Shorena Ghlonti, Guria
Lanchkhuti district administration purchased vehicle Toyota Land Cruiser Prado for 36 288 USD for the Guria Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Official dealer of the Toyota in Georgia and president of the Toyota Center Tbilisi, Ltd Irakli Gurchiani, order-giver head of the Guria regional department of the MIA Shota Chanukvadze and purchaser Lanchkhuti district governor Giorgi Goguadze signed a purchase agreement on September 9, 2009. According to the agreement, the purchaser, Lanchkhuti district administration purchased black Toyota Land Cruiser Prado for 36 288 USD (61 690 GEL) and assigned it to the police-chief Shota Chanukvadze.
The expenses for gaining the property documents on the vehicle and registration expenses at the authoritative state agency do not go into the agreement. The purchase has covered all other expenses.
Lanchkhuti district budget for 2009 funded the Police Department and State Security with 139 593 GEL. In parallel to it, not a single GEL was allocated for the sick and disabled people as well as for the social assistance of the unemployed people. 19 800 GEL was allocated for the social assistance of the people without care; 195 766 GEL was allocated for the people who remained homeless.
“The local government is not entitled to purchase cars for the police or provide any other assistance for them. They even do not have moral right to assist the police,” said consultant of the Civitas Georgika Aleksandre Kalandadze.
It is interesting what crime has the Lanchkhuti district governor has committed in order to guarantee his comfort by allocating huge funds from the budget?
The law enforcement officers shall be grateful to the former Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli who signed the resolution # 135 issued on March 25, 2006 which allowed the local budget to fund the material and technical equipment of the territorial offices of the MIA.
In accordance to the Law of Georgia on the Rules of Governmental Structures, Responsibilities and Activities, for the additional material and technical equipment of the territorial offices of the MIA, the local self-governmental agencies are entitled to envisage the additional funds in the local budget for the financial assistance of certain activities in accordance to the Article 32 of the Law on Police. The former prime-minister Zurab Noghaideli signed the resolution.
In accordance to the Article 32 of the Law on Police, the structural subdivisions, territorial offices of the ministry, are funded from the central budget or/and from the local budget; as for public legal entities are funded in accordance to the Georgian legislation (11.11.2005.2013)
“There are a lot of problems in the regions and it is not justified to fund the police, education and healthcare institutions from the local budget. In fact, these fields shall be funded from the central budget. Thus, the budget policy is deformed. In fact, the local self-government takes extra responsibilities while they cannot implement their basic ones. At that time, we face serious problem of budget chaos which lead us to a very complicated situation. The local self-governments plan their budgets very badly,” said the expert of the economics Rezo Sakevarishvili.
Economist of the public organization -Union for the Democratic Development of Georgia Levan Chkhaidze said the officials, who are entitled to protect the law and order in the country, shall not act against the real situation in Guria region.
“More precisely, I mean the social conditions of the population. In Guria, there are a lot of people who are dreaming of food. The purpose of the local self-government is to resolve the local problems of the population. If the government is far from the legal interests of the population, it becomes a burden of the people. 61 690 GEL could resolve plenty of problems in Lanchkhuti district; for example the problem of drinking water which has been urgent in Lanckhuti for many years,” said Levan Chkhaidze.
He said, as for the article 32 of the Law on Police, this law and particularly the article cannot be above the Law on Local Self-Government because the latter is the organic law while the former occupies the lower position in the hierarchy. Besides that, in accordance to the Constitution of Georgia, the police are within the competence of the state agencies – consequently, the regional department of the MIA can be funded from the budget of the MIA. “I think Noghaideli released completely irresponsible resolution,” said Chkhaidze.
Is the Lanchkhuti district administration so wealthy to pay 36 288 USD for the vehicle of the Guria regional department of the MIA? Experts say, purchase of a vehicle for the police or other service is not within the competence of the local government. If it is so, according to which law did Girogi Gogouadze act when paying 62 000 GEL for the car out of the total 135 000 GEL which was allocated for the police? – We asked these questions to the public relation department of the Lanchkhuti district administration.
In accordance to the Article 32 of the Law on Police, the structural subdivisions of the MIA, its territorial departments, other state agencies subordinated to the MIA are funded from the state budget or/and local budget. Since the Guria regional department of the MIA is a territorial agency, Lanchkhuti district budget funded it in accordance to the abovementioned law,” replied the Lanchkhuti district governor Giorgi Goguadze.
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