Press Digest 11.07.2014
Nationals will be chased out of Tbilisi City Hall from September
Opinions proclaimed by a slew of NGO representatives are deemed to be a manifestation of the absolute truth – Nana Devdariani
Victorious left-wing party is under threat – 2/3 member consciences of the City Hall can remove mayors from their posts***
Nationals will be chased out of Tbilisi City Hall from September
"Davit Narmania has given his word of honor that he will purge the City Hall of unqualified personnel, i.e., the members of the National Movement. As for the Nationals, they define Narmania’s initiation to cleanse different bodies of their team members as the new tide of political retribution that will presumably “overflow” on us from September,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
“Structural optimization process will definitely be kicked-off in the City Hall… Our key objective is not to inflict any kind of harm on our consummate professionals who will undoubtedly maintain their posts…We will cleanse all surveillance boards of the adherents of the National Movement. Months pass by but these people are at their ease doing nothing at all. Numerous former top officials are registered as cleaners or drivers in their database; these people enjoy astronomical salaries though. Having purged the bodies of those thugs who masquerade as cleaners or drivers, we will hire qualified officials with zest for public service,” declared Mr. Narmania.
“However, as member of the National Movement, Deputy Tamaz Shoshiashvili states, due to some intangible reasons, the Georgian Dream has failed to address their people’s needs by creating jobs for them. In the words of the deputy, they engaged themselves in providing their relatives with jobs and shrugged the Georgian’s requirements off. If we believe Mr. Shoshiashvili, Davit Narmania falls short of the information regarding the situation in the body and by alleging that he will replace all incompetents with consummate professionals who are in search of jobs, he simply wants to curry favor with the public in the run-up to the elections,” the article says.
“I want to underscore that today the City Hall is manned with qualified and experienced officials that have pushed our country forward. These people know the tricks of the trade but the Georgian dream plans to replace them with their adherents. You all remember the statements by the Premier and Vice-premier as well as their illegal and impertinent decision on creating vacancies within the self-Government by dismissing all employees. On top of that, they were strongly moved by a desire to replace all public servants with their desired staff members. As long as this flagrant initiation contradicted with our constitution, they were bound to reverse their decision; however, today we know their disposition perfectly well, we have already seen through their plans and we know that a number of people will lose heir jobs in the short run. Narmania’s ridiculous statement made us aware that all LTDs founded by the City Hall will be cleansed of their staff members in the immediate future,” alleges Mr. Shoshiashvili.
"You know that the case of “Tbil service” Group enjoyed great publicity in 2010-2011. If this case was acute today, the Investigative Service of the Finance Ministry the representatives of which have been busy with digging up the compromising materials against Gigi Ugulava would bring new charges against him instantly. I mean if they “picked up the scent” and discovered an illegally employed person within the body, they would undoubtedly imposed our ex-Mayor with new charges. However, today Davit Narmania boldly proclaims his opinion towards the members of the National Movement and is strongly determined to remove their adherents from their posts. Is this move from this man not ridiculous? Is such behavior something abnormal? Do you not think that it is an open attempt at political retaliation? The Georgian Dream has already subjected their political adversaries to persecution and if Mr. Narmania wins his seat in the elections, this process will undoubtedly be revitalized,” concludes the respondent.
Opinions proclaimed by a slew of NGO representatives are deemed to be a manifestation of the absolute truth – Nana Devdariani
"We are faced with an utterly bizarre situation today – believe it or not but the Georgian people are bound to watch Nino Lomjaria, Kakha Kozhoradze and Eka Gigauri more frequently live on the air than our High Executive or the Prime Minister. These people have formed their opinion regarding all matters that are acute today in Georgia, and opinions proclaimed by them are defined as a manifestation of the absolute truth. However, we really cannot pin blame on these people because of this fact and for the existing messy satiation in Georgia. Our journalists who do not really know the ropes must be held responsible because of the fact that they take interviews from some people who are more or less popular with the public and ignore everyone else on earth,” declares “Global Research Center” head Nana Devdariani in her interview with the Alia gazette.
