Sport Minister refuses to step down
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, April 2
The Sports and Youth Affairs Committee in the Parliament disapproved the work the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Levan Kipiani is doing.
A few days ago, the minister was summoned in front of the committee. According to the committee members, Kipiani failed to respond to all their questions.
The MPs have prepared a negative report, and have sent it to the Prime Minister, asking him to take the appropriate action.
According to them, the sport minister should resign.
The committee members noted that the case does not imply that there are any personal confrontations, and the issue has been discussed only in a business context.
Head of the Committee Leri Khabelovi, says that they have pretensions about many issues.
“We have notes about the infrastructure and federations, about universities and many technical issues, but the minister did not consider any of them,” Khabelovi said.
Committee member Luka Kurtanidze says that the minister does not take his work seriously.
“Kipiani does nothing for the promotion of sport. He should visit the regions and inform the public about the implemented work. He should cooperate with the ministries of Health and Education, but he never does.” Kurtanidze stressed.
Primetime newspaper accused Kipiani of the abuse of the authority. According to them, the minister subjectively selected one of the tender participant companies for the construction of Batumi Dinamo Arena.
They say that the company belongs to his friend, where Kipiani’s brother serves as the PR manager.
In response, Kipiani stresses that he has already met with the prime minister and does not intend to quit his post.
He dismissed the accusations, and emphasized that he does not let anyone poke into his ministry’s activities.
