THE SLAUGHTER of the sacred cow by the Supreme Constitutional Court was bloodless, but it still left such a mess that it could take a long time to clear up.
First, however, I would like to congratulate myself, as I am sure nobody else will do it, for correctly predicting last week how things would play out if the unthinkable happened. I wrote “Odysseas will attain martyrdom, a tragic hero who was crushed by a corrupt establishment because he refused to bow to it,” and I was absolutely, spot on, and am now eligible to declare myself a clairvoyant.
This was his official narrative as soon as he stepped out of the supreme court on Wednesday, which he very humbly declared a “black day for Cyprus.” We will now have a third black anniversary to mark alongside the coup and Turkish invasion – the day Odysseas was sacked by the merciless and corrupt system.
His martyrdom was dealt with by his dad Philippos, who sent a letter 24 hours after the black day to Phil, which the paper described as “devastating,” placing the sacking of his son in its historical context.
He wrote: “Three times does Greek history present cases of innocent people who were condemned by illegitimate conference. The first case was in antiquity, Socrates… the second case was Christ, sentenced to death because they envied him… The third instance was the case of Odysseas Michaelides, my son.”
The comparison was a bit of a stretch, even allowing for some grief-inspired poetic licence, considering Odysseas was not sentenced to death – he just lost his job – even if his sister tweeted that He was “crucified;” and Christ wasn’t Greek, really.
THE NEWS appeared to have devastated hacks at Odysseas’ semi-official mouthpiece Phil which carried several fire and brimstone articles about the miscarriage of justice suffered by their hero, slamming the judges, the attorney-general and poor old Prezniktwo, whom they held personally responsible for what happened.
It was unclear whether his zealots at the paper were distraught about what they saw as a miscarriage of injustice or because of the realisation that their main source of exclusive news had dried up. Odysseas leaked everything to Phil first; he even leaked censorious letters to the paper before they were delivered to the recipient.
The paper pulled their readers’ heartstrings with melodramatic reports about his staff and daughter breaking out in tears in the courtroom. His staff were also in tears when he said goodbye to them at the office. And then his zealot in chief, columnist Kallinikou, urged him to enter politics, something Odysseas alluded to when leaving the courtroom on the black day for Kyproulla.
Ever since Makarios died 47 years ago, Phil has been unsuccessfully looking for a politician to replace him – someone to worship, to treat as a living deity, as a saviour of the country – and I believe they have found a new “one and only” in Odysseas.
IF WE ARE looking for more recent historic parallels – apart from similarity to Christ and Socrates – the comrades of Akel, who loyally supported Mak’s autocratic rule, are now putting all their weight behind Odysseas.
The commies have organised a protest demo outside the presidential palace at 4pm today to “condemn the system of corruption and cover-ups.” Comrade chief Stef Stef said “after the sacking of the auditor-general, nobody has the right to remain apathetic towards the system of institutional graft and corruption, set up in the last years by the Anastasiades-Disy administration.”
Were the judges who unanimously decided to sack Odysseas part of the system of institutional graft and corruption? He avoided saying so, but he implied it. Not to be outdone, Edek, which was also a Mak worshipper, announced it will also jump on the bandwagon and participate in the protest outside the palace to attack the government to which it belongs.
If enough people turn up the demo could turn into a proletarian revolution that overthrows the system of institutional corruption and installs Odysseas as our new leader to clean up the swamp.
THE NOTORIOUSLY thin-skinned Prezniktwo cannot be very happy with the fallout of the Odysseas case. No matter how hard he tried to persuade everyone that he had nothing to do with what happened he is being squarely blamed for Odysseas’ axing.
Both Phil and Akel have blamed him personally for failing to stop AG George Savvides from filing the application for Odysseas’ termination, neither accepting his excuse that he could not intervene in the work of the AG. Phil carried out a survey through its website which found that 84 per cent of respondents believed that the Prez could have taken action to prevent the feud between the AG and Odysseas.
Even more depressing for our people-pleaser Prez was that according to the same poll his popularity/approval rating had sunk to 9 per cent. Worse still, Odysseas, according to his mouthpiece, could be standing against him in 2028 but does not plan to set up a party or a movement.
Why would he as he will be supported by Phil, Akel, Edek and the Greens, who will not attend Sunday’s jamboree, but will be having its own gathering on Wednesday.
PRESIDENTIAL anxiety was evident in the comments by his spokesmen. Victoras, his bouncer, asked “why is tomorrow’s protest at the presidential palace,” while gentler Mini Me said about the protest:
“What is confounding, is why outside the presidential palace? The decision was not taken by the presidency, was not taken by the legislature. It was taken by the Supreme Constitutional Court. If Akel considers the decision mistaken, I cannot understand why outside the presidential palace.”
PREZNIKTWO, rightly or wrongly, is considered responsible for not doing anything to prevent the slaughter of the sacred cow and will now have to pay a price for it. If a large number of people turn up at the presidential palace today it will surely terrify the prez.
He was also criticised, perhaps unfairly as he was in Athens, for not signing the paper formalising Odysseas’ sacking. It was left to House president Annita to sign the paper on the black day. Many asked why the signing could not have waited until he returned from Greece, speculating that he was afraid to take on the responsibility.
Mini Me could have said that the prez had not even signed the termination paper, so why was the protest not being held outside the legislature? Annita, after all, had finalised the sacking, not the prez.
Apparently there was a rush to get Odysseas out of the audit office because he had tried to arrange last-minute transfers of his trusted subordinates to other key posts.
OUR ESTABLISHMENT will miss Odysseas because he made great copy and produced some very good reports even though our customers did not approve of our tendency not to treat him as a sacred cow. If I were Hindu I would but I am not. Then again nobody is happy when someone loses his job.
There was also some good news for the Michaelides family last week. His sister Anastasia Kamenou, who entered the civil service through the back door on a top pay scale – an appointment that was not investigated by the audit office – was promoted by the public service commission on Friday to the post of director of the interior ministry together with six others.
WE NOW have to live with institutional corruption until 2028. But as Phil’s leading zealot Kallinikou wrote on Saturday, “2028 is not that far away. Now everything begins.”
He concluded: “The sword that beheaded Odysseas pales against Sword of Damocles which society has drawn. It will be hanging over the rotten deep state from now. Until it finds the suitable time to strike.” Amen
