Aravot Daily spoke to the deputy of the National Assembly staff and “I Have Honor ” alliance member Arsen Babayan about the ruling party’s draft on increasing money allocated towards deputies’ expenses from 50,000 to 250,000 AMD, which was passed by the National Assembly.
– Babayan, how reasonable and justifiable is that draft to you?
This amount is intended to reimburse the expenses of the deputies that they incur while working with the voters. Whether it is justified or not, all that is needed is to study the work of the deputies. My complete research clearly proves that we have mostly insufficient work. The deputies hardly meet with the voters; they do not visit the regions for that purpose. The conclusion is that this amount is like a reward for them, a working income.
I remembered yesterday that one of the deputies offered to take those fifty thousand AMD from the high-paid deputies and transfer them to the disabled soldiers in January. The same deputies who formed the government rejected that important proposal. And now, they increased that money to fill their own pockets.
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And what good have they created that they are paid extra? And now what does Nikol’s famous teacher think about Nikol? Does he think that his former disciple is an ordinary liar and a stateless creature? I’m sure he does.
– What do you think, what purpose does bringing forth such a draft in an outgoing parliament, especially in an extraordinary session, serve?
The rush is due to an important circumstance: they are doing that now because there is no opposition in parliament. They know very well that they will have problems in the next parliament.
– In your opinion, how sufficient is 50,000 AMD for deputies to meet with voters and travel to the provinces? Those in favor of the draft claim that they had to pay from their own pockets due to insufficient funds.
Can you imagine that the deputies who even went to Artsakh or Syunik during the war, receiving business trips at the expense of the state (hotel, fuel, and pocket expenses), will now receive additional money? For example, with that money, they can finance expensive cars. And now, such deputies say that they have allegedly spent money from their own pockets. They are ordinary liars, ordinary plagues on the level of a thief stealing state funds in the Soviet Union.
Luiza Sukiasyan
