Shorena Ghlotni
Recently, we often hear from citizens “he did not receive me,” “he did not listen to me,” “he did not assist me,” “he was busy at the meeting,”… people receive similar replies after their hours-long waiting in the offices of local public officials. However, before the elections the government speaks much about transparency, accountability, attention and of course about building better state.
One of the reasons for the governmental officials not to meet the citizens is pre-election campaign. In the offices, they give three-hours-long sessions and they do not hide this fact.
The situation is complicated in Ozurgeti district by the fact that citizens sent to the district administration cannot meet even the heads of the executive body in the district administration. The problem is connected with the elections – the district governor and his deputy resigned; now they work at the Ozurgeti district office of the National Movement. Interim district governors are not aware of the real situation yet.
“I could not meet the regional governor. I have been waiting for him for the seventh or eighth Monday already. But they refused to meet me today too. The secretary told me the regional governor is busy and suggested to meet either his deputy or district governor; however, nobody has time to meet me,” said the young man who has cancer.
Guria regional governor Valeri Chtiaishvili denies the fact in his interviews with media representatives.
Valeri Chitaishvili, Guria Regional Governor: “If I am free, nobody should complain that I avoid meeting citizens. You will never see my office empty. When one part of citizens is in my room, another part is waiting in the waiting room. I want to point out that there are people who want to meet me every Monday. There is a person who requests one million GEL for a sculpture. There are people whom we assisted several times but still appeals to us; there are families whom we assisted with several thousands of GEL and still request our assistance. However, we cannot find similar funds all the time. Unfortunately, there are people who have habit to request something. They try to convince people that they have huge problems and permanently complain.”
Lawyer Irakli Papava said the direct, unconditional and legal obligation of the governmental officials is to meet and listen to citizens.
Irakli Papava, lawyer: “the problem of permanent meetings and parties” is still urgent problem. It is the best reason to avoid “boring and bothering” complaints of citizens. Apparently, the charm of the high positions of the regional and district governors is problem of the busy governmental official to find time in his precious life to meet citizens. We will face the worst situation if they deprive the citizens from the right to wait for them in their offices…although the authority actively speaks about transparency real situation has nothing to do with transparency. Simply, the government speaks about transparency because it is in fashion and the law requires it from them. When you are a public official, you should pretend to be a transparent at least in your speech. This is the real reason of their permanent speaking about transparency.
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