New Leadership Pledges Fundamental Reforms

The iron fence built by Shevardnadze’s government protected the State Chancellery for only a year.

Georgia’s new leadership tore down the iron fence around the President’s office on December 1 as a symbol of the new transparency of governance.

“There should be no dividing fence between the authorities and the people,” Zurab Zhvania, the newly appointed State Minister, said as he made the first cut in the fence.

Later on Zurab Zhvania convened a press conference, the first one after his appointment as the State Minister. Zhvania vowe to carry out revolutionary changes in the government.

“The real revolution starts now. We will create the new style of governance. We aim at fundamental reorganization of the existing system. Our policy aims at destroying existing bureaucratic barriers in the governmental structures,” Zurab Zhvania said at the news briefing.

He stressed the necessity of implementation of new staffing policy and called on the population to cooperate with the new authorities in this direction.

“We are not immune to mistakes. But we will admit all our mistakes. We will be ready to correct them together with the population and civil society organizations. We will discuss all of the mistakes, which will be unacceptable for the society,” Zhvania said.

“A special group will be set up to create a database, where we will register everyone who has relevant skills and can help the state in various spheres. The staff in every governmental structure will be recruited on a competitive basis. Some persons try to bribe us in order to obtain high posts in the new government. However, they are trying in vain. The time has passed, when the relatives of high-ranking officials were the ones to obtain the [government] posts,” the State Minister said.

“Our policy priority will be a real fight against corruption. All those, who are responsible for misappropriation of people’s property, will be held accountable. They will be punished as required by the law,” the State Minister noted.

He said the new leadership of the country will do its best not to disappoint those people, who stood beside them during “the velvet revolution.”

“We are opening a new page in our history and we should use this chance as much as possible,” the State Minister concluded.

Statement of Zurab Zhvania came after the new leadership’s controversial new appointments. As many officials from the old government quit, criticisms were voiced that the new leaders began appointing friends and relatives to their positions. 

Specifically father-in-law of Mikheil Machavariani, who is an opposition member, became Tbilisi’s chief prosecutor. However, he stepped down next day as a result of protest from the civil society organizations.

Civil activists say that they should remain vigilant to prevent and confront any mistake of the authorities. They say after the euphoria which was dominating the society after following Shevardnadze’s resignation, people want to see the real potential of the new government.  

“The new government should present a plan of action – what will be done in next couple of months. Everybody knows that it is impossible to set everything straight very soon, but this should be clearly said by the authorities,” Ghia Nodia of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, told Civil Georgia.

Director of the National Library Levan Berdzenishvili says that after the velvet revolution “the people already know how they will act if their expectations are not met.” “People will now demand much more than before,” Berdzenishvili told Civil Georgia.

Observers say that upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections will be the new leadership’s most important test.