After years of promises, Prague 8 has finally started preparing childcare groups. That is good news.
Our councillor Barbora Musilová has been pointing out the need for childcare groups for a long time. She asked about them repeatedly at council meetings and kept reminding everyone that parents of small children in Prague 8 need a real solution, not further pre-election promises.
That is precisely why, back in 2024, we were struck by the way the district hired an external firm to administer its grant applications. We did not question the need for childcare groups themselves. We were asking something else: why the company Siptrade in particular was chosen, how its expertise had been checked, how much the whole preparation would cost and why the district was not handling this work more transparently.
Today it is becoming clear that these were not petty questions.
What we were asking back in 2024
In October 2024 we pointed out on the 8žije Facebook page that Prague 8 had hired the company Siptrade to handle the administration of its application for childcare group grants. We gave the value of the contract as CZK 400,000 and asked why the contract had been entrusted to this particular firm.
Publicly available data at the time showed circumstances that in our view deserved an explanation: according to our findings back then, the firm had problematic economic indicators, no employees, filed its financial statements late, and its publicly traceable history so far did not give the impression of a standard specialist supplier of grant administration in the field of childcare groups.
That in itself did not automatically have to mean wrongdoing. But with public money and grant projects worth tens of millions of crowns, it was reason enough to ask questions.
We asked in particular:
- why the company Siptrade in particular was chosen,
- how its qualifications had been checked,
- how the supplier was selected,
- how much the preparation of the childcare groups would cost in total,
- why Prague 8 is not handling part of the agenda internally or through the organisations that will run the childcare groups,
- how conflicts of interest and doubts around the grant administration will be prevented.
That is normal scrutiny work by the opposition. Not a scandal at any cost.
The town hall's answer: a “pseudo-scandal” and “disinformation”
The reaction of Prague 8 deputy mayor Radomír Nepil was sharp.
He accused Barbora Musilová of spreading “disinformation of the crudest kind” and called the whole matter a “pseudo-scandal”. He defended the price of the contract by saying that processing grant applications is an eligible cost and that external grant consultancy is common in municipalities. He also stated that he had met Alexandra Semancová in person and verified her professional qualities.
That is an important moment.
This was not just an ordinary debate about whether external grant consultancy is acceptable. Of course municipalities can hire external experts for complicated grant applications. That was never the heart of the problem.
The heart of the problem was whether Prague 8 had sufficiently checked the specific firm and the specific person involved in the grant administration. And whether the district's leadership had correctly assessed the risks that could arise from it.
What Seznam Zprávy are describing now
Seznam Zprávy subsequently described the case of Alexandra Semancová at national level.
According to their findings, as an adviser to the minister of labour Aleš Juchelka, Alexandra Semancová had influence over grant programmes worth billions of crowns and was at the same time linked to the company Siptrade, which helped applicants obtain those grants. Seznam Zprávy described this situation as a conflict of interest.
According to Seznam Zprávy, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs admitted that it will not report the projects concerned, worth CZK 63.8 million, to the European Commission. In other words: money that was to come from European sources will have to be found by the state elsewhere.
This is no longer a local political skirmish in Prague 8. This is a serious problem with an impact on public money.
Why this concerns Prague 8
In this case Prague 8 is not just a distant observer.
According to Seznam Zprávy, it was Prague 8 deputy mayor Radomír Nepil who hired the company Siptrade to obtain the grants. Seznam Zprávy also report that minister Aleš Juchelka and deputy mayor Nepil appeared together at the opening of one of the childcare groups in Prague 8 and that two projects in Prague 8 must not receive the money from Brussels originally planned.
That matters for Prague 8.
If the district used the services of a firm about which such serious doubts later emerged, it needs to explain clearly how the supplier was selected, who was responsible for vetting it and whether Prague 8 faces any financial, legal or reputational risk.
And above all: whether, because of this, the childcare groups will be delayed or the service that parents really need will be complicated.
Childcare groups must not be hostage to a lack of transparency
Childcare groups in Libeň, Karlín and other parts of Prague 8 are needed.
Parents of small children do not need to follow political skirmishes. They need affordable care that allows them to return to work and function normally. That is exactly why their preparation must be trustworthy.
When a project worth tens of millions of crowns becomes linked to a firm and a person about whom such serious doubts arise, the town hall leadership cannot pretend that it is merely an attack by the opposition. It has to answer on the substance.
Not with insults. Not with personal attacks. Not by labelling the problem a “pseudo-scandal”.
But with documents, an explanation and specific accountability.
What we want to know
We will therefore continue to demand answers, in particular to these questions:
- who specifically decided to select the company Siptrade,
- how its qualifications and economic situation were checked,
- what documents deputy mayor Radomír Nepil had at his disposal when he defended its selection,
- whether Prague 8 knew about Alexandra Semancová's links to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and to grant programmes,
- whether the risks of a possible conflict of interest were assessed,
- whether Prague 8 faces any financial or legal harm,
- who will ultimately pay for the grant projects if they are not covered from European funds,
- whether the whole situation will affect the opening dates of the childcare groups,
- what measures Prague 8 will take to prevent a similar situation from happening again.
These are not pointless questions. These are questions that the district's leadership should answer automatically where public money is concerned.
The opposition should not stay silent when something does not add up
When we asked about Siptrade in 2024, we were told that we were manufacturing a scandal. Today it is clear that the problem was real and that it concerns not only Prague 8, but also the ministry and the state budget.
That is exactly why the opposition should ask uncomfortable questions in good time.
Not in order to hold up the childcare groups. On the contrary. So that important projects are done cleanly, credibly and in a way that means nobody has to rescue the result afterwards.
Prague 8 needs childcare groups. But it also needs a town hall that can explain whom it hires, why it hires them and how it protects public money.
It is not enough to say that everything was fine
In this case a reassuring sentence saying that everything was set up correctly is no longer enough.
We have the firm Siptrade, Alexandra Semancová, grant projects worth tens of millions of crowns, the intervention of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Seznam Zprávy articles, questions about a conflict of interest and a direct link to the childcare group projects in Prague 8.
If the town hall leadership claims that it acted correctly, it should prove it.
And if it turns out that it underestimated the risks, it should bear political responsibility.
Childcare groups are meant to help parents. They must not become a symbol of opaque decision-making, poorly vetted suppliers and arrogant reactions to legitimate questions.
We pointed out Siptrade back in 2024. Now it is time for Prague 8 to finally answer.