Program Director of Transparency International Georgia sacked

Programs Director of Transparency International Georgia, Nina Khatiskatsi, was dismissed from her post on July 23. This has caused speculation in the media that her dismissal was related with political motivation, as Khatiskatsi has always made critical statements concerning the government’s actions. These speculations were flatly denied by TI’s leadership as well as Khatiskatsi herself.

Khatiskatsi was dismissed by the head of the Board and the Executive Director of the NGO, Eka Gigauri.

Nina Kkatiskatsi told The Messenger she had never had any kind of confrontation with the leadership of the organization. “Of course, there have been issues for which I had my personal views that differed from other’s attitudes. However, we have always managed to agree in the end. My dismissal was carried out swiftly without any preconditions. There was such fact in the organization when one of the employees was dismissed and exactly the same reason was named as it was mentioned in my case. However, that person was warned beforehand about it and the process was prolonged for about one month. In my case, I was dismissed without any hints about it,” Khatiskatsi stated and excluded political motivation as the cause of her dismissal. “However, I consider that my dismissal two-months before the elections will not positively reflect on the organization,” Khatiskatsi stated.

Khatiskatsi plans to meet with the board in the next week, as according to her an influential representative of the board is not in Georgia currently.

As the organization claims, Khatistatsi’s dismissal was related with an “inner organizational disagreement.”

The organization’s actions and reports have always reflected the country’s problems and the whole organization’s attitudes, “our reports have always been based on complex research in which lots of analysts and researchers have been involved. It has never expressed a single person’s views,” Transparency International Georgia stated and underscored that speculations through the media concerning the political motivation on Khatiskatsi’s dismissal creates danger for the organization’s image. “We are worried concerning the statements and we have decided to make a broader statement concerning the inner process,” TI’s statement reads.

In addition, the Executive Director of TI, Eka Gigauri told The Messenger that Khatiskatsi’s dismissal was related with inner management issues and refrained from delivering details what they were related to. However, Gigauri emphasized that Khatiskatsi was informed that there was some incompatibility between her and the organization’s leadership. “We have talked on the issue, better earlier until making decision, thus dismissal should not be unexpected for Khatiskatsi,” Gigauri stated.

The head and founder of the Kakheti Information Centre, Gela Mtivlishvili left the project where he had worked as a monitor under leadership of Khatiskatsi. As Mtivlishvili stated on his facebook page– “Khatiskatsi was dismissed without any real proof and the statement made by TI was irresponsible concerning the fact.” Mtivlishvili also underscored that Khatiskatsi is professional and impartial in her job. The head of the information centre refused to make additional comments for The Messenger.

The chair of Elections and Political Technologies Research Centre, Kakha Kakhishvili, excluded political motivation on Transparency International Georgia’s behalf regarding Khatiskatsi. Based on him the reason would really be some inner incompatibility. “This is a very respectable and trusty organization and their reports have always reflected reality, are always critical and true. Khatiskatsi was a programs director and there are various directions the organization works on and in all directions their reports are always impartial,” Kakhishvili told The Messenger and described Khatiskatsi as professional as well as Gigauri and other employees of the organization.