Zelenskyy’s turnaround – humble leadership
This caps a week of much turbulence in Ukraine. There have been many articles which have touched on the Ukrainian situation, discussing the issues tied to anti-corruption activists, the new law limiting the independence of some of anti-corruption agencies, as well the searches of the anti-corruption agencies, and finally, President Zelenskyy’s signing the law. This has led to protests in Ukraine, as well as concern expressed by donors and no doubt glee in Moscow. Politico EU , which has been following all of this very closely, noted that “[o]n Tuesday, Zelenskyy signed into law a bill placing Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies under the authority of the president’s loyalist prosecutor general, which agencies said effectively destroyed their independence. Two days later, Zelenskyy introduced another bill reverting the changes, after he said Wednesday night that he “heard the public opinion.”” The next step will be to rescind the law and move forward with this new law. This has all occurred quite quickly, which has been reassuring, though obviously it would have been best if this hadn’t occurred. Why it occurred is still a question and one which no doubt will be debated for quite a while.
What needs to be done now? Thankfully, as noted, President Zelenskyy has understood why the law he signed was a mistake. Of course, the next steps should be to ensure that the Parliament has also heard the message. Unfortunately, over the years, the Ukrainian Parliament, has not been so interested in being a servant of the people – it was the political party, the Servant of the People, that originally presented the bill. What civil society and the donors need to make certain that the voices of the people continue to be heard, as the Ukrainian people are the ones fighting in the trenches for their country. As I have said, they deserve better and we must help them with that goal.
Links:
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-corruption-nabu-european-union-protests/33483051.html