REPLACEMENTS USED TO BE A SENSITIVE ISSUE

KarabakhOpen
31-01-2008 11:53:04

President Bako Sahakyan has recently signed the law on battling money
laundering and financing terrorism. According to the law, a special
department for tackling money laundering will be set up. Hence,
another structure will emerge in the public administration.

In the upcoming few months new organs will appear. And if the rumors
about likely replacements in the public administration of Karabakh
come true, we will expect more changes.

We have tried to understand the logic of replacements, talked to
different people and asked for what purpose one official is replaced
by another.

Frankly speaking, nobody has given a logical and sensible answer so
far. And at last we heard an opinion which explains a lot.

Our interlocutor said she can see the purpose distinctly. According to
her, after the war the bureaucracy stagnated, and people got used that
it is necessary to give and take bribes, avoid taxes, share illegal
income, and it has become a way of life, a fossilized system. The
new government is now making efforts to stir this bog. "It causes
an unpleasant smell. Without this, however, it is impossible to pull
down the old system and to build a new one," our interlocutor said.

This logic is, in fact, acceptable and grounded. In fact, over ten
years of Arkady Ghukasyan’s presidency there were no shake-ups. The
ex-president was highly cautious, even sensitive about the issue
of appointments. The only event which caused certain changes was
the conflict with the ex-minister of defense Samvel Babayan. During
this conflict officials were dismissed from the administration who
referred to themselves as "freedom fighters". Jirair Poghosyan, the
prime minister, was replaced by Anushavan Danielyan. Almost nothing
had changed after those events. And this led to deep stagnation.

A shake-up is necessary. However, it should not be the only principle
of replacements. If the purpose is to clean up and refresh the
system, the support of the society is necessary. And the society
needs to be explained the purpose of this policy. It is necessary to
demonstrate that the wrongdoers are punished, and honest workers are
encouraged. Unfortunately, this logic is not working.