UNTIL THE HEAD OF STATE MAKES A DECISION
Lragir
Jan 22 2008
Armenia
The current anti-corruption strategy of Armenia would work in countries
where separate cases of corruption are reported, whereas in Armenia
corruption has affected the entire system of public administration,
said the presidential candidate Arman Melikyan on January 22 at the
Pastark Club, who used to be adviser to NKR president and foreign
minister of NKR.
"We have a corrupt system of public administration. Public
administration in Armenia, the relations are subject to the corrupt
system. In other words, wherever a citizen turns to, he or she has
to make illegal payments," Arman Melikyan says. According to him,
corruption acquires different forms at different levels of public
administration.
"After all, corruption is not something innate. Therefore, it should
be battled," Arman Melikyan says. According to him, the programs of
the other presidential candidates also contain approaches towards
anti-corruption efforts but they are personified. "The approach is
to send some people to prison, shoot some one or two people, and
corruption will be eradicated. It is impossible. In a corrupt system
of public administration it is impossible to change the system by
replacing a person. Structural changes are possible only in case the
head of state makes a strategic decision which is imposed on all the
bodies, and consistent efforts are made," Arman Melikyan says.
He also points to the importance of raising the salary of public
servants to demand honest work from them without embezzlement. Arman
Melikyan also stated that the Armenian government does not have
the real picture of money in the economy and the shade economy of
Armenia. To get the real picture, it is necessary to change the system
of public administration, and to separate government from business,
because their coalescing eliminates the interest in having the real
picture of the economy.