The new leadership of the municipality of North Mitrovica will have the support of citizens if they deal with people’s problems without political interference, it was said from the debate „Municipality of North Mitrovica – challenges and opportunities“, which was held today in the Media Center in Čaglavica, in which representatives of the municipality of North Mitrovica and non-governmental sector participated.
The director of the NGO Center for the Representation of Democratic Culture said that the new mayor of North Mitrovica currently does not enjoy the trust of the citizens, but that, as he stated, may change in the future.
„If they solve the problems, believe that they will have support from the citizens. And if we are talking about high politics, I am honestly afraid of the first decision of the Municipal Assembly after the election on the opening of the bridge. We know what that bridge is, whatever you think about it, whether it is opening, whether it is functional or not functional, we have the other three bridges that are functional. They scare me that the political decisions of the mayor, with the support of the assembly, can lead to great national intolerance,“ said Radaković.
The deputy mayor of North Mitrovica, Katarina Ađančić, stated that her priority is solving infrastructure problems, but before that, as she stated, given that most of the workers have left this local self-government, it is necessary to form municipal departments.
„If you have given me your trust, I will represent everyone equally, everyone together, everyone who lives in Mitrovica, in the northern part of the city, to see what your problems are, what we can do, what are the priorities.“ It is precisely because of this dysfunction that we now have to create new directories on the fly, hire new workers and solve citizens’ problems properly,“ said Ađančić
When asked how she comments on the fact that the representatives of the Serbian List gave the Government of Kosovo until the first of June to, as they stated, stop the repression of the Serbian people in Kosovo with the message that, if the actions continue, a decisive response from the Serbian people will follow, Katarina Ađančić she said:
„All of us who were born and live in the whole of Kosovo, say, the date Friday the 13th, this date, that date, we survived all the dates. Why did we get that fame? Black Friday, this famous one, Tuesday… For God’s sake, there’s more to it… Don’t keep the people, the people, in fear,“ said Ađančić.
Dušan Radaković also had recommendations for journalists at today’s debate.
„Come tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. to the market in the northern part of Mitrovica to tell the story of how many Albanians come to the northern part of Mitrovica to buy products from Serbs and vice versa.“ Let’s see RTK, KTV, 21, here I am, calling you names publicly. Let’s do a story tomorrow about it. Don’t just make a story about how a Serb shot at an Albanian, how an Albanian stabbed a Serb and vice versa and about such things. One thing that is certain, and disastrous for the government, is that North Mitrovica is the only multi-ethnic city in Kosovo, the only, whatever you say next. Only a father with five children lives in South Mitrovica and is guarded by the police and no one else. „Serbs, Albanians, Bosniaks, Gorani, Roma, Turks, Ashkali and Egyptians live in the northern part of Mitrovica,“ said Radaković.
Dušan Milunović, member of the North Mitrovica Municipality Assembly, speaking about the work and functioning of the municipality, said that this local self-government has already taken certain steps in order to function at full capacity. Milunović spoke about the challenges that the municipality could face.
„After our appointment, the establishment of this convocation, we took several steps such as the formation of the Commission for Minority Communities, the formation of the Commission for Politics and Finance. Now the plan is to form two commissions that have never existed before, the Commission for Politics and Security and the Commission for Gender Equality, which will soon be available to citizens and in which we will include people who want to change something in our city. As the biggest challenge at this moment, I see the cooperation between the assembly as the legislative power and the executive power that we got now and the way we got it,“ Milunović said.
The debate on the topic „Municipality of North Mitrovica – challenges and opportunities“ was organized by the Media Center in Čaglavica with the support of UNMIK.
