Bonus restrictions
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, June 27
The Government has adopted rules for determining the amount of the bonuses received by public institutions. According to Eka Kardava, head of the Civil Service Bureau, the adoption of the rules was necessary because the current relevant law was not well defined and the Prime Minister found it necessary to elaborate it.
“Accordingly, the decision was made and its content will be available to the public very soon,” said Kardava.
She added that the new rule applies to bonuses of civil service employees, including high-ranking officials.
“The one-time bonus should not exceed the amount of the salary. The right to initiation and decision-making belongs to the Minister,” said Kardava.
The Minister of Internally Displaced Persons, Accommodation and Refugees Davit Darakhvelidze stated that the issue of bonuses should not be dependent on the will of the head of the spending agency.
“I was one of those whose opinion was that the issue of bonuses was to be regulated and that it should not be dependent on the will of the head of a certain spending agency, and naturally, it should not be unlimited. Respectively, in the future if they have such an idea, and decide to issue unjustified bonuses, they will be restricted by the new provision, and financial services will not let them do it,” said Davit Darakhvelidze.
Fellow coalition MP Irakli Sesiashvili states that too strict rules in terms of bonuses might cause emptying the state structures from qualified staff.
“You should interest an employee to work in a state structure. If private businesses launch suggesting better salaries and conditions, there would be a serious risk that professional staff will flow from the state bodies,” Sesiashvili said.
The United National Movement representative Sevdia Ugrekhelidze has stated that regulations were necessary concerning the bonus system, as the current officials have no feeling of balance.
She claims that UNM members did not receive such high bonuses during their time in office. However, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information ( IDFI) states that, for example, Giga Bokeria, who is a member of the UNM and served as a secretary of the National Security Council, took 30,400 GEL between January and November in 2013 as a bonus.
Analyst Mamuka Areshidze states that there are certain ministers and employees in the current government who do nothing and take high salaries and bonuses. “There are ministers like the Healthcare Minister Davit Sergeenko who is doing his best…However, there are many who do nothing and get salaries and perks,” Areshidze said.
