Former Employees of Khoi District Administration Speak about Their Politically Motivated Dismissals

Inga Gvasalia, Samegrelo

After the new district governor took office in the Khoni district, a reorganization of service offices started at the district administration. Dismissed personnel state that they were fired on political grounds.

Heads of all nine service offices and attorneys from all 22 territories left their jobs after submitting resignation applications. Eight employees of the municipal board also submitted such applications. Lela Shamatava, the head of the municipal board office, stated that two people had already filled two vacant positions without competition.

Salome Kajaia, the chief specialist of public and media relation issues at the Khobi district administration, told us that she was fired on political grounds.

Employees from Kajaia’s division also wrote resignation letters. “The district governor could not give me a concrete reason for my dismissal; he told me: ‘Nobody has protected you, and I have no other way; I also have people who are seeking jobs.” Although nobody has told me directly, I have heard that I was fired because my brother is a member of the National Movement’s youth branch,” said a former employee of the district administration.

Former Head of the Agriculture Development Service Anatoly Sichinava said that although he wrote a resignation application, he did not want to resign. “I voted for the National Movement’s majoritarian candidate Goderdzi Bukia at the parliamentary elections, and I think they did not like it. The new government does not care about professionals and experienced personnel; the main concern for them is the membership of the Georgian Dream,” said Sichinava.

Dismissed employees complain about oppression from Makhare Chokoraia, the new district deputy governor. Chokoraia denies accusations, saying, “They came and wrote resignation letters themselves. Many of them do not want to cooperate with us; some of them want to go abroad; others intend to move to Tbilisi. We will speak with everybody, and some of them might return.”

Khobi district governor Kakhaber Benidze denies political motives in the personnel changes and explained as follows: “Political motive has nothing to do with it. Other employees of the district administration, the village attorneys, also wrote resignation applications and left their jobs. It was their wish. They might feel a moral responsibility. They occupied positions during the governance of both the Citizens’ Union and the National Movement. Now they have realized that they cannot cooperate with us and have written resignation letters,” said the district governor.

He added that the new personnel might be elected in the district administration without competition. “A competition-examination commission has not yet been established in Khobi. New employees are hired as interim specialists,” clarified Benidze.