Saakashvili Finds Problems at the Top in Ukraine Corruption Fight

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, in his attempts to counter corruption in Ukraine in his new role as Governor of Odessa, has claimed that low salaries for government officials is fuelling wrongdoing.

Reportedly, Georgians working on reforms in Ukraine, including many former Georgian MPs, are being paid very low salaries including Saakashvili who is said to be on around $270 per month. The governor believes this is the main reason for the weak state system and rampant corruption in almost every sector of Ukraine.

Eka Zguladze, Ukraine’s Deputy Interior Minister revealed that her salary slightly exceeds 7,000 Hryvnia (Ukrainian currency) which is nearly $335.

Recently, a Ukrainian TV channel prepared a special report on what it called Saakashvili’s ‘faзade reforms in Georgia’, interviewing personalities in Georgia, who, under Saakashvili’s rule of 9 years, had seen their activities limited amid accusations of Russian collaboration.

Clearly, Ukraine needs quick and efficient reforms in vital sectors, such as police, to make the country of around 50 million citizens more attractive to the West and foreign investment. Notwithstanding Zguladze’s first successful reform of the traffic police in Ukraine, Saakashvili is openly fighting widespread corruption, criminal authorities and other injustices in Odessa.

Saakashvili has appointed Zurab Adeishvili, former Georgian Justice Minister as a Regional Prosecutor of the Odessa district. Adeishvili, who was declared internationally wanted by the current Georgian government, has been removed from the wanted list by INTERPOL and is expected to fight and combat organized crime in Ukraine.

Ukraine is currently attempting to make a historical shift from a former Soviet to a modern democratic state. This European country with huge potential and resources, at different times, has massively been the prey of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, which, along with other activities, was responsible for the Holodomor genocide where thousands of Ukrainians were starved to death.

And currently, Russia’s Putin, who has called the dissolution of the USSR “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”, is aspiring to restore Russia’s previous glory within the former USSR boundaries, where Ukraine, along with Georgia and Moldova, are central targets of Putin.

Steven Jones