Argument about Future Competition in Kutaisi Local Self-Government

Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi 

On September 16, Kutaisi City Council approved resolution on the competition for the employees of self governmental agency. Special session finished with the controversy - council members from United National Movement protested part of the resolution which regulates interview with applicants after testing. 

 

“It’s interesting who will supervise the interview. An applicant might collect high score in test, but cannot pass the interview. Here we will definitely have personal attitudes. Many people, who ever communicated with the UNM, might be declined. Many will lose work in Kutaisi City Hall. People already worry about that matter. This is not right solution of the problem. We are against it. This resolution is unacceptable for us”- stated member of Kutaisi city council from UNM Amiran Dzotsenidze. 

On 10 September, 2014 Public Service Bureau in connection with the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia issued order N73/SA and announced competition for the vacant positions of local self-government servants. 

As it is observed, local self-governmental bodies establish methods and criteria for the selection of applicants that is not acceptable for the opposition members of the Kutaisi City Council and applicants themselves.

“They will dislike manner of somebody’s speech, or eye-color. You will never be able to appeal the decision. It will be useless. We know the results of previous competitions at Kutaisi City Hall. I think we will have the same situation now too. You remember what happened in the City Hall after the government changed. They fired people without any explanation and brought new people. Some of the sacked servants appealed the courts and returned to work. However, nobody knows what will happen now,” an employee of the Kutaisi City Hall told humanrights.ge but does not say his name. 

Local government does not think it is a problem if interview will be final stage of the competition. When proposing the resolution, the City Mayor made statement about it. Shota Murgulia thinks the interview will assist better demonstration of the applicants’ professionalism. 

Majority of the city council have the same opinion. Irma Petriashvili of the Georgian Dream clarified: “There is nothing bad in the interview. Just the opposite, I think it is important because testing is very general and elementary stage of the competition. When we have to make decisions about concrete specialists, we will need to find most competent person that can be demonstrated only during interview.”

As for competition commission, whose impartiality was questioned and protested several times, was re-staffed in January of 2014; that time chairman of the city council fraction For Our Future Davit Dvali chairs the commission. Currently, Dvali is chairman of the