Category: News and Events

Is the director of PTK only implementing the board’s requests, or is he responsible for everything that he has signed? Was Shyqri Haxha ever pressured to sign such an agreement? What does the Financial Times’ Balkans correspondent say about the privatisation problems in other countries in the region? Why have neither Slovenia nor Serbia managed to sell their state-owned telecommunication companies? Since three bidders are not applying, should PTK be privatised or not? What are the challenges for energy sector privatisation in Kosovo and the Balkans in general?
 

In order to discuss these and other issues related to the privatisation of public enterprises, Jeta Xharra has invited the following guests to the studio:
 

Shyqri Haxha, executive director of PTK;
Andrea Capussela, former head of the International Civilian Office (ICO) financial unit;
Arben Gjukaj, managing director of Kosovo Electric Company (KEK); and
Neil MacDonald, Financial Times correspondent for the Balkans.
 

At the end of the show, in the context of the ‘Youth in Kosovo’ section, BIRN will broadcast a report produced by youths of between 14 and 20 years of age, on the topic “The school year has finished, what do we do now?” The report shows the activities that youth can do during the summer, such as reading books, learning foreign languages, attending theater courses or go fishing.

 

How are students in our country being evaluated? Is anyone evaluating teachers and professors, or the Ministry of Education? How long will people who have not studied at all still be allowed to graduate in Kosovo? Should we be satisfied with the final results of the national graduation exam and achievement exam?
 

To discuss these and other issues related to the success, and otherwise, of students in this school year, journalist

 

Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited the following guests to the studio:
Nehat Mustafa, deputy minister of Education;
Osman Beka, director of “Sami Frashëri” high school;
Isa Elezaj, from Vetëvendosje; and
Jusuf Thaçi, an expert of educational issues.
 

In the context of the debate, BIRN will broadcast a new section, Youth in Kosovo, produced by youths of between 14 and 20 years of age, who will talk about education in Kosovo.
 

At the end of the show, BIRN will broadcast a report by journalist Edona Musa about the firing of directors in Vitia municipality’s schools.

Jeta Xharra speaks with Hashim Rexhepi, former governor of Kosovo Central Bank, who reveals for the first time the demands that senior politicians in Kosovo allegedly made of him before his arrest.

How does Hashim Rexhepi support his arguments that the charges leveled against him are politically motivated? Who asked him to transfer the money of the privatization process into named banks? What happens to a central bank governor if he declines to perform the illegal demands of a finance minister?

 

Journalist Edona Musa speaks with Basri Muja, acting director at the Kosovo Accreditation Agency.

 

Who is demanding bribes there for accrediting an educational institution? What are the charges being made against the board of Kosovo Accreditation Agency?

 

Journalist Alban Selimi’s report culminates the show – an investigation of the travails of building a municipal property in Kamenica and the dysfunction of the directorate of Health in the municipality of Junik.

 

Finally, he reports on the vandalism and looting of the barracks of the Kosovo Protection Corps in Llukar, outside Prishtina.

Before the debate, BIRN broadcasts the interview with the Kosovar pilot James Berisha and exclusive views of its emergency landing in Sudan.

 

Jeta Xharra has interviewed Andrea Capussela, former head of the International Civilian Office financial unit. Capussela is one of the witnesses who contacted EULEX regarding the agreement signed between PTK Dardafone, which according to him has damaged PTK and the public money. Regarding this issue, during the last week, EULEX filed charges against the board and management of PTK.

 

The main questions to be covered in the debate include: Do employers in Kosovo obey the labour law? Is there a sufficient budget for the implementation of this law? How efficient can be the 52 labour inspectors who operate all over Kosovo? What are the main complaints addressed to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare? How should the state institutions react in cases when the labour inspectors violate this law?

 

In order to discuss these and other issues related to the Labour law, journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited the following:

 

Nenad Rashiq, minister of Labour and Social Welfare;
Haxhi Arifi, head of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo;
Rita Hajzeraj-Beqaj, deputy in Kosovo Assembly;
Agron Demi, from GAP Institute.

In the context of the debate, BIRN broadcasts the interviews with the workers of BITEX factory in Kosovo Polje, who were sacked after refusing to sign an illegal contract.

 

In their case, the labour law was not only violated by the factory owners, but also by the labour inspectors.

 

The show also features an interview with the director of troubled Kosovo Art Gallery and a report on the main problems in Main Family Medical Center in Podujeva.

Jeta Xharra talks to de Marnhac about the efficiency of EULEX in the north of Kosovo and the EULEX investigations intotop Kosovo officials.

 

Is EULEX a peacekeeping mission, a political one or mission of the rule of law?

Why can’t EULEX complete the corruption investigations into Fatmir Limaj and

Hashim Rexhepi? Why EULEX is failing to establish the rule of law in the north

of Kosovo? Why has EULEX trained 550 police officers in crowd and riot control,

while there are only 60 judges and prosecutors in total?

 

What are the reasons for the departure of president of Special Prosecution and

the chief prosecutor of EULEX? How did the conflict between these two affect the

stagnation of corruption investigations in Kosovo?

Afterwards, journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu interviews Fahredin Spahija, the director

of Kosovo Art Gallery, about ongoing problems at the institution and a call from

gallery workers to fire him.

 

At the end of the show, journalist Edona Musa explains why eight directors at the

Main Family Medical Center in Podujeva were fired.

 

Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan

Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 21:00.

What do journalists from Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia say regarding the integration of the Western Balkans in the European Union? Why is Kosovo left out of the visa liberalisation processes? What problems do these countries all face? How do the people of Western Balkans feel about their integration into the EU?

 

To discuss these and other problems facing the states in the Western Balkans regarding EU integration, journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited the following:

 

Gjeraqina Tuhina, Brussels correspondent of Radio Television of Kosovo;

Srdjan Kusovac, editor of Pobjeda newspaper in Montenegro;

Ernest Bunguri, Brussels correspondent of Alsat M television in Macedonia;

Dusan Gajic, Brussels correspondent of Radio Television of Serbia and editor of SeeTV in Serbia.

 

After the debate, BIRN broadcasts a report by journalist Alban Selimi, which reveals the energy theft by many citizens in Kosovo and the courts’ inefficiency in dealing with these cases.

 

Afterwards, journalist Edona Musa looks at the many problems that schools throughout Kosovo are dealing with.

 

BIRN ends the show with a report about how the procedural delays with tenders at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo are seriously endangering children affected by cancer, who are being treated in pediatric oncology ward.

 

What is the vision of these candidates? How do these candidates plan to convince doctors to be more devoted to public sector healthcare, rather than private? How do they plan to benefit UCCK’s revenues? How will UCCK’s budget be decentralized? On what basis will communication between primary, secondary and tertiary health services be developed?

 

The panelists at the debate, all of whom are running for the position of UCCK director, are the following:

 

Afrim Loku, economist

Engjëll Duzhmani, architect

Fitim Selimi, surgeon

Haxhi Avdyli, neurosurgeon

Ramë Miftari, radiologist

Salih Krasniqi, surgeon

 

After the debate, BIRN will broadcast a report by journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu, in which he reveals mismanagement and procedural shortcomings at the Independent Media Commission and the Water and Waste Regulatory Office, highlighted in the latest report by Kosovo\’s Auditor General.

 

Afterwards, journalist Alban Selimi will show how the ring-road in the municipality of Mitrovica has been built twice in four years, and also how road construction in Arbana, which connects the city of Prizren with Gjakova, began two years ago, but is not yet completed.

 

At the end of the show, journalist Edona Musa will report on problems with the sewage system and drinking water in the village of Lipjan.