Saakashvili Tells Ministers to Take Care of People
President Saakashvili said on March 5 that growing consumer prices were a serious burden for ordinary people, and should be off-set through social assistance programs and economic growth.
“Georgia is not in an easy situation,” he told the cabinet members at a session held in Kutaisi. “On the one hand, we face problems related to territorial integrity, which, of course, harms our country’s development, while, on the other hand, world economic conditions are very unfavorable – oil prices are going up, prices on agricultural products are increasing. It means that prices on consumer goods are increasing for our citizens. The only way to overcome this problem lies through increasing the real incomes of our people, through increasing social assistances through improving tax administration, as well as through stimulating economic growth.”
Saakashvili then recalled his election campaign promise to help revive rural areas across Georgia. He said he wanted to begin delivering on that promise with an initial focus on the village of Poladaantkari in the Gardabani region. The village has recently been at the center of a government PR campaign, with Rustavi 2 TV reporting that the village didn’t even have official status as a village and that it was experiencing severe economic hardship. The next day a group of ministers arrived in the village and pledged their support. At the government session on March 5, President Saakashvili publicly signed a decree giving Poladaantkari official status as a village and instructed cabinet ministers to pay particular attention to the needs of the local population there.
Saakashvili then told the ministers that they should be in the service of the people.
“It’s most important that we create new jobs… and establish justice and serve our people in the right manner,” Saakashvili said. “It is not the people who serve the government, but the government should serve the people.”
He advised his minister that they “should not sleep” and should instead “fairly distribute limited state resources among the citizens.”