The Poor Blame Social Welfare Agents for Incompetence and Corruption

Since last year, the State Agency for Social Aid and Employment has released a definition of families below the poverty level. The first registration of those in need of aid has now finished, with 40,001 so called ‘points’ estimated as the poverty limit. Impoverished people who have exceeded this limit, now find themselves unable to receive aid and blame social agents for incompetence and corruption.

Those people with less than 40,001 points will receive their allowances after September. Extremely impoverished one-member-families will get 38GEL a month; two-member-families will get 55GEL, three-member-families – 70GEL, four - 85GEL, five - 100GEL, six -115GEL, seven - 125GEL, eight or more-member-families will get 10 laris for each additional member.

According to official information, registered families who are over the point limit, will receive their allowances during the second and third stages of the program. It is however officially known they are working to reduce the point limit at the Health Ministry, but this information is denied by the State Employment Agency. They say that an increase in the point-limit is expected instead of a lowering.

“The first stage of registration has ended,” Khatuna Papunashvili, chief of the Gurdjaani District Office for Social Aid and Employment said in conversation with us, “40,001 points has been estimated as the limit. Many families have received quite high points on the database. These families cannot receive allowances at this stage; however it does not mean that they will be left without aid. As far as I know, an increase in the point limit is a future prospect. Further stages are to be implemented as well,” 

According to her, even those families with under 40,001 points might not receive any allowances, because the Employment Agency is currently reviewing the lists and intends to check living conditions again. “The families under 40,001 are not guaranteed allowances. In the nearest future their living conditions will be reviewed. Our service will decide together with local governments whether this or that family is to be aided. More precisely the question of being socially aided is to be settled,”-says Khatuna Papunashvili.

According to official information, 7 thousand families have been registered in Gurdjaani. Many of them are impoverished, but whose rate point turned out to be high, and these people cast their suspicion over the honesty of the social agents work, calling them corrupt.

“I am not sure if there is a more impoverished person in the district than me,” says Manana Chitavishvili from the village of Velistsikhe, anxiously, “You could say I live in a hut and am bringing up two children there. My husband has been dead for a long time. I only have two beds and a table in the house. The social welfare agent checked everything when he visited me. He said who would be aided but me? It is unclear why such high points have been given to me. Despite this, there are families who are about to be aided after June; this fact surprised many people. How could they get allowances without some illegal settlements and the social agent having changed some data? The supervisor cannot check every family. Many families will get through; while nobody knows at the same time I die of hunger. I will never give in.”

Other people also expressed their concern about the social agents. “Because of the incorrect and biased work of the social welfare agents, many impoverished families cannot receive allowances. The social welfare agent did not let us read the official document and made us sign it. We are not going to give in, if they do not fix such violations we will certainly appeal against them,”-says Meri Lazashvili and many other poor people agree with her.

The chief of the Gurdjaani Office for Social Aid and Employment categorically denies the accusations of the population. “I am sure about the welfare agents’ objectivity; simply the situation is a very awkward one. Anyone with a complaint can review their declarations, which are kept in the Telavi-Regional Coordination Centre,” says Khatuna Papuashvili, pointing out that those families with a disabled member have been privileged.  

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti