Changes - Local Council, MoRA, Cabinet, and more...

I will offer some good faith opinions, since I have some experience in the Ministry. It does not take much time to run our three newspapers. One just needs to keep a good eye for potential writers and potential stories and to commit to a schedule. There are always good stories or interviews to be published, even at times when news might seem slow. It does take a little longer to organise cultural events, but it can be easily done if one has the proper motivation and seeks the right ideas for activities and themes. It is quite difficult to have a recruitment and mentoring programme, and I will argue that this cannot and should not be the task of just one ministry, but rather of the Cabinet as whole, since it deals with involvement in all sorts of different ministries and sections of our forum. A concerted effort is needed to have success in this area.

I honestly do not believe that the Ministry of Regional Affairs needs to be partitioned, for the simple fact that it needs one central figure to coordinate different activities. A cultural event will need proper advertising. A newspaper might want to participate in an interregional event by interviewing foreign participants. It definitely is possible to have that kind of coordination between two different ministries, but coordination remains much faster and more efficient if someone is there to lead. Having two figures makes that slower and more complicated.

If a division had to be done, however, I would argue that three ministries are an excess. I would agree that two can be an acceptable division, one for communications and integration and a second one for cultural development. It divides the current ministry in its two historical components, so the change is not too drastic and allows for a seamless transition. Still, I have to restate my original argument that keeping the Ministry intact would be better, and that if changes need to be made, they should be done by the Minister, perhaps by giving greater prominence and responsibility to the roles of Deputy Ministers, so they become important offices in their own right.

You can certainly dismiss these thoughts, but I do hope you will take them into account. I have found that the Ministry of Regional Affairs, more than legal changes and alterations, often needs good leadership and, more importantly, support from both the government and the region. Having someone good at the top to keep everyone motivated, and having people willing to be motivated, will work better than making changes to the law. At the very least, it worked to inspire the last three or four generations of Ministry leadership. Hopefully we can continue that trend.