Photo: Zarko Marinov
It’s not enough to have one camera and someone watching me from the bars.” With these words at the end of the Municipal Council meeting on December 17, Council Chairman Seydi Sherifov explained the lack of video broadcasting from the Municipal Council hall in Borino. December 7 was the deadline set by Regional Governor Zahari Sirakov for the implementation of the provisions of the Local Self-Government and Local Administration Act (ZMSMA) on the publicity of the work of the municipal council.
With Instruction No. AK-01-03-05-2065/07.11.2025, Sirakov ordered the mayor of Borino, Mustafa Karaahmed, to take action within one month to fulfill the obligations under Articles 28-29 and Article 48a of the Local Self-Government and Local Administration Act and to notify the regional governor in writing.
“The market” as an alibi
Sherifov explained that, unlike other municipalities, Borino has a “different market,” a lack of interest from suppliers, and a need for “licensed” software that cannot be “manipulated.” “First, we took the steps within the legal deadline in terms of bidding,” he said. But no one “legally offering this service” showed any interest in the proposal. When he did not receive an “offer,” Sheriffov had nothing more to do. “And then what am I supposed to say now?” he said. Then he shrugged: “And how am I going to motivate him to come? With my personal qualities and personal friendship? Well, that’s not going to work.”
After addressing the issue of the “market,” Sheriffov moved on to finances and procedures. “Once the proposal is selected… So many cameras, so many things. Done. So much money,” he said. He reiterated that there is also a problem with financing the video broadcast. “Funding must be secured. I can’t pay for it out of my own pocket,” said the chairman.
The “small-time hacker” and the big delay
Sherifov believes that the video from the Municipal Council should reach the people with “professional filming” and be broadcast and stored with special software.
“It’s not enough to have one camera and someone watching me there, in the bars. It’s okay to watch me there, but with adequate video recording devices. This footage has to be stored somewhere. And this footage has to be managed with some kind of software that is licensed and guaranteed not to be manipulated by any small-time hacker. Such software, you know, costs…”
he said, without finishing his last sentence. The councilors listened to him in silence.
“There is no municipal council in the country that does not broadcast its meetings online,” Ventsislav Spirdonov, chairman of the National Association of Municipal Council Chairmen, told BTA on October 15, 2024. If a video broadcast is so “complicated” for the Municipal Council in Borino that it cannot be launched for a year and a half, people will rightly ask what is easy. And without broadcasting, it is not clear who is speaking, who is insisting, who is silent. And in whose interest the decision of the local parliament is being made.
