Counter-spin: On average, a project has been implemented every 3 to 8 days?!

By Тео Блажевски On Aug 31, 2017 0

With such effort, they deserve more than just the mayor’s office! Photo: Collage – Truthmeter

Првите луѓе на локалната самоуправа, може биле и способни и посветени на работата и на своите грѓани, но никако не биле супермени кои реализирале проекти на секои неколку дена. Тоа, едноставно, е физички невозможно

Local self-governments’ heads may have been capable and dedicated to their work and citizens, but they are not Supermen who have been implementing projects just several days apart. Simply, it’s physically impossible

Author: Teofil Blazhevski

Multiple mayors, members of VMRO-DPMNE, have begun with yet another series of accomplishment reports on what they have done in the past 4.5-year, unexpectedly prolonged, term and while giving their accounts they use tricks with numbers which we assess as spin:

Spin:

Zahariev: We projected 124, but we implemented nearly 450 projects (Source: VMRO-DPMNE)

Chadiev: We promised 117 projects, and we managed to implement 370 in the Municipality of Veles (Source: VMRO-DPMNE)

Strezovski’s accomplishment report: The program of the Municipality of Resen contained 77 project, but we implemented more than 180 (Source: VMRO-DPMNE)

Trajkovski: Hundreds of projects that have improved the citizens’ living conditions were implemented in the Municipality of Gazi Baba (Source: VMRO-DPMNE)

[Source: VMRO-DPMNE, website – date: 24 August 2017]

While preparing for the local elections scheduled in the middle of October 2017, VMRO-DPMNE, by using the already seen scheme of giving accomplishment reports, has again activated the mayors to give their accomplishment reports on what they have done in the past 4.5-year period (they have already done this at the beginning of the year, because they had been expecting the elections to take place regularly). However, one inconsistency and numbers game cannot be unnoticed, which we assess as a spin.

Without going into the matter’s detail (although we do not exclude that as a method) and without denying that many of the mentioned and unmentioned mayors have truly managed to implement a great deal of their promises, we are just going to elaborate on the inexplicability of the presentations of finished projects, from the viewpoint of simple mathematics.

They numbers used by the mayors have no logic grounds. Here’s why.

Let’s take the average number of mayors’ days in office up to and including 15 August 2017. Due to the fact that the elections were supposed to take place in May 2017, and the mayors took office in April 2013, it turns out that we are assessing a period of 1460 days (four year tenure) plus 135 days from April, May, June, July and half of August this year or 1595 days in total, including weekends and holidays i.e. days out of office.

If we divide this number with the number of projects they account for, the results are the following

Ilcho Zahariev, mayor of Shtip, implemented 450 projects, or one every 3.5 days

Slavcho Chadiev, mayor of Veles, implemented 370 projects, or one every 4.3 days

Gjoko Strezovski, mayor of Resen, implemented 180 projects, or one every 8.8 days

Toni Trajkovski, mayor of Gazi Baba, implemented 368 projects, or one every 4.3 days

….

There are other examples of mayors that use such numbers of implemented projects, who also unselectively use the number of kilometers of asphalted roads, square meters of tiled sidewalks, meters of replaced human waste or surface water sewerage, total number of new green surfaces, etc.

According to Truthmeter’s experience, which assesses given promises, priority projects are the most difficult to implement, which is normal because they cost the most. On the other hand, when it comes to priority projects that are promised to be implemented with budget and international money, such as landfills, almost all of the mayors have failed to realize them. There isn’t a single settlement, town, municipality, and even Skopje for that matter, that has solved the waste treatment and management issue in accordance with international standards.

That’s why we’ve decided to write on this topic, this truth spun by numbers. We repeat, without denying that many mayors have done plenty and have dedicated themselves to solve problems concerning their local self-governments, we are convinced that the total numbers of implemented projects are inexplicable and impossible, solely from the viewpoint of the arithmetic operation division (the number of projects divided by the number of days in office). Therefore, such presentation is assessed as a spin.

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This article was created within the framework of the Project to increase the accountability of the politicians and political parties Truthmeter implemented by Metamorphosis. The article is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy(NED) and The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an initiative that supports democracy, good governance, and Euroatlantic integration in Southeastern Europe. The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, National Endowment for Democracy, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, or its partners.