Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, giving his annual report in Verkhovna Rada on Dec. 11, said government is not responsible for corruption, much to the annoyance of lawmakers.
Minutes later, he got attacked by one of them – Oleg Barna of the Bloc of President Petro Poroshenko — and in a way that was exceptional even for the often misbehaving Ukrainian legislators.
Talking in front of parliament, Yatsenyuk said the Cabinet does not have authority to prosecute, investigate or judge.
“Let’s see, who prosecutes? Prosecutors do. So who is in charge? The General Prosecutor’s Office. The president appoints the prosecutor general,” Yatsenyuk said.
Other bodies responsible for fighting corruption, he said, were the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Security Service of Ukraine. Neither depends on the government’s decisions, Yatsenyuk added.
“Everyone has to do his own job,” he said, demanding court reform legislation from lawmakers. “Change 9,000 of the corrupt judges and create the new court system.”
According to Yatsenyuk, it is impossible to fight corruption in the public sector, when salaries of officials are Hr 2,000 ($86).
Member of parliament Oleg Barna grabs Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in the Verkhovna Rada on Dec. 11, triggering a fight and interrupting the prime minister’s progress report on the governmetn’s first year in office.
He said that the government had already started negotiations with international partners about launching a special fund that would permit an increase in civil servant salaries. However, he added, this would be possible only for “specific strategy of the civil service reform.”
A day earlier, parliament approved the law that is designed to build a new civil service with politically independent officials.
Yatsenyuk also said that the government has already cut up to 30 percent of the State Fiscal Service’s employees.
He stressed that lawmakers have to adopt the privatization law.
“I have been asking for year. Just do it. Give us the ability to sell the state enterprises, this will attract investments and create new jobs, and the company will finally be free of the political influence,” he said.
Ukraine’s Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius on his Twitter page condemned lawmakers earlier this week for failing to pass the privatization law for 10th time.
At the end of the question session, Yatsenyuk asked the lawmakers from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc to redirect their criticism on energy issues to “your minister,” implying that Energy Minister, Volodymyr Demchyshyn, is Poroshenko’s ally.
Barna, who has organized a petition drive among lawmakers to oust Yatsenyuk, approached the prime minister as he was speaking, gave him a bunch of flowers and then lifted him, trying to carry him away from the rostrum.
After a short fight among lawmakers, provoked by Barna, presidential bloc leader Yuriy Lutsenko apologized to Yatsenyuk on behalf of the party.
Another lawmaker from Poroshenko’s Bloc, Sergii Leshchenko, also condemned Barna’s move, however, for another reason.
“Being a supporter of Yatsenyuk’s resignation myself, I believe that the flowers incident and fight will only increase his chances to stay at the position,” he posted on his Facebook page.
Kyiv Post staff writer Alyona Zhuk can be reached at [email protected]
