NGOs Slam PM Bakhtadze for Criticizing Civil Sector
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, October 26
Non-governmental sector claims that Georgian Prime Minister, Mamuka Bakhtadze has never met them or listened to their opinions or concerns, adding his comments that some NGOs make “politically motivated statements” are unfair.
Sulkhan Saladze, chairman of the NGO Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) says the PM had better find out more about the activities and opinions of the civil sector before criticizing them.
“Bakhtadze should remind himself how many months he has been a PM and he has never met the non-governmental sector,” Saladze noted.
According to him, the only person from the government who regularly meets NGOs is Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia.
“If Gakharia can meet us and talk about the planned reforms in the ministry, why cannot others do the same?” GYLA head said.
Executive Director of International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) Mikheil Benidze stated that it is obvious that the PM, along with the whole governmental team of the Georgian Dream (GD) ruling party, attack the NGOs in the run-up to the elections and organizations working on election monitoring and human rights are being discredited during this period – with the goal of de-legitimizing their work and assessments.
“This is directly linked with the elections and the government attempts to discredit the election observation organizations and to somehow repel our reputation in the society. Of course, this is very damaging for the country and democracy,” he stated.
After the governmental session on October 25, the Prime Minister stated that the ruling political team actively cooperates with civil sector, but as a response, they often hear "politically motivated statements".
“We moved to the stage of a new wave of reforms and we are interested in getting recommendations on reforms. But what do we see in response? In response, we often hear politically motivated statements. However, we believe that active involvement of the civil society in building democratic institutions, is very important,” Bakhtadze said.
The PM added that such communication with the NGOs frequently turns into “biased statements”, adding this is not good for further strengthening of democratic institutions in Georgia.
