the daily newspaper “Kosova Sot”;
Muhamet Mavraj – publisher of the daily newspaper “Epoka e Re”;
Shpend Ahmeti – Group for Policy Analysis, GAP;
Visare Gashi – from the Social Studies Centre



The panel of experts examined education, health and social welfare elements in the programmes of the political parties, including the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, the Alliance for a New Kosovo, AKR, the Dardanian League of Kosovo, LDD, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, the reformist party, ORA, and the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK.

Viewers were invited to call in in response to the question: should Kosovo declare independence without the support of the US?

The show received over 300 calls; most callers said Kosovo should not declare independence without US support.

During the debate, Rexhepi said that the most important thing is budget planning and management and all plans in the party platforms have to be closely scrutinised to se if they are feasible.

Buzhala said that it was a pity that during the election campaign the parties had not tried to compare their own platforms to those of other parties, or offered detailed criticism of other parties’ platforms.

“In other countries parties that are competing try to discredit rival parties’ platforms, by criticizing and questioning their implementation,” he said. “This is what is lacking in Kosovo”

Kadriu complained that political parties don’t offer any specific or concrete plans and that if people are asked to mention at least two of the promises or plans that the parties have made, they are speechless.

“They don’t understand them, because the proposals are very general and don’t contain any specific plans for implementation,” Kadriu said.

Morina said that most of the projects mentioned in the platforms cannot be implemented easily, because the budget lines are already set for the upcoming year.

However, Bajrami pointed out that these projects and plans are foreseen to be implemented during the coming four years.

“We only have to analyse as voters if these promises are real and if it is possible to increase the budget during these years in order to implement all these projects,” he argued.

On the topic of education Mavraj said that most of the parties are promising to supply all schools with computers and connection to the internet.

“They cannot achieve this,” Mavraj said and added, “These are just promises, not real things that can be implemented and realised.”

Ahmeti said the parties which are promising to increase the salaries of teachers might win more votes.

“There are about 32,000 people who are working in the education sector in Kosovo,” he explained.

Ahmeti commented on some points in the platforms which foresee the building of new schools.

“This is not the only problem,” he said “The problem in our education system is the quality of the education that is provided.”

Regarding proposals on health, Gashi drew attention to the fact that none of the platforms mention treatments for woman with cancer.

“Another issue in these plans is that they haven’t mentioned how much the government will participate in these projects,” Gashi said.

Below are some elements of the political parties’ platforms on education, health and social welfare, which were used as an informative basis during the show. (Note: Parties are listed in alphabetical order)

Education

The AAK, among other things, plans to increase funds for education and has a strategy of offering textbooks for free. The AKR says in its platform on education that it aims to increase teachers’ salaries. The LDD plans to transform and reform the education system at all three levels. Plans put forward by the LDK include computerising all schools and decentralizing school finances. ORA focuses on making schools more accessible and in stepping up cultural, library and sports facilities, as well as providing elementary school pupils with free textbooks. The PDK on the other hand promises to support the teaching of exact sciences in schools and to build information technology centres in every educational institution.

Health

Party platforms on health include the provision of health insurance and/or the creation of health insurance funds. The AAK wants to reorganise the Clinical University Centre and ensure an adequate supply of basic medicines. The AKR focuses on health issues among young people and mental health, as well as providing health insurance. The LDD wants to provide full health protection for children, orphans, veterans, war invalids and people over the age of 65; the party also plans to create new health institutions and revitalize existing ones. The LDK wants to build a regional hospital for Pristina and provide one doctor and two nurses for every 200 citizens. ORA, on the other hand, focuses on reforming the health system and creating health insurance funds. The PDK proposes in its health and social welfare platform, among other things, free medicine for pensioners; the party also wants to help develop the pharmaceutical industry in Kosovo.

Social Welfare

On social welfare the AAK, among other things, plans to develop social services and to improve the level of care provided to persons with disabilities and special needs. The AKR promises to raise pensions by 100 percent and advance a strategy for “social politics”. This would prioritize marginalized groups such as orphans, war invalids, people with disabilities and other social cases. The LDD will introduce policies aimed at alleviating the plight of the unemployed. The LDK also plans to improve care for war invalids, people with special needs and children with disabilities. ORA foresees in its platform a law on employment and a pension fund for Kosovo.

During the debate, a report on voting procedure was broadcast. An official of the Central Election Commission explained what the polling booths and ballot papers will be like. Kosovo citizens will vote for the first time through an open list system, where they can vote for up to ten candidates within one political party in the parliamentary ballot, ten for the local assembly and one candidate for the position of mayor. The report also dealt with voting arrangements for people in the Diaspora.

Following the debate, Life in Kosovo broadcast another episode of its political and social satire, “Dhandrri i Kosoves” (Kosovo Son-in-law), which was the fourth special edition called Dhandrri Patrol on the Elections.

Click here to watch this debate:
[Election Debate] Life in Kosovo debates political parties’ plans on education, health and social welfare

The Life in Kosovo show is a co-production of Kosovo’s public service television, RTK, and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, beginning at 20:15.