In recent years in Cyprus there has been an escalation of announcements for a series of policies on every scientist, which to those who live far from here, may give the impression that our country is mutating and evolving rapidly.
Policies for the transition to the knowledge economy and for the expansion of our footprint internationally are announced by various ministers, almost on a monthly basis. Because these are the two when we talk about sustainable development, circular economy, resilience, extroversion, strengthening our relations with the international political and business community, modernizing the State, reforming the local government and introducing new institutions in almost every policy body. and power in the place. What actually happens is a little different. Intentions can be “good”, but as the well-known saying goes “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”.
In the private sector, unfortunately, not only with the support of the various European programs and with a non-existent investment management system from domestic and foreign venture capital and horizon and depth funds, not much can be done. If we take into account the dependence of our private economic production on four, literally, branches of economic activity, some of which are extremely introverted and with a strong aversion, at least until today, to any “disruption” of their operating model, we do not seem to “go »In the knowledge economy soon. Certainly not just statements and announcements.
Respectively, in the public sector, in recent years and especially during the current government – for the previous one there can not even be a reason – the progress achieved in substance in all areas, is the result of the effort of literally two or three ministries , who were fortunate to have politicians and service leaders who had a plan, method and skills. That is, those qualifications that created those necessary alliances of interest to carry out their work, managing with genuine leadership criteria, the policy they announced, as well as any inevitable reaction caused by their manipulations.
Without nullifying the work of others, it is no exaggeration to say that a feature that is hotly debated in the “market” and in public opinion is the vision and mentality that characterized some other institutions that, while in charge of leading their areas of responsibility, ended up simply pursue a policy of creating and managing impressions instead of a policy of result. Some, while they could have done better, ended up being between the two, due to the other corporate distortions that characterize the institutions that were called to manage politically.
The dangerous thing about the one-sided commitment of some to creating impressions through unannounced announcements is that while announcements and statements can impress the public and promise redemption in “points” in the polls, in fact they end up causing the opposite result from what they seek. After all, when they do not translate into successful projects or even proper project attempts, they end up disappointing. Even worse, when they are characterized by sloppiness and backwardness and especially when other things are said and other things are done, then they are making fun of, insulting and irritating the citizens, the officials who are necessarily involved and, of course, the voters. The latter, whether they go to vote or not or whoever they vote for in the end if and when they go, it is good to know that they always pay the bill with their money, since the popular verdict is money.
That is why when announcing plans, programs, projects, initiatives, “innovations” in any area of responsibility of any ministry is always useful but now it is necessary to give schedules broken down by key point of expected completion of each part of each project and each announcement. To distinguish “policy intentions” from real achievements.
After all, when this is not done, the announcements are not believed by those who announce them, nor by those who read them, nor by those who are called to end them. And this must be done in all and for all the projects, materials and intangibles, that are announced and for which public money is spent.
The latter is also the most important, after all, since we pay and we certainly do not want to pay for various words of the air to say with the sole concern of their “parade” from the front pages of the newspapers. When they will pay with their own money, let them say what they want and let them do whatever their minds “cut”…
