North Macedonia and the tragedy of corruption
On Saturday, 15 March, a horrific fire occurred in a North Macedonian night club, which has been documented in the international press, that lead to 59 dying and over 200 injured, some being sent abroad for treatment. Having spent nine months in Skopje working on a USAID anti-corruption program, I felt significant sadness when I read that corruption was considered to play a part in this tragedy.
From the Guardian, “The Prime Minister, Hristijan Mickoski, said preliminary investigations had revealed that the entertainment venue was operating illegally with an invalid license obtained from the country’s economy ministry “in exchange for a bribe”. A former mayor of Kočani, Ratko Dimitrovski, had refused to issue a permit for the nightclub because it failed to meet basic safety standards.”
Sadly, this is common, and there was surprise on the part of government that only 12 cabarets in the country received licenses while there were hundreds of nightclubs throughout the country that were apparently legally open.
North Macedonia seemingly has a strong anti-corruption ethic, but as this tragic event reminds all of us in the field, the reality is that checked boxes do not reflect a genuine culture, where government officials are willing to take bribes knowing full well that such tragedies are just one match away from igniting.
As I always ask, what should be done? In this case, people have come out to protest and civil society groups call for more to be done by government to address these issues. The hope is that the people who died due to corruption, will not have done so in vain. And, besides keeping a light on this, the perpetrators of this tragedy should be brought to face justice and be held accountable.
Links:
https://www.livenowfox.com/news/north-macedonia-nightclub-fire