IF THERE IS NO INTENTION TO RETIRE
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
19-09-2007 12:13:29
The recent consultation at the office of the president of Armenia
can be considered as a model. Robert Kocharyan gathered together
the so-called relevant agencies and created a commission for tax
collections, boosting tax collections through taxing illegal turnover
of imports and sale of goods, led by the head of the state tax service
Vahram Barseghyan. Besides, Robert Kocharyan said some phenomena exist
due to protection of government agencies, consequently, "those who
are involved in protectionism must be exposed and punished severely."
What happened is not only a model but also deserves being listed
among the classic theories on governance, independent from which
particular theory. However, the model is such that this move reminds
a theoretical meeting aimed to show something to someone rather than
an effort to battle illegal business and protectionism. This someone
could be the society, ordinary citizens, to see the government is
committed to battling black economy, or this someone could be some
government official who is involved in protectionism or business,
and thinks that in this period of transition of the post of president
the water may get troubled, and he may make use of the troubled water.
Certainly, it should not be ruled out that it was not a demonstration
but Robert Kocharyan who soon leaves office wants to leave with a
good name, and being less confined to obligations before clans now
because he has perhaps already transferred them to Serge Sargsyan,
started doing what he was supposed to do in the past eight years, from
2000 to 2008. Better late than never, and if Robert Kocharyan displays
political will and launches serious efforts against black economy, at
least to make the presidential way for Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan,
his move is commendable. However, the problem is that the government
and particularly the president has no resource of confidence regarding
such moves. This is the reality, despite the percentage of confidence
that the political set gives to Robert Kocharyan. The society trusts
what it sees rather than what it hears. Therefore, compared with the
reality the consultation with the president reminds of a demonstrative,
a theoretical seminar.
These seminars might be seasoned with practical moves, and some
officials might be dismissed for protectionism, such as Grigor
Harutiunyan, deputy head of the National Security Service who
ran several businesses from import of bananas to taxi service. The
sources say his dismissal was in the framework of this consultation on
battling protectionism. However, these moves do not build confidence
but increase the lack of confidence for the government because they
are based on a faulty methodology, if we may put it so.
The point is that when the official is punished for illegality, it
should be put clearly in the order on his dismissal. When it is not
mentioned, the society righteously thinks the problem was not the
illegal actions of the official but transgression on the limit of
illegality, or in other words, he did not share equally or tried to
hide money from the "fund", especially in the pre-election period,
or made a decision on his own. In other words, he broke the rules of
government coexistence, not the rules of social coexistence. Or the
government decided to put the administrative resource on the alert
before the pre-election developments. The Russians say hit your
friend to scare your enemy. And the society may and must think so
unless someone is punished for the crime against the society.
Otherwise, no consultation on battling protectionism compares to the
thought of the citizen who can see how the former and present ministers
spend their leisure, the cars they ride, the houses they live in, the
cities where they go for a holiday, and the silence of the president
for so many years. How can the citizen believe the belated words of the
president who was silent for many years and protected protectionism
with his silence? Perhaps it is necessary to think on it if there is
no intention to become a young pensioner.