The Road ahead for the Ex-PM
Op-Ed
It has been almost a month since the now-former Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili left his post. His replacement was appointed, who changed the government, but the discussion surrounding the ex-premier won’t likely come to an end anywhere in the near future, with people asking where he’ll pop up next. There are four possible answers: a) politics b) prison c) home d) abroad. We do not know which of the above will be true, but considering the developments within the governmental party, most likely it will be one of the first two.
The fact that the resigned high post officials have a choice of staying in politics or going to prison has been proven by numerous former ministers, for example, ex-PM Merabishvili and former Minister of Defense Bacho Akhalaia, both of whom have been serving their sentence in prison for years already. The likelihood of the ex-PM’s future road leading to “Matrosov” prison is further heightened by the fact that former minister of economy Dimitri Kumsishvili and former Infrastructure Minsiter Zurab Alavidze both had to sign an agreement not to leave the country at Tbilisi International Airport. Apologies were given paid to both of the ex-ministers, who were at that point sent home. Notably, both of them are considered to be in the closest circle of Giorgi Kvirikashvili and his team members. The information spread by the media suggests that Kumsishvili and Alavidze are the main players in the corruption scheme currently being investigated by the financial police.
The punitive loop created by the legislative organs around ex-PM Kvirikashvili is getting narrower. The positions of 7 of 15 heads of different parliamentary committees that were formerly occupied by the members of Kvirikashvili’s team are now vacant. Those who have found themselves in Parliament on Kvirikashvili’s quota will also need to make a choice, among those the youngsters about whom the government party boasted during the parliamentary elections in 2016. We can tell there is a cleansing within the Georgian Dream from the fact that the former PM was expelled from the political council and then left the GD completely, and all this while in the very near past we heard in his public speeches that he was the loyal soldier of the party, who would fight on every front the party asked him to.
The recruits of the ex-PM aren’t having the best times facing the dilemma of proving their loyalty and heartfelt love for Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream, or following Kvirikashvili on his as yet unknown path. But the clock is ticking and Kvirikashvili has to make a rapid decision and act upon it if he wants to keep his team, that is, if it hasn’t jumped off his sinking ship yet. Otherwise, all roads for Kvirikashvili will lead to prison. By resigning, Kvirikashvili clearly conveyed a message to Ivanishvili that he no longer wanted to be the clerk of Cartu Bank and wouldn’t continue obeying his orders; he would remain at his post only if he could act according to his own decisions, or resign, which he eventually did, even though it wasn’t the best scenario for Ivanishvili, because it triggered serious tremors within the governmental party. This is why those political experts who don’t believe in his courage, are wrong. Rumors say that Kvirikashvili has the support of the bankers and his “native” political organization, the New Rights Party. Therefore, it isn’t entirely impossible that in the near future, we see the return of the ex-PM into big politics.
By Zaza Jgarkava