Please tell us something about yourself

I am 44 years old. I have raised two children of my own and one child in foster care. I graduated from the Higher School of Medicine with a degree in nursing, completed postgraduate studies in healthcare management at the Higher School of Banking in Poznań, and hold a specialist qualification in epidemiology. I am an active person; I cannot stop working or getting involved. This is probably because empathy dominates my personality and I cannot remain indifferent to another human being.

Why did you decide to run for the Sejm?

I have been fighting the system for more than 10 years. Politics has worked its way into every area of our lives. Jobs obtained through connections, cronyism, nepotism and all kinds of favouritism not only destroy citizens’ sense of security, but also increase the number of decisions to emigrate from Poland. Knowing the mechanisms of the current system and its moral collapse, I cannot remain silent. Today, power does not fall into the hands of responsible people, but of those who have built their own strongholds through political and business arrangements. This can be seen during local and parliamentary elections. Please note that the lists of the leading parties are almost identical every year, while the positions of those stepping down are taken by their children. This therefore contradicts the Constitution, which currently gives us equal opportunities and rights only illusorily.

Ms Gutek, women are currently fashionable in politics. How did you enter the political world?

I never planned to enter the world of politics. Politicians brutally intruded into my life and contributed to my activity in this field. It began in 2003. I then became chairwoman of the Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives in Lubań. The then starosta decided to transform the hospital into a commercial-law company. He contributed everything from the former institution to it, but left out the employees. At that time, I did not know that I was becoming the leader of the largest, most far-reaching and longest protest in Poland’s healthcare sector.

At first, the struggle was about reinstating the employees, and then I had to fight to save the hospital itself from plunder and rampant privatisation. To remain vigilant, be effective and, as it later turned out, persistent, I had to learn about the mechanisms of all political connections and arrangements. As a trade unionist, and one without a job at that, I did not have enough strength to defeat the political establishment of the time. Not even 67 days occupying the starosty building and publicising our protest every day in all the media gave me the strength that the change in local government in 2006 gave me.

As a councillor and chairwoman of the District Council, I was able to effectively bring about the employees’ return to work, but above all to learn about the hospital’s financial situation. The company was so heavily indebted that the then president had a bankruptcy application prepared in his desk. He had also registered the hospital’s business activity in his own name and that of a colleague. He was removed from his position at literally the last moment, and a difficult recovery plan was drawn up for the company. I know the hospital would not have been saved if I had not become a councillor and, at times with a persistence others could not understand, kept watch over its stability and ownership.

Saving the hospital was a success, but was it enough to convince voters of your strength?

The activity and knowledge I gained then did not go to waste. People began coming to me with various problems. I knew where and how I could intervene effectively. Among other things, I managed to restore, together with interest, a disability benefit to a person harmed by the Social Insurance Institution. I stopped and prevented the sale of part of the property in Gmina Pasiecznik for 1% of its value. The mayor wanted to give his colleague—a councillor—a “gift” by selling part of a building renovated with EU funds. He did not sell it.

What else do you do?

In addition to numerous interventions, I do not forget our history, culture and integration. As president of the non-governmental organisation Stowarzyszenie Mieszkańców Panaceum, for three years I have co-organised ceremonies on 1 March commemorating the Cursed Soldiers. For two years, I ran a parliamentary office as a social assistant. While other offices were closed or deaf to the voices of voters who came seeking help, the office I ran was overwhelmed by the number of reported problems. Despite the heavy workload, I addressed every problem, and many cases ended successfully. Those who had been harmed often told me that they had come to me because I had been recommended as an effective and courageous person.

Why Kukiz?

I am currently running for parliament from the KWW Kukiz’15 list. This may sound conceited, but I do not want to be falsely modest. I know that I am well prepared for the role of an MP. I know that I am needed, and I know that, with the tool of an MP’s mandate, I will turn this into many successes both for Poland and for its most important component: the Citizen of the Republic of Poland.

What do you intend to do once you become an MP?

I will not promise, like others, that I will open a copper mine and give everyone pay rises, because I value honour and am responsible for my words. I only promise that I will not be an MP merely to be seen, but a servant of my voters. I will fight the arrangement that treats citizens as objects. I want voters to feel like employers of MPs, because today it is from our taxes that we maintain those elected to parliament. An MP cannot stand on the side of the authorities, but must stand on the side of citizens.

Even if this sounds lofty, please believe me that this is how I see the role of someone sent by the nation to Wiejska Street in Warsaw. Therefore, I will fully submit to the will of the voters and represent their expectations. I greet the readers, and I wish my opponents that the selection at the ballot box will separate the wheat from the chaff, and that the parliamentary offices closed and maintained by us will not be reopened after 25 October. Unless by a substitute.

Thank you for the interview.

Thank you.

You can also watch Ewa Gutek in an interview for Telewizja Dami Wałbrzych.

Funded by KWW Kukiz’15