Dear holders of power:
First of all, I congratulate you on your success in the early general election on April 19, wish that your time in office will benefit our country, and thank you in advance for taking the time to read these lines.
I believe your first task will be to set about fixing the economy, our country’s most serious problem. During the campaign, you may have made this problem more complicated, taken it in different directions, and made unrealistic predictions about its causes. But as of today, you have to address it based on the facts.
I would like to remind you that the position you hold obliges you to adhere to the facts. The people of this country can no longer tolerate short-term, populist policies and problems that are presented as if they have been solved, only to grow worse later.
Although I am not an economist, like every individual living in our country, I know very well that the most important factor in the country’s economy reaching this state is the burden the public sector places on the budget. It is worth reminding you of the words spoken by government officials during the last administration: “Indirect taxes have to be high in order for salaries to be paid.”
You, too, will probably experience the weight that the salaries of public employees and pensioners, as well as public spending, carry in the budget. This situation was undoubtedly contributed to—according to some—by the last administration, but it was not created entirely by it. If you, too, fail to solve this problem during your time in office, you will unfortunately make this tangle of problems even worse.
I want you to know that this would also darken the country’s future.
I particularly want to put the task of bringing order to the public sector on your agenda. It is an undeniable fact that resolving this issue properly will make it easier to solve many problems in other areas.
Reducing the budget allocated to the public sector will help address problems in many areas, such as education and healthcare, and enable investment; support for the private sector will increase production and encourage people to work in that sector; and citizens freed from a heavy tax burden will be able to breathe more easily.
Increasing efficiency in the public sector will allow us to manage far more wisely the time that is wasted and is, in fact, our most valuable asset.
It will also eliminate the inefficiency arising in our country from civil servants and people temporarily working in the private sector who want to become civil servants. The social injustice created by this situation will consequently disappear as well.
In light of all these facts, it is vitally important that the policies you develop have the capacity to safeguard the country’s future.
The state must cease to be a source of jobs and immediately become an entity that “provides coordination,” in keeping with the needs of our age.
We all know that the Cyprus issue is our country’s biggest problem.
But it is plain to see that the public sector, which has become our largest enterprise, lies at the root of our other problems, as I mentioned above, and that its own internal problems have made it impossible to find a way forward!
The problems in the public sector, which is the biggest obstacle facing the TRNC as it seeks to stand on its own feet, must also be your primary concern.
Referring to the vision for resolving the Cyprus issue expressed by all the political parties that took part in the election during the campaign, I would like to point out that the desired solution can be achieved only with a TRNC that is able to stand on its own feet.
Wishing you success during your time in office…