“When a man who deems himself to be well versed in jurisprudence claims that Gigi Ugalava’s incarceration has resulted in the violation of a moratorium, everything is ended there. It’s paradoxical but it’s a fact that not even a single Georgian journalist has proven smart enough to remind them why this moratorium was declared. As you know, they announced a moratorium only once in the history of Georgia and they eliminated the practice of execution via it in 1993. And in our day-to-day Georgia nothing on earth can go against the Criminal Code, including a moratorium. Moreover, jurisprudence has absolutely nothing to do with a moratorium; however, despite this, this wretched clique of Nationals dare and issue one allegation after another, and all of them saying that by jailing Gigi Ugulava, they breached a moratorium. This is a sheer travesty and nothing more,” maintains Ms. Devdariani.
“Their behavior simply bewilders me. Everyone knows that NGOs are highly privileged organizations – if in the Public Defender’s Office they have to discuss each and every appeal, NGOs are entitled to look through only some of them and ignore others. That is why the representatives of different NGOs must be more circumspect and take heedful steps for unlike other bodies they have been exempted from a large portion of their responsibilities. I remember all their preposterous statement – as you know on May 26, 2011 they alleged that the rally of May 26 was illegal and the law enforcers were entitled to raid it. Do they not know that our constitution does not recognize illegal demonstrations and each and every citizens in Georgia can enjoy the right of openly expressing their opinion?” asks the respondent.
“We are in a dead-end critical situation today. Simply remember what kind of vehement efforts Saakashvili’s advocates exerted to enervate Shevardnadze’s Government in 2003; they passed harsh judgment and criticism upon their each and every move, they defined each act from them as unwarrantable failure to uphold the law. However, during their 9-year rule nothing on earth has prompted their violent reaction thus far. And willingly or unwillingly, I’ve come to the conclusion that some unknown group of people have deliberately created the present status quo in Georgia and everything that is happening in our country today is playing into their and only their hands. And to tell the truth, it is not of crucial importance for us if the people using this situation to their own advantage are the Nationals or someone else.
To the question if the allegation as per which the democratic institutions are strongly determined to reinforce democratic institutes in our country seems credible the respondent replies:
“Frankly speaking, now I cast doubt on this fact too. After the elections of 2003, all NGOs financed by the West attended each and every rally as if this was their key responsibility which they could not have deflected. However, after Saakashvili took up the reigns they adopted a lax position and became absolutely inert bodies reluctant to express any kind of protest,” contends the respondent.
Victorious left-wing party is under threat – 2/3 member consciences of the City Hall can remove mayors from their posts
A run-off is to be held in two days; however, in the present state of play it is difficult to predict which of the candidates will prove able to get the better of his opponents. One thing is still clear though – even if Mr. Melia manages to over through his political rival, Tbilisi City Hall will easily force him out of his office at any time. And in order to attain this objective, they will need to win the approval of only 2/3 of the City Hall members,” reports the Rezoanis gazette.
“This does not concern only Tbilisi’s Governor. If a representative of one of the left-wing parties gets hold of the post of a Mayor or Governor, in light of the present situation, removing them from their posts will be a piece of cake for the Tbilisi City Hall representatives. The opposition defines this right of theirs as a ticking-time bomb which is camouflaged by the law and which stands a strong chance to explode one day, while the Government asserts that this move from them is a sheer manifestation of the rule of law in our country. As you know, one of the addendums of the “Election Code” entitles them with the right to impeach a Mayor as well as a Governor after winning approval from 2/3 of the Tbilisi City Hall members,” the article says.
“Several months ago when the Parliament proposed amendments to the Election Code, the issue of setting a 50 per cent election threshold for governors and mayors was thrown in as a topic of hot debate. However, despite the fact that the present authorities directed diatribe against Saakashvili’s Government, they decided to follow in their footsteps and brew a well-laid scheme to dismiss those governors and mayors who had gotten over the aforementioned election barrier. Keeping the present situation in mind, we can easily deduce that all Mayors and Governors will soon be forced to bow out from their posts,” reads the paper.
“Generally speaking, adopting a mechanism for dismissing a person is a must. However, for more clarity, we must define when and who is entitled to fire these people from the bodies. Unless they stipulate concrete criteria, the risk of subjecting these officials to political retribution and pushing them to leave their posts on this basis will never cease to exist in Georgia,” announces lawyer Kakha Kakhishvili.
