Georgian daily says old elite losing influence in Abkhazia

24 Saati, Tbilisi
14 Mar 05

Georgian newspaper 24 Saati believes that recent cabinet appointments
in Abkhazia show the old political elite is losing its influence.
Although vice-president Raul Khadzhimba officially nominates
candidates for several key posts, president Sergey Bagapsh has seen no
need to approve them, the paper says. The following is the text of a
report published on 14 March:

The formation of the [Abkhaz] government has already been completed.
[Abkhaz president Sergey] Bagapsh’s two decrees on the appointment of
the culture and education ministers were published over the weekend
although the foreign and justice ministers have not been appointed
yet. It has proved to be quite difficult to resolve personnel issues
in the “disputable” departments. Legally, vice-president Raul
Khadzhimba should submit nominations for the heads of these
departments, but it has become quite clear that Bagapsh will not
accept these nominations.

This is why the search for a consensus is continuing and this is
happening at the expense of violating the constitution, according to
which all government appointments should be made within two weeks of
the new president’s inauguration.

There was no doubt that there would be difficulties in appointing the
foreign and justice ministers. However, it is surprising that
difficulties emerged in the appointment of the culture and education
ministers. However, prime minister [Aleksandr] Ankvab said later that
they had to choose from a large number of people who could “work
professionally” in these posts.

Finally, Nugzar Logua, a member of Aytayra [a sociopolitical
movement], was appointed culture minister and Indira Vardania
education minister. Irrespective of how the struggle for the foreign
and justice ministries ends, it is already possible to draw certain
conclusions about the new government.

It is clear that the Aytayra movement has been given priority in the
new government. Four of its representatives have already occupied
posts in the c abinet. They are prime minister Aleksandr Ankvab,
deputy prime minister Leonid Lakerbaia who is in charge of social
issues, and the newly appointed education and culture ministers who
are also Aytayra members.

Correspondingly, Aytayra can justly claim to have the role of a
political organization that is able to form a ruling party in the
future. This advantage is especially interesting as the two other
major forces – Amtsakhara [a sociopolitical movement] and Yedinaya
Abkhaziya [United Abkhazia] – that formed an alliance and defeated the
opposition have failed to receive significant personnel dividends in
the new government. Amtsakhara has been left without any post at all
in the government, while Yedinaya Abkhaziya received only one post –
its chairman Beslan Kubrava is deputy prime minister and finance
minister.

Although Vladimir Nachach-ogly, a member of the Amtsakhara political
council and chairman of the parliamentary committee for legislation,
was offered the post of prosecutor-general, he refused.

Another striking fact is that a coalition government was not
formed. Neither Bagapsh nor Ankvab seemed to feel the need to satisfy
the demands for posts from the old elite, demands made via
Khadzhimba. He was “tricked”. No-one listened to his proposals during
the formation of the power departments and other ministries. The only
exception is the agriculture ministry where Vitali Smyr was appointed
minister. He participated in the first [3 October 2004 presidential]
election as Raul Khadzhimba’s running mate.

The presence of the old elite, now the new opposition, in the new
government would have been surprising in light of Amtsakhara’s
absence. The fact that a coalition government was not formed allows us
to presume that the new opposition’s activity will grow significantly,
especially ahead of the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

The administrative reforms that were widely advertised during the
election campaign have not been implemented. Not only has the number
of ministries not been reduced, it has even grown by one. The ministry
of health and social welfare was divided into two different
ministries. The closure of the emergencies ministry that was created
by [former Abkhaz prime minister] Nodar Khashba [shortly after the 3
October 2004 election] and existed for only two months can hardly be
regarded as a reduction in the number of ministries.

So far, the new cabinet’s leaders have refrained from commenting on
the reasons for “boycotting” the promised administrative reforms.

The last striking fact is that there are no Armenians, Georgians,
Russians or others in the new government. The active involvement of
ethnic minorities in the government was one of their election
promises, but authorities are now complaining that there is no-one
among them [ethnic minorities] who would like to work in the
government. Only one minister is not Abkhaz, the social welfare
minister Olga Koltukova. There is one Armenian, Nerses Nersesyan,
among the heads of state committees. He is the head of the state
committee for metrology and standardization. There is also one
Georgian, Aleksandr Nebadze, among the leaders of state
administrations. Although a Georgian is the acting justice minister,
this does not mean at all that he will definitely become minister.

In short, on the one hand, the new government has broken election
promises during the formation of the government and, on the other,
they have managed to minimize the influence on the new government of
the old elite that was trying to participate in the process of the
cabinet’s formation through Khadzhimba.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress