Press Releases

On March 5, 2015, ISFED’s office in Kutaisi hosted a meeting with candidates of competition held for filling open positions in Gamgeoba and Sakrebulo of Terjola Municipality. Candidates expressed their concern about activities of Terjola Committee for Competitions and Certification.   

Originally, the committee was led by Sakrebulo Chairman Malkhaz Gurgenidze but after his resignation the committee dissolved. Terjola Municipality Gamgebeli Teimuraz Japaridze was appointed as the new chairman of the commission. The committee acted in violation of the principles of openness by refusing stakeholders including ISFED to monitor the process of interviews. Acting Chairperson of Terjola Sakrebulo was also prohibited from attending the job interviews. He had applied to the commission a day before for its permission to attend. 

Candidates stated that final decision made by the committee for certification and competitions was not objective. At the rally held outside Gamgeoba they demanded abolishment of the committee’s decision and resignation of its chairmen.  

10 candidates informed ISFED’s representatives that the committee acted in violation of its own regulations. In particular, members of the committee were asking questions about Georgian legislation only; they did not ask questions from other fields mandated by the commission regulations. The committee did not use the template for evaluating interviews, provided by the committee regulations¹ requiring that other skills of candidates be tested as well. 

According to the candidates, the committee decided against them due to their political affiliation. They are affiliated with political party United National Movement, which is the alleged reason why the committee refused to nominate them. On March 5, 2015, filed a complaint with the committee seeking abolishment of the decision. The committee has three working days to review their complaint. ² 

ISFED believes that openness and access to meetings of the committee is important in administration of the process of competitions and certification; the principle of equality must be observed as much as possible. Candidates must be evaluated according to a set of pre-determined objective criteria in order to rule out making of decisions motivated by subjective and personal reasons. 

ISFED is ready to provide legal consultation to all individuals who believe that their rights were violated in the process of competitions and certification. 

 

  ^{See Resolution of Terjola Municipality Sakrebulo N37 dated October 22, 2014} 

  ^{See January 18, 2014 Resolution of the Government of Georgia N412, Article 15}