OUR INTERVIEW. Ociepa: We knew big water was coming. Tusk must tell the truth about the approaching threat

““Tusk must tell the truth about the approaching real risk and call for preparedness,” MP Marcin Ociepa said in an interview with wPolityce.pl. The former deputy head of the Ministry of Defense believes that Tusk is currently not dealing with a flood crisis, but with an “image crisis of the prime minister.” “He takes action when there are cameras showing someone’s critical statement,” the deputy head of the PiS club said, adding that the public “owes reliable information about the threat.”

wPolityce.pl portal: Prime Minister Donald Tusk maintains his words from December 13 that the predictions were not so alarming at that time. So when did they start?

Marcin Ociepa: We knew for sure that the big waters were coming much earlier than Prime Minister Tusk now claims. Hydrological maps appeared on social media indicating that the amount of precipitation, given the current capacity of hydrotechnical facilities, would lead to flooding. Because we knew about it from the so-called open sources, let alone the Prime Minister, who has access to the RCB and all the reports warning of threats. As an ordinary MP, I warned about the approaching threat from the podium on September 12, outside the Sejm session schedule. I thought this was very important. In fact, the Prime Minister should mobilize WOT and many other services at this time.

In October last year, in an interview for Polsat, Tusk called WOT a “paramilitary”. As deputy head of the Ministry of Defense, you demanded an apology from him. Do you think he still treats WOT soldiers so disrespectfully?

How will someone who called WOT “paramilitary”, that is, did not understand and respect these soldiers, be able to deal with them? If someone does not respect the volunteer fire brigade and criticizes the supply of equipment to them, he will appreciate their capabilities and manage them. In my opinion, there is a great incompetence. We have returned to the time of the first Tusk government, when people could not count on the state.

Later, however, the Polish state faced several serious crises. Do you think that people, having learned from experience, now expect much more than Tusk offers them?

During the eight years of United Right rule, we have had a number of crises: pandemic, war in Ukraine and refugee crisis, hybrid war on the border with Belarus, inflation, coal crisis. Everywhere we saw crisis management on a large scale. We have shown that the state can take care of people if it is managed properly. Tusk was not in Poland at that time and did not experience it. He stopped at the stage of his first rule and does not understand that people today expect crisis management not only at the level of large cities like Wrocław, but also in smaller towns. As a former deputy head of the Ministry of National Defense, I believe that Tusk does not think systemically and has not developed a map of needs in a crisis situation. It is about the needs of more than just large cities. The state needs to know whether help is needed there.

Is that why he makes late decisions?

We see Tusk using scandal management. Where there are cameras showing someone’s critical statements, he takes action. When the words of someone who says that there is no crisis management are made public, suddenly the army appears in large numbers and the prime minister plugs the holes. This is not crisis management caused by a natural disaster, a flood. This is to control the prime minister’s image crisis. Suddenly he shows that he is banging his fist on the table and saying that it cannot be like this and sends the army there. Why is this army not in other important places, in the villages of Jarnołtówek and Kopice?

Every day we see a broadcast of crisis meetings with the participation of Prime Minister Tusk, and even a conference with the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. To whom is this message addressed?

When Prime Minister Tusk appears in front of the cameras, he reaches out to non-governmental organizations, for example, WOŚP. All this to restore your image. I do not understand why there was no press conference with the head of the Volunteer Fire Department or with the heads of ZHP and ZHR, who are participating in the relief operation. Since Poles associate the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, the Prime Minister appears together with Jurek Owsiak for publicity. However, the Volunteer Fire Department manages thousands of trained people. Are they even involved in the management system, do they participate in crisis teams? I know that, unfortunately, they are not. Smaller towns now rely only on interpersonal solidarity. It is good that it exists, but it should be the actions of the Polish state, managed by the Prime Minister.

During the PiS regime, the government’s Crisis Management Team met weekly. Was that the case this year?

Interministerial cooperation is also crucial. Before the flood, there were no government crisis management teams organized, as was the case in the United Right era. And yet, in such situations, RZZK is the prime minister’s basic instrument, which is managed by RCB. The prime minister has not used these instruments at all, and yet, in such situations, the basis is to assume a worst-case scenario. Tusk, in the name of preserving his image as a person who only brings good news – this is the only way I can explain his actions – instead of informing the voivodes and public opinion, he calms down. A society that has to cope with the coming crisis deserves reliable information. Tusk must tell the truth about the approaching real risk and call for preparedness. Voivodes must provide accurate information. Unfortunately, after contacting local government officials, I know that they had no information at the municipal level about what was happening with retention reservoirs and what to expect.

Thanks for the interview.

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