Sparking fresh controversy, speaker Alen Simonyan has given Armenian parliament members and staffers additional hefty bonuses worth their monthly salaries.
The parliament’s press service said that Simonian ordered the lavish payments on the occasion of Armenia’s Constitution Day marked on July 5. It promised to disclose later this month the total amount of public funds spent for that purpose.
The previous such allocation made in late December cost taxpayers over 500 million drams ($1.3 million). Simonian pledged at the time to pay the bonuses no more than twice a year.
“From now on, bonus payments will be made on September 21 (Armenia’s Independence Day) and at the end of the year,” he said.
Read also
The speaker, who is a key member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s political team, has yet to explain why he did not honor his pledge. Ironically, the latest bonuses were dedicated to the 29th anniversary of the adoption of Armenia’s current constitution which Pashinian wants to scrap.
The two Armenian opposition groups represented in the National Assembly were quick to announce that their lawmakers will donate their bonuses to charities or individual citizens in need. Their colleagues representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract party did not follow suit. One of the pro-government parliamentarians, Hovik Aghazaryan, made clear that he will not make any donation.
“I myself am in great need of money and I will not spend a single penny of the money allocated to me except in cases where the [Civil Contract] parliamentary group makes a decision on this or that issue,” Aghazaryan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Many Armenians feel that the lavish bonuses are unacceptable extravagance given the grave security and socioeconomic challenges facing their country.
“Well, if citizens guarantee that they will reelect me a parliament deputy for 20 more years so that I can repay my mortgage, I will send money to the place shown by them,” Aghazaryan countered bluntly. “But two years later, I may no longer be a deputy and may be stuck with a $50,000 debt.”
The net salary of a rank-and-file Armenian lawmaker is roughly 600,000 drams ($1,550) per month, which is more than twice the country’s official average monthly wage.
The amounts and frequency of bonuses paid to civil servants and especially high-ranking government officials and parliamentarians has significantly increased since Pashinian came power in 2018. Responding to criticism from opposition figures and other government critics, Pashinian has said that these payments discourage corrupt practices in the government.
Armenia’s leading anti-corruption watchdog has dismissed this explanation, saying that the lopsided bonuses are aimed at making sure that Pashinian’s political allies and other senior officials stay loyal to the prime minister.