PM Vows Higher-Level Anti-Corruption Mechanisms
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, July 19
New Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuka Bakhtadze vows that under his leadership the country will establish higher-level anti-corruption mechanisms.
“The anti-corruption system should be focused on identification of corruption deals, but at the same time, it should be focused on their prevention,” Bakhtadze stated during the 5th Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Tbilisi on Wednesday.
The prime minister did not reveal the details of the mechanism, only mentioned the increased role of public and state supervisory agencies in combat against corruption.
Bakhtadze also offered more than 70 partners of the Open Government global initiative to adopt a resolution that will "clearly establish key principles and approaches of the Open Government Partnership (OGP),” which will be based on democracy and transparency.
“We should prove that the Open Government Partnership is an opportunity for ordinary citizens to feel real changes. Georgia, like many OGP countries, still faces challenges. During the summit we will offer a resolution to the Steering Committee of the OGP,” Bakhtadze stated.
Georgian parliamentary opposition believes that Georgia, which became the OGP chair country for one year in 2017, failed to fulfill some of the obligations for better governance due to the activities of certain ministers and ministries.
The opposition particularly criticized Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani.
The OGP Global Summit brought together OGP’s 78 participating countries, 20 local governments, and beyond to exchange ideas on how they are making their governments more transparent, accountable and responsive to citizens’ needs.
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a Steering Committee including representatives of governments and civil society organizations.
