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“Only Bait is Free in a Mouse-Trap”

April 30, 2008
Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi

Buckwheat, soup, mashed potato, spaghetti and meat- course rarely- it is the menu offered to the socially excluded population three years ago by the “Rose Government”. With the initiative the government gained hearts of one part of the voters, especially during the pre-election campaign. Now, parliamentary elections are approaching and consequently, the government has aimed to gain the hearts and votes of vulnerable people again.

Although governmental officials do not have dinner with lonely old people, the beneficiaries of the free canteens do not complain about it at all. They are more worried about the perspective that the government might replace the free dinner by some other vote getting initiative.

“In the past governmental officials often visited us and even had dinner with us. Nino Burjanadze, the chairperson of the Georgian Parliament, also visited us several times; once Mikheil Saakashvili also came for a meal I do not care if they do not come or not. However, I really do not want them to abolish our free canteen. We are keeping our promise and remain faithful to the government. Thus, they also should keep their word and must not leave us hungry,” said eighty-one-year-old Valia Giorgadze.

Nearly 700 lonely old people live in Kutaisi. They voted for the current government during the elections and they intend to vote for again for this government. These people are often reminded that only Georgian government takes care of them and fights with them against the poverty

“People should support each other. The government assists us and we support them in return,” consider the older generation that is getting meals.  . Our government took advantage of this consideration and made a good PR for itself through the opening of free soup kitchens.

“When politicians do such niece things it often carries some kind of PR feature. Politicians benefit from such kinds of activities. If the number of people-in-need is large, politicians certainly view them as potential voters,” said Paata Sheshlidze, an economist.

Older people from a socially excluded layer of the society do not care about politics. They want to see warm food when they enter free feeding centers.

“I visit the canteen everyday. The dinner is sometimes warm and sometimes not. But it does not matter. I should not be hungry, that’s a point,” said Valia Giorgadze. She knows that nobody should condemn what has been provided free-of-charge.

“280 thousand GEL is allocated in the Kutaisi Budget to feed old people who have not place else to turn.  Last year some of the meals were funded from UNFP too. However it is still not enough based on the need. Sponsors are not active at all. We carry out a tender every year but organizations are not willing to take part in it. They are passive because there is no challenge for them in the project. We spend 1, 60 GEL on a person,” said Archil Mukbanian, the head of the Kutaisi Social Service Office.

Based on the comment it is clear how rich food they serve for the old people. How can cooks care about these people as the kitchen help only has eighty GEL a month in salary?

“When people have to feed people and allocate money for this purpose, the obvious question that arises is how valuable is the food that is served to the beneficiaries? Thus, a person is obliged to increase price on the service in order to get profit from the business, or buy low qualified food products (or both). As a result people who are visiting free canteens are eating low quality food products. They lose out in any case but not immediately but it may be a bit later. It is a circle where all of us are involved as increased prices impact everybody,” said Paata Sheshelidze.

Old people complain about poor products less now (or they avoid speaking about the problem). Several months ago the topic was very topical in Kutaisi. Beneficiaries of the “Madlierebis Sakhli” (free canteen) complained about bad bread and potatoes. The photos of incredibly black bread printed on the local newspapers informed the society how the government “bothers” about its citizens.
A logic question emerges: Can free thing have high quality, and how especially in a country with such a poor social-economical situation? Maybe, nobody can expect to eat rich food. This goes to support the old saying, “Only the cheese is free in a mouse-trap.”

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