Interview with Kote Kemularia, Chairman of the “Movement for the Democratic Reforms” Faction
The faction has 10 members
The faction represents Mikheil Saakashvili-led “New National Movement” in the parliament
Main goal of the radical reformers faction “Movement for the Democratic Reforms” is to promote anti-corruption legislation, promote reforms in higher education and support the constitutional changes to allow for early general elections.
Mikheil Saakashvili is informal leader of the faction backing it up with his “New National Movement.” The faction unites the familiar faces from formerly associated with the Citizens Union: Koba Davitashvili, Vano Merabishvili, Petre Tsiskarishvili, Zurab Adeishvili. Saakashvili’s re-election to the Parliament in October 2001 triggered establishment of the faction, which promotes radical reformer ideas.
In its anti-corruption drive the faction stands behind the draft “Law on Return of the Unjustified Property to the State” which would allow for confiscation of the property of public officials origins of which can not be justified through their tax files.
Mikheil Saakashvili masterminded the draft while he still was the Justice Minister. Heated debates on the draft triggered Saakashvili’s resignation in September 2001.
In December, the faction “Movement for the Democratic Reforms” submitted the draft for the parliamentary review, and it presently is discussed in committees. The document faces strong opposition, but despite this Kote Kemularia hopes that it would overcome the barriers within the committees to be submitted for the Parliament’s session in February.
Mr. Kemularia says that adoption of the law on unjustified property is only the first step in the battle against corruption. “The government must fundamentally readjust the budget draft. Otherwise, the current version would only encourage corruption” – Kemularia believes.
Revenues of the 2002 state budget project are drafted at 1,650 million Laris (approximately $530 million), when “according to the estimations of our faction and other experts, in ideal circumstances up to 4 billion Laris can collected annually. At least half of this sum must be included into the budget” – says Kemularia.
The chairman believes that underreporting of the revenues into the budget means that the remaining sums vanish into corrupt officials’ pockets.
“The market places would be a good example. According to our estimates, law-enforcing authorities collect a total of 100 million Laris each month there. Certainly, this money never finds its way to the state budget,” Kemularia argues.
Reforming of the education sphere is also a priority direction for the reformers’ faction.
Mr. Kemularia believes that passing of the policy document on “Main Directions of the Higher Education in Georgia” by the Parliament in December last year in one of the main achievements of their faction. The document, among other things, foresees abolishing of the entry exams to the Georgian higher education institutions. These examinations are widely believed to be one of the main sources of corruption in education system.
Kemularia says that the Education Minister Alexandre Kartozia was strongly against the document.
Certainly, the 10 member-strong faction should count on support of the other political forces to reach its ambitious agendas. Kemularia sees the faction “Traditionalist” and Zurab Zhvania’s team of the “Citizens Union” as main allies.
Together with its anticorruption activities the faction “Movement for the Democratic Reforms” makes active efforts towards introduction of the constitutional changes, which would make early parliamentary elections possible.
The faction has already started collecting signatures of the MPs to initiate parliamentary discussions of the constitutional changes. However only 37 signatures were collected out of necessary 118 necessary.
“Because the parliament members remain passive, we’ve decided to start collecting signatures of the citizens. It would be a great achievement if we manage to appoint the preliminary elections for the next autumn” – Kemularia says. The faction would need 200, 000 signatures of the citizens to initiate these changes. No doubt the faction counts on “The New National Movement” to spearhead this process.
Meanwhile the faction together with the “New National Movement” prepares for the local elections expected this spring. The movement targets the city councils and has already managed to forge presence within the Tbilisi council.
The “New National Movement” and its parliamentary incarnations undoubtedly represent an interesting and new force in Georgia’s politics, which has in its ranks the politicians with quite high public profile. However the spring of 2002 will be decisive in showing the viability of the movement and the faction.