At the RA Government session on May 12 this year, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan announced, “Our resources are limited but I strongly believe that the lack of resources can be an offset of two factors: firstly, the use of effective models, and secondly, the speed of the fulfillment thereof… We must reduce the costs that have no significant impact on the actual outcome.
Their circle is not small: business trips, representation expenses, maintenance costs, office vehicles and so on. The state government apparatus should become more compact. It refers not only to the ministries’ staffs but also to various SNGOs and PIUs, adjacent agencies and departments … The government has enough political will to fulfill all necessary steps.” As a result of the promised fulfillment of the political will, a few minor reductions were made. The expenses of the ministers traveling abroad were reduced, also vehicles available in the balance of the ministries that had long ago become a scrap metal were written off, which was ridiculed in the press.
Hovik Abrahamyan urged all concerned individuals and organizations to send recommendations in brief to the e-mail address of Minister-Chief of Government Staff David Harutyunyan.
With a hope that the issue will be resolved, I tried to make by contribution to this and published articles “How to save 100 million drams?” (“Aravot” Daily, May 20, 20.05.2016) and “Why not to start with Deputy Ministers?” (“Aravot” Daily, 3 June 2016). I sent them to David Harutyunyan’s e-mail. There was no answer.
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I assume that I am not the only one who has submitted recommendations to the government on hearing the Prime Minister’s request. Interestingly, how many recommendations were sent, how many of them the government has responded, how many of them are serious and worthy of attention, how many of them have nothing to do with the reality, when the time for fulfillment of start recommendations will come. “Aravot” tried to get the answers to these questions from the reappointed Government Minister-Chief Davit Harutyunyan. Yesterday, he did not answer our phone calls all day long. Hopefully, in the future, Mr. Harutyunyan will introduce these details. Five months after this announcement, Hovik Abrahamyan resigned, changes took place in the government by “political will”.
Now, the new Prime Minister, like the previous one, is engaged in the reduction of public expenses, increasing cost efficiency and optimization of the state apparatus. On September 20, during the public hearing on the draft of the 2017 state budget of the Republic of Armenia, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan stated that the expenditures of the state apparatus must be reduced significantly, and based on the savings to ensure proper organization of the required functions, which however should in no way affect the efficiency of the work and at the expense of the quality of work. The Prime Minister emphasized the optimization of structural changes in the ministries and in the staff lists. He has not asked for recommendations. Perhaps, he has his own visions. Let’s see what will happen.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
“Aravot”
22.09.2016
