The boletus looks clean and fair, but … A big rival revealed what was happening in Prague
MIDNIGHT INTERVIEW Contracts for friendly companies, millions for projects that no one uses, and a tender for the subway with a single winner. The head of the YES club, Ondřej Prokop, parodied the information graphics that the mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates), posted on Instagram. While Hřib boasts success in transparency and reducing corruption, the opposition representative perceives it differently.
Ondřej Prokop therefore decided to redesign the infographic. According to him, the Pirates preach water, but drink wine themselves. “They are experts in the double standard and they boast something that is not true at all. The huge IT scandals and problems they have been looking forward to and claiming to be as good at it have been a big mess from the start. They appointed Milan Krch, the Central Bohemian deputy, and made him head of the IT department, which is strange in itself, because it was not even during the time of the ODS or the CSSD that a high party official would make the head of the municipal department. This is very non-standard, “said the deputy.
It was under him that a lot of special IT orders were to be issued, which were part of reports from various media. “They divided orders up to two million crowns and commissioned various IT analyzes to dubious companies without employees and on virtual headquarters. It was under pressure to warn that there was a violation of the Public Procurement Act. They do not have a moral right to claim that they would clean up public contracts, “said Prokop, adding that he published the parody infographic in order to draw attention to these scandals. “I wanted to point out that what he claims and how he pretends to be pure and final justice is not true at all. They behave worse than traditional parties, “he said.
You can find Ondřej Prokop’s contribution HERE
How transparent was the selection procedures of the Prague IT department?
“We are proving that it is possible to do public contracts without mischief. In recent years, there has been no corruption case in public procurement, as was the case with our predecessors, “says the infographics of Pirates with the face of Mayor Zdeněk Hřiba. According to him, honest work is behind more transparent management. However, Ondřej Prokop refuses. “The mere fact that the IT contracts were investigated by the Antimonopoly Office, which stated that the contract was not in order and is initiating administrative proceedings with the municipality due to an error, shows that the allegation in the graphics is nonsense,” Prokop said. He admits to the Pirates a partial measure of transparency in contracts and public procurement, but he is annoyed that he does not take steps until after three years in government at the end of the election period, not at the beginning.
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He therefore claims that it is about attracting voters before the autumn municipal and senate elections. “It simply came to our notice then. Some statements apply, but the things he wrote in the graphics do not prevent officials or politicians from being able to influence management. The Pirates do not have the greatest credit for transparency, but the previous government of the YES movement, which introduced an online register for contracts over one hundred thousand crowns throughout the Czech Republic. This is the most essential for transparent contracts in the last ten years, “says the head of the Prague representatives YES.
Prokop: The mayor chooses likable topics and solves surrogate problems
So how do the Pirates run the Prague City Hall? “It simply came to our notice then. The mayor chooses only pleasing PR topics. Ideally depending on where he can take a picture on Facebook. And it solves surrogate problems such as cycle lanes or street renaming instead of major problems, such as inaccessible housing, when even the middle class does not have to buy an apartment. The big problem is transport and insufficient coordination of traffic closures. Last year we witnessed the biggest collapse of Prague in its entire history and this year it is starting to happen again. It is one big chaos and the mayor is trying to cover up the essentials with attractive sub-topics and sell them as successes, “said Ondřej Prokop.
It is said that Adam Scheinherr, Transport Square (Prague itself), bears full responsibility for the traffic situation. Prokop believes that they do not sufficiently coordinate the closures, which do not only concern the excavations of the municipality, but also the Transport Company of the Capital City of Prague, private developers and other institutions. “The mayor wants to develop politically by entrusting the coordination of officials and the head of transport, but he does not have the political mandate to tell water managers to postpone the excavation. I have to do that, the mayor, “he said. There are also concerns about the reconstruction of the Barrand Bridge, which is urgently needed. Prokop pointed out that during the last three years, the Pirates should have made great efforts to build the planned Dvorecký Bridge, which has been ready since the time of the former mayor of Prague, Adriana Krnáčová (YES). He was connected to the Podolsk and Smíchov railway stations and thus a natural detour of the Barrandov Bridge was created.
It is also necessary to solve the problems of Praguers
“Specifically, Čižinský Prague won the election on the topic of repairing the Libeň Bridge, and that is only a repair. It hasn’t started yet and the Dvorecký Bridge isn’t there either. Instead of painting lanes for cyclists, they should focus on major constructions, then Prague would be elsewhere. To this day, two Prague circuits have been missing since the revolution. Even though Prague has less influence over it and it is a matter of building the state, the matter cannot be postponed. When both circuits are completed, the traffic will improve a bit, “believes Ondřej Prokop.
Furthermore, to emphasize the need to focus on the problems of Praguers. I perceive this problem in Prague as well as in the national government. “In recent weeks and months, we have seen that more attention is being paid to the refugee crisis and needs to be addressed, but there is also a need to address the problems of Prague residents who are losing weight faster than the rest of the country. The government does not address the cost of living, housing problems and the energy crisis, seniors in housing estates, the increase in waste costs. The mushroom government raised almost everything before inflation came – water, fares and so on, “said the movement’s YES politician.
He also doesn’t like the investigation of the contract for line D of the Prague metro. Ondřej Prokop suspects that only advantageous companies have entered the tender. Foreign companies were excluded by the condition of team members with native Czech, which they see as discriminatory. “To add something positive in the end, I hope that the people of Prague have learned from the last four years and will choose parties in the elections that offer a specific program solution, not a fight against something. It is necessary for a new political representation to be created and to help Praguers and vulnerable groups that have deep pockets, “added Ondřej Prokop.
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author: Zuzana Koulová
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