Mikheil Saakashvili, in his capacity as president of Georgia, has never visited Kaspi after the Rose Revolution. However, as a presidential candidate Saakashvili has visited the industrial town. Local authorities arranged a meeting with school children and employees of the local administration. Khatuna Tatanashvili, a member of the “Republican Party” from Kaspi, said that the officials from their district got dressed in riot policemen’s uniforms and started to disperse people with truncheons on November 7.
“Now we try to find out who took part in the dispersal on November 7. We know exactly how many people took part in it, but the final list will be drawn up in the near future,” said Tatanashvili.
Tatanashvili accuses two deputies of the Kaspi Municipality, Manuchar Berianidze and Levan Noniashvili, for corruption. These people were ordered to collect 70 % of the votes during the presidential elections to be held on January 5, 2008.
“The Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into misuse of government funds by Manuchar Berianidze in 2007. More precisely, Berianidze was accused of misappropriating funds allocated to purchasing fire wood for nursery schools in the district. The deputy of the municipality paid 11 000 lari as a fine. We can produce the receipt of the fine he paid,” said Khatuna Tatanashvili.
The most interesting fact is that former deputies Grigol Gotsiridze and Dvalishvili were invited back to the Municipality board. The Prosecutor’s Office accused these two people of misuse of government funds more than one year ago. Nevertheless, instead of charging them for the crime, these people were invited back to the district Municipality board. “The reason behind this was Vakhtang Maisuradze, the Kaspi District Governor, who was detained on September 12 for his friendship with Irakli Okruashvili and Mikheil Kareli. The Kaspi Municipality Board needed enough votes to discharge Maisuradze. In order to assure his dismissal, the power of the former deputies was restored within one night,” said the member of the Republic Party from Kaspi. The Republican Party can produce the video-recording of the municipality meeting where Gotsiridze and Dvalishvili voted for the impeachment of the Kaspi governor.
As for Saakashvili’s visit to Kaspi, it did not last long. Mikheil Saakashvili opened the new Tbilisi-Igoeti highway near the village of Agaiani. The residents of the village could not meet the presidential candidate. After the opening ceremony Saakashvili arrived in Kaspi. The candidate and representatives of the local authorities met the population near Saakadze’s statue. It is the place where three chimneys of the Kaspi Cement Factory release smoke. During Saakashvili’s visit only one chimney was working, the others may have purposefully been turned off. Then, the presidential candidate went to the village of Samtavisi where he visited a unique archeological dig. Samtavisi residents complained to members of the opposition that they were unable to meet the presidential candidate.
Opposition parties from Kaspi predict that the elections will be fraudulent. The authorities call their accusation groundless and state that they give the opposition every opportunity to carry out their election campaign within the legal framework.
“How can we speak of legal elections when we are being followed by police and security cars during our visits? Koba Davitashvili has met the Kaspi population several times and each time the same car was following him everywhere. He remembers license plate of the car: AES 441. The policemen also warned the population that if they met with Koba Davitashvili, they would face some problems. I want to be grateful to Malkhaz Barnov, the head of the Kaspi police department, who always attends our meetings and observes our security,” says a member of the opposition.
Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori
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