Two weeks after reaching mandatory retirement age, Kyiv's elected mayor shows no intention of stepping down as head of the city administration
Two weeks after reaching mandatory retirement age, the capital`s elected mayor and the presidential appointed chairman of the City Administration is still going strong.
Oleksandr Omelchenko, who turned 65 on Aug. 9, the same day as Kuchma, says he has no intention of relinquishing either post willingly or resigning because of old age or health concerns.
Responding on Aug. 17 to unconfirmed reports that his boss had suffered a heart attack, Omelchenko’s personal secretary, Vasyl Meterchuk, told the Post nothing could be further from the truth.
“The mayor today is more than healthy,” said Meterchuk. “The state of his physical health is outstanding.”
President Leonid Kuchma indicated in May that he would ask Omelchenko to retire from the city administration post after he reached retirement age on Aug. 9.
The administration works hand-in-hand with elected members to Kyiv City Council, which Omelchenko also chairs, to manage the city’s real estate holdings and oversee commercial activities, including foreign investments and large real-estate development projects.
“The law says that is the maximum age for civil servants,” Kuchma said at the press conference, referring to the law on the civil service, which stipulates “the maximum age for employment in the civil service is 60 for men and 55 for women.”
The limit can be extended for no more than five years.
But hugs and kisses, not retirement plans, were the order of the day on Aug. 9 when Omelchenko and Kuchma celebrated their birthdays together in Crimea.
“I congratulated Kuchma, we kissed and hugged each other,” Omelchenko told reporters and journalists after the event.
Less than a week after the birthday party, the Kyiv City Administration announced that Kyiv has balanced it books, settled all salary arrears, and paid out stipends and other social payments stipulated in the budget.
Omelchenko is scheduled to travel to Kursk and Saratov on Aug. 20-21 to attend ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversaries of World War II battles before returning to Kyiv Aug. 22.
