One reason is that many leaders and government functionaries like it the way it is. They have become rich at the common folks’ expense by using the system to divert government revenue to themselves, to feast on bribes and to engage in other forms of graft.
A couple of leaders have gone against the flow, using their positions to try to make things better for society as a whole.
A major obstacle they have faced has been how to overcome the corruption mentality that most functionaries have grown up with — the kind of thinking that has led to them gorging at the public trough while shrugging off their fellow citizens’ poverty.
One way, the reformers decided, was to bring in leaders from the outside who would not engage in corruption or embrace anachronistic economic ideas.
The two reformers who have brought in outsiders in recent years are Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine. Both have tapped their diaspora for leaders untainted by the Soviet system.
The question becomes: Why aren’t more countries in the region appointing diaspora to key positions?
Armenia would be a prime candidate. One of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the former Soviet Union, it has a population of 3 million. The number of ethnic Armenians living overseas is 2.5 times larger than at home — a total of 8 million. They include many talented, accomplished people, particularly from the West, who could help catapult our country into the 21st century if given leadership roles — toward a European-style democracy, away from the Russian model of authoritarianism and abuse of rule of law that reign in Armenia today.
When he was president of Georgia between 2003 and 2012, the West-leaning Saakashvili revved up Georgia’s economy and slashed corruption. More importantly, he gave Georgians hope, convincing them that if they had a clean, responsive government, their lives would be better.
Another Saakashvili accomplishment was providing the entire region with a model for creating a more equitable society.
A major reason he succeeded in creating a better Georgia was his decision to fill ministry positions with members of the diaspora who had either grown up outside the region or were aware of the shortcomings of the system inherited from the Soviet Union. They included two Foreign Ministers — French-born Salome Zurabishvili and Grigol Vashadze; Canadian-born Vera Kobalia, minister of Economy and Sustainable Development; and Kakha Bendukidze, minister of Economic Reforms Coordination.
Bendukidze, a Georgian who started a thriving biotech firm in Russia, transformed the Russian company OMZ into a leading global heavy industry and manufacturing conglomerate and helped overhaul the country’s tax structure, was Saakashvili’s most important diaspora appointment. His reforms — including reducing government regulation, changing the tax structure and making it easier for both local and foreign companies to do business in Georgia — ignited economic growth.
Saakashvili earned lots of admirers for improving the economy and reducing corruption. But he gained enemies as well — particularly those who were no longer able to worship on the altar of corruption.
Poroshenko, who has known Saakashvili since the two were graduate students in Kyiv, borrowed his friend’s idea of putting outsiders in ministry positions. His appointments have included American-born Natalia Yaresko as finance minister; Lithuanian Aivaras Abromavicious, who has a Ukrainian wife, as Economy Minister; and Alexsandre Kvitashvili, a Georgian, as health minister.
Poroshenko appointed Saakashvili governor of the Odesa Oblast, where corruption and mafia activity are rampant. Saakashvili then made an outsider appointment of his own — Maria Gaidar, a Russian opposition figure, as his deputy.
Poroshenko appointed the outsiders because of the urgency of cleaning up corruption and strengthening the economy at the same time that Ukraine was battling Russian-backed separatists in the east. He obviously felt outsiders would lower the chance he would appoint officials who turned out to be as corrupt as their predecessors.
The verdict is still out on whether Poroshenko’s outsider appointments will be as successful as Saakashvili’s in Georgia. A lot of people inside and outside Ukraine are giving him good marks for trying, though.
Which brings us back to Armenia. If President Serzh Sargsyan really wants to improve his people’s lives, why not try appointing diaspora? The talent is out there. Corruption and Soviet economic thinking are paralyzing the country. Isn’t it time to bring in fresh blood who can try something new?
Armine Sahakyan is a human rights activist based in Armenia.
