Tirana, Albania (Tirana Echo) – The Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama has fired this morning the Minister of Justice Ylli Manjani after several months of disagreements over key policy issues in the council of ministers. The Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), junior partner in the center-left coalition immediately proposed that Mr. Manjani is replaced by Mr. Petrit Vasili, Vice Chair of SMI and Leader of its parliamentary group.
Rebel Minister Manjani was sacked after a meeting between socialist Prime Minister Rama and his coalition partner Ilir Meta, Speaker of Parliament, where he asked the SMI leader for the resignation of Manjani due to his rebellious nature and criticisms voiced against Rama’s policies, notably his irreconcilable rift with Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri.
Several online portals reported last night that PM Rama planned to fire Justice Minister Ylli Manjani, a long time harsh critic of Rama, and senior representative of the Socialist Movement for Integration. Such claims were later dismissed by Manjani through a Facebook status who denied any intentions to resign from his position.
Faced with Manjani’s refusal to resign, Prime Minister Edi Rama decided in an unprecedented move to fire one of his most outspoken ministers in public opinion, further deepening what is already underway as a major crisis between the two center-left partners in the governing coalition of Albania, the Socialist Party and the Socialist Movement for Integration.
Minister Manjani responded this afternoon through a tough flamboyant press conference where he accused Edi Rama of wanting to control all his ministers and their public statements, further dropping the ‘bomb’ that Rama’s government is a corrupt body captured by the interests of drug cartels which control the Albanian Police in managing the massive cannabis plantations which have flourished across Albania in the last 2 years.
“Since I entered Government I was confronted with a procedure which had nothing to do with government work. Ministers were never allowed to speak up in the council of ministers, and this has been unacceptable for me…. Since last summer, the Prime Minister has increased his pressure on Speaker Meta to pull me out of the Government, because I speak to the media without his permission,” said Manjani today.
Manjani also said that he has voiced his concerns at the council of ministers on several corruptive affairs where energy concessions were given out without open tenders or when foreign investors were intimidated and not protected by the Government of Edi Rama.
“My sacking is pure revenge and is linked to my various public positions, notably on the cannabis issue,” said a visibly shaken Manjani, adding that the prime Minister was particularly disturbed at his uncovering of the Police’s unwillingness to arrest notorious drug baron Klemend Balili, especially after the arrest warrant issued by Interpol on the 17th May 2016.
It is not the first time that Rama and Manjani clash in public. In 2010, Manjani left the Socialist Party, and joined the Socialist Movement of Integration amid accusations that Rama had “created a malign atmosphere within the SP”.
Since then, Manjani has slowly climbed the political ladder of Speaker Ilir Meta’s SMI to become Justice Minister in November 2015.
Ylli Manjani becomes the first minister to be sacked in 6 years in Albania, since former PM Sali Berisha fired his culture minister Ylli Pango over a sexual affair in 2009.
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