The village of Henclová (Košice Region), which has only about 100 people, including about 10 children, received €40,000 from the PM’s reserve to build a multi-functional stadium. The money is usually used to solve crisis situations, the Sme daily reported.
The village has a local grocery shop and a pub. It does not even have a school, as it was closed years ago due to a lack of children. Pupils now visit the school in Nálepkovo, which is some eight kilometres away.
The mayor of the village, Lýdia Šomšáková, is a Smer nominee. She explained to Sme that during 18 years in her post, the village has applied several projects, with some of which it succeeded. This included the reconstruction of a road, replacement of windows at the local municipal authority or the creation of an educational path.
“I know people would welcome other things, but this was a block grant related to a playground,” Šomšáková told Sme.
The playground may be used also by children from nearby villages, she added.
The ethics watchdog Transparency International Slovensko meanwhile published a map of pre-election subsidies allocated by the Government’s Office. It wrote about Henclová that it is a village “with 100 souls where a child is born once in three years on average and where a village has lost one-fifth of inhabitants in the past 15 years who either left or died”, as reported by Sme.
People addressed by Sme, however, say they would need other things, including a mourning house or an aqueduct.