Some of them even beat the record by the number of assistants
Recently, there are many complaints that the government agencies are excessively overstaffed. And we decided to make a small “tour” to the official websites of the state agencies to find out how many people give advice to one official.
According to the president.am website, the president of Armenia has 9 advisors, the next line is “shared” between Hovik Abrahamyan and the Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan – 8 advisors each. It is true that all the officials, in addition to advisors, have also an assistant(s), but in this respect, the NA Speaker is the richest by the number of them. According to parliament.am website, in addition to numerous advisors, he also has 7 assistant and 4 referees. Health Minister Armen Muradyan, according to the website of the Ministry of Health, has 5 advisors; Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan – 6, Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan – 3, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan – 2, Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan – 2, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Gabriel Ghazaryan – 3, Minister of Territorial Governance and Emergency Situations Armen Yeritsyan – 1. Urban and Finance Ministers advisers are not “reflected” in the official websites of the agencies, however, this does not mean that Narek Sargsyan and Gagik Khachatryan do not have advisors, or it is not the case that listing less number of advisers meets the reality.
In addition, Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan has 4 advisor, Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan has 3 advisors, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Artem Asatryan – 3, and the Justice Minister Hovhannes Manukyan – 2.
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According to gov.am website, the Ministry of international economic integration and reforms does not have a website, the government website shows only Vache Gabrielyan’s biography. According to the same source, Minister of Environment Aramayis Grigoryan has 2 advisors, Minister of Economy Karen Cheshmarityan – 3, Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan – 3, Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan – 2, Yerevan City Mayor Taron Margaryan – 7 advisors. To the point, the officials’ advisors’ list includes the names of already known officials, or the names of their children and relatives. Not counting the advisors to the Government adjacent agencies and defense minister, it turns out that about 80 people are busy with giving advice to high-level “boss”. Interestingly, if their number is cut down, will the situation in the country become worse, or on the contrary, be easier in terms of payment of excessive wages. Let’s not forget also that the deputy ministers have not only advisers, but also assistants. But this remains for another time.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
