Filipche to Mickoski: Water Is Contaminated in Half the Country, and You Have No Answer

SDSM leader Venko Filipche addressed a direct parliamentary question to Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski from the rostrum, with a sharp assessment that "every day, the incompetence, corrupt practices and lies with which you govern are increasingly coming to light."

"Not even the strong PR helps. People simply no longer believe you, the masks have fallen, and you can no longer hide this," Filipche told the assembled MPs and ministers.

The central part of his address was devoted to the water crisis. "Water is contaminated in half the country — in Gostivar, in Valandovo, in several municipalities of Skopje — and you have no answer to many questions. Whose responsibility is it? Who carried out the inspections? Why were the results not properly reported?" he asked.

As a particularly alarming example, Filipche pointed to the finding from the hospital in Leshok: "The water was contaminated in the hospital in Leshok. Mind you — a result from a sample taken from a tap in a hospital where patients are being treated. There is no answer as to what the results are now."

The SDSM leader accused the government of hiding the results of the water analyses in Gostivar and said citizens are receiving contradictory messages from the top of the government. "Why do you have contradictory statements — you say one thing, the health minister another? That the water would supposedly be good for drinking, and then that it would only be technically safe. People are confused, they do not know what to do and they do not know whom to believe," Filipche said.

The question to Mickoski remained essential: who will take responsibility for the fact that citizens have gone weeks without safe drinking water while the institutions remain silent.

Photo: SDSM / video recording from the Parliament