František Mráček

NFPK Prize for Courage 2014 - 50 000 CZK

František Mráček’s professional journey is linked to urban public transport, a field where he has been active for 30 years now. From 1982 to 1994 he was an employee of the Prague Public Transport Company (DPP). In 1994-2007 he was head of a department and later the design section of Prague’s ROPID Integrated Transport System, trading this for a job with private bus transport coordination system CDAP. In 2010 František Mráček was appointed head of the Public Transport Section of the Central Bohemian Regional Office—seemingly the logical effect of his professional career to date: during his stint in ROPID he designed and implemented a ramified system of about 150 suburban bus lines for the Prague integrated transport network that significantly tallied with the transport agenda of the Central Bohemian Region. Who else could have filled this critical position?

Ironically, this calling card for professional advancement proved virtually headless, almost devoid of the faculty of sight: František Mráček starts to billboard nonstandard ways of managing the region’s assets, including a dubious investment in the database and computing model, executed on behalf of Central Bohemian Region Stipends. Not only was this particular software delivered with a significant delay, but its error rate was astounding. Having carefully tested it, František Mráček concluded that this application frequently sets the wrong amount of stipend. The situation grew critical with the closing of the books for Academic Year 2011/12. The regional authority ordered the payment of calculated software costs even though the error rate projected into several million crowns.

However, the new chief of the Public Transport Section is not that careful. In fact he starts examining the flow of subsidies into Central Bohemian public transport only to find out that the carriers operating the same legs of road receive dramatically various amounts of subsidy. If this continued, further massive asset stripping would ensue. František Mráček serves notices to all extant carriers and orders a fresh select process, based on an electronic auction, and foreseeing a uniform integrated tariff for all bus operators, including Czech Railways, throughout the region. Initially he has support from the regional authorities. But the clientelist structures living off the region, and their powerful lobbyist arms, leave no stone unturned. Carriers started to press for the immediate removal of František Mráček from his post.

Instead of gaining due recognition, František Mráček faces harassment, pressure and ultimately also the loss of employment. But his demotion was obviously quite purposeful; he produced a recording in which his supervisor tells him that he has become untenable. Nonetheless he hears from various quarters that any defensive moves are futile, especially if he intends to carry on with pursuing his activities. In the event, and paradoxically and quizzically, he is told that the school fare system was the ultimate reason for his dismissal. Officially, the public transport section and the post of its head have been abolished.

But with the help of the NFPK, which rendered legal assistance to him, František Mráček fight back and files a complaint against his dismissal. The Prague 5 District Court has found, legal approval pending, that František Mráček’s dismissal was unlawful and awarded him damages and the right to resume his employment position. The NFPK awards its Prize for Courage 2014 to František Mráček.