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Tribunal about privatization in Kosova

28. May 2010

On Thursday 21st May, Lëvizja VETËVENDOSJE! held the first of new series of public presentations and discussions: a ‘Tribuna’ regarding the privatization of PTK, Kosova’s Post and Telecommunications Corporation.

The objective of this Tribuna is to ensure that the people of Kosova are actively engaged in a public debate over the privatization of public property, of which they are the owners and thus, to remove this issue from the secrecy and lack of transparency of our corrupt politicians.

Two presentations were given. The first was made by Visar Ymeri, Director of the Committee for Economics in Lëvizja VETËVENDOSJE!

The second presentation was made by Professor Ismet Hamiti, a renowned specialist in telecommunications and initiator of the founding of the mobile telephone company “VALA”.

Ymeri focused on explaining the Movement’s position regarding privatization, saying, “We are against privatization as an ideological principle, a privatization which is done for the sake of privatization. We are against the privatization of enterprises which are of great economic and strategic importance for Kosovo, which bring in a large and significant income for Kosova’s budget.”

Following this, he explained why the current process of privatization should be stopped.

First, he argued that a process of de-colonization needs to take place, declaring invalid the forcible transfer of Kosova’s property by Serbia in the 1990s, and returning it to its rightful owner, the people of Kosova. Second he pointed out that its does not make sense to sell our resources, whilst we are not able to access the money from the privatization fund. Third, he argued that privatization must be preceded by a long-term plan for economic development, so that the state knows how to invest moneys received from privatization sales. Fourthly, he suggested that a strong and sustainable state is a necessary pre-condition for privatization. Such a state can regulate independent operators, protect workers from exploitation and achieve a satisfactory distribution of resources to all. Another important requirement is a legal infrastructure which eliminates private monopolies and control by the powerful.

Professor Hamiti explained what privatization of PTK would mean in concrete terms.

“Privatization means making public property into private property; everybody’s property into someone’s property. In this case, privatization means making a public company with an annual income of about 130-140 million Euros into the property of one individual or various individuals”.

He stated that the current Minister of Economics and Finance, Ahmet Shala, had been thoroughly negligent, because although declaring that privatizing PTK is a priority, he has never presented any research or analysis about how it should be put on the market, to the public.

Hamiti focused particularly on the current condition of PTK, saying, “Up to now, I’ve been using an estimated sum of PTK’s annual income, and not its annual income based on its own reports. I did this because the profits declared publicly do not reflect the true value of PTK. This is because for a long time, PTK has been poorly managed, misused, and harshly abused. In fact, even the estimated annual income could be higher if PTK was being directed with responsibility and professionalism. Unfortunately, for a long time, PTK has been under the control of charlatans, who are irresponsible and criminal”.

Hamiti noted that another extremely important issue is the link between the telecommunications network and national security, saying, “Whoever controls telecommunications controls the state. Usually, the entrance of a foreign operator in another state occurs on the basis of reciprocity.” He concluded, “There is no analysis or study which could show that it would be better for 130-140 million Euros of annual income to go into private pockets, rather than the budget of our country. This is not the moment to put this property on the market because: PTK is not in a good condition due to poor management and severe misuse. The atmosphere in which PTK functions is chaotic. The law on telecommunications is nonsensical and there are no elementary regulations for the functioning of the market. The world is in a financial crisis precisely because the lack of market regulation created the space for financial speculation. This should be a lesson for our Government that without strong regulation there is no free market and they should take the decision that now is not the time to sell PTK”.

Commenting on the Government’s apparent rush to privatize PTK, he expressed his fear that this was because they had already defined a buyer.

Participants then engaged in the Tribuna. One of those who commented was the head of the PTK workers Union, Milazim Alshiqi. He explained about a petition that PTK workers had signed against privatization and promised that the PTK unions would strongly protest against the privatization of PTK. Also, he proposed a referendum in which the people of Kosova would decide about the privatization of PTK as it is a national resource and thus everyone should participate in deciding its fate.

Flamur Kaçiu, student in the Economics Faculty of the University of Prishtina asked the panelists about the social consequences of PTK’s privatization, recalling the suicides that recently occurred in France.

Ymeri replied that, “Privatization in every country has had social consequences. It has always resulted in lost jobs. However, the cause of suicides is more complex. It occurs when, as a result of anomie, when an individual is totally alienated and their will to live is destroyed. Probably the most challenging form of alienation for someone is the loss of a job which they had for years.”

Another PTK worker asked, “We have understood now the serious situation in which we are and the risk threatening us, but the question is what we should do?”

Professor Ismet Hamiti advised people to join with VETËVENDOSJE!

Ymeri said he believed there were two key factors affecting people’s lack of commitment to privatization. The first is that the people of Kosova have never felt that Kosova’s resources are theirs, because they have never been in charge of them. And the other factor is the lack of awareness of the great injustice being done to them. However, Ymeri concluded that, “The situation in which we find ourselves now can be overcome; it just needs will and hard work instead of hoping in the good will of our political elite.”

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