Press Digest 09.10.2014

5 luckiest officials getting the highest remuneration in Georgia -- Tbilisi Vice-Mayor enjoys higher salary than President

I will come and keep a close eye on “Tbilisoba” Festival in Georgia to improve all mistakes we have made while holding the festival in Moscow -- Mikheil Khubutia

By rights, the police must protect us but if they refuse to do this, we will definitely manage to fulfill this task alone – Parnaoz Tchkadua

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5 luckiest officials getting the highest remuneration in Georgia -- Tbilisi Vice-Mayor enjoys higher salary than President

"Since 2013, our high officials salaries have substantially increased; plus, they have enjoyed high fringe benefits. 5 luckiest officials getting the highest remuneration in Georgia are as follows: Vice-Mayor of Tbilisi – 7 080 GEL; Head of Constitutional Court – 7 000; President – 6 900; Chairman of Parliament – 5 905; Deputy Chairman of Parliament – 5 570. You would probably agree, that the Ministers salary (5 000 GEL) seems like peanuts in comparison with the salaries of the aforementioned high officials. Even the secretaries of the Head of Parliament get 5 505 GEL each month,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.

“As the official data has it, in state agencies, average salary of officials runs up to 1270,6 GEL that is a bit lower that the salaries of the officials within the finance sector. Hence, in state agencies the treasury of which is not so rich with funds, salaries are rather high. After Power changed hands in Georgia, the salaries of the Ministers have substantially grown. If under the Nationals the ministers’ salaries hit 3 540 GEL, under the new Government, they get as much as 7 875 laris. As soon as the salaries of our high officials became the subject of heated discussions, the authorities decided to reduce the Ministers’ salaries again. Thus, today they get not more than 5000 GEL per month,” says the article.

“As for the deputy ministers, according to the law, they must get not more than 2 950 GEL per month. Because of the fact that the employment benefits of other secretaries of the ministers are not fixed, it’s hard to define the amount of their salaries with pinpoint accuracy. Further details regarding the issue will emerge as soon as they fill out the declaration,” reads the paper.

“Under the new power, our deputies have also enjoyed boosted bonuses. Today, the average salary of an MP runs up to 3 790 GEL. Plus, all of them enjoy fringe benefits of 1 500 GEL. The amount of their bonuses was determined by the legislative body on January 18, 2013. Those MPs who also serve as deputies, receive rather solid fringe benefits each month. To define this more precisely, the Head of Parliament gets a bonus of 3 905 GEL per month; First Deputy Head of Parliament -- 3 570 laris; Deputy Head of Parliament – 3 505; leaders of the parliamentary majority and minority – 2 705 GEL; head of fraction --2 635 etc…,” writes the author of the article.

“Later the Government boosted judges’ salaries too. The salaries of judges of the Constitutional Court has reportedly hit 7 000 GEL, with his jurors and secretaries getting 6000 laris per month. Thanks to the new Government, those working within City Hall have also enjoyed high employment benefits. Davit Narmania, who not so long ago advised the authorities to be more parsimonious with the state budget, has started issuing employment benefits for his co-workers. Thus, the amount of money that is poured in their bonuses runs up as much as 152 060 per month,” concludes the author of the article.

I will come and keep a close eye on “Tbilisoba” Festival in Georgia to improve all mistakes we have made while holding the festival in Moscow -- Mikheil Khubutia

"We have always held similar events here…You know, Tbilisi is the capital of our native land; thus, this city is always with us. That is the reason why on 4 October, we, Georgians, gathered here and held this event to show the entire world that we are Georgians and can arrange such events far from our country… I am liable on my words saying that we have paid money only in tickets… the organizers of the event channeled only 200 thousand GEL into it,” announces an organizer of the “Tbilisoba” festival in Moscow, Mikheil Khubutia, in his interview with the Alia gazette.

“We have not racked our brains on the singers that were to perform at the festival. All singers who we have invited here visited Moscow without hesitation. As for Lela Tsurtsumia, she arrived here along with her relatives. When she found out that the local Georgians planned to hold a festival in the city, she came and expressed great warmth towards her compatriots. As for Nino Chkheidze, very often, corporate invitations are extended to her. This time, she entered Moscow with great pleasure too. All Georgian singers expressed their readiness to perform for their fellow Georgian citizens for free. We held the concerts in the center of the City; every single soul here waved the banner of Georgia then,” reads the article.

“As the official data has it, 30 thousand people attended the event in total. By the way, you could not see even a single politician there. This was a public festival, and probably no one got interested in how many Georgians as well as the representatives of other nationalities were present at the event; however, approximately 20 000 of them were Georgians, while the rest – the representatives of other ethnicities. Our door was open to everyone; the concert lasting till late in the evening, all guests seemed immensely contend with the performances; we all spent an unforgettable time there,” states the respondent.

“I want to pay homage to all Georgians residing here. Immensely deplorable is the fact that the Georgians here are pided in two categories. It seems inadmissible to me and to all of us! Georgians are Georgians! I will not swallow this evil bait. No matter how vigorously they will manipulate me. I also want to underscore that you will never see me in politics. They pin ungrounded blames on me by alleging that I am moved by some political interests and ambitions. Despite the fact that I know a great deal of politicians and can really pull some strings, I will never get involved in politics as I will never stand up to the rough-and-tumble of politics,” claims Mr. Khubutia.

To the question if he plans to attend the Tbilisoba festival in Georgia, the respondent answers:

“Certainly I will attend the festival. I will keep a close eye on it to improve all mistakes we have made while holding “Tbilisoba” Festival in Moscow.

By rights, the police must protect us but if they refuse to do this, we will definitely manage to fulfill this task alone – Parnaoz Tchkadua

"I have never served for the Nationals, neither have I ever served in any law enforcement agency. I have never been in touch with politics. I graduated from the university and then went on to sports. I am 23 year-old now. I entered the National Movement in December 2012 when Power had already changed hands in our country. Hence, I have never been a follower of the Nationals. They’d better search for the bastards and criminal members of this corrupt organization in their team not among us,” states, Parnaoz Tchkadua, member of “Free Zone” in his interview with the Akhali Taoba gazette.

“Whose ultimatums have we to take into account? The ultimatums of Free Generation?! Since they have urged us to declare self-liquidation, must we do this, shall we? It’s ridiculous! These people simply contend with us – they are trying to form an organization similar to ours; even the name of their organization has a similar sound. And now they want us to close our organization! It’s really ridiculous, is it not?! You will see how their and not our organization will be dismantled in the short run,” maintains Mr. Tchkadua.

"They simply are local slaves of Putin and can brew any possible corrupt scheme to manipulate the people here. I do not rule out that they will try to take over our building again. Physical altercations in the city center definitely fall in their interests,” alleges the respondent.

“We have never rushed into the offices of others, neither have we ever raided them; however, if others stoop to doing this, we will definitely give them their due. As a matter of fact, we have absolutely nothing against the young members of the Free Generation. It’s not we who look askew at them. It’s not we who attack them with bats or sticks. We always have to count only on our forces to head off the aggressors. By rights, the police must protect us but if they refuse to do this, we will definitely manage to fulfill this task alone,” announces Parnaoz Tchkadua.

“Everyone knows perfectly well that “Free Generation” has been formed by the Georgian Dream Coalition that lacks resources as well as advocates. Precisely this is the reason why they have created this organization that has gotten involved in a tooth and nail battle with us. The Government has employed all resources available to them to somehow stop us. However, they will definitely fail to achieve this goal as we take each step on behalf of our country and people,” concludes the respondent.