Opinion: 'Security service chiefs should not be changed like socks'

Analyst Lela Djedjelava has commented on recent government reshuffles in Georgia, saying that the heads of the state security service should not be “changed like socks”. In her view, this suggests that the importance of the institution is not fully understood.

She also argued that the post of vice prime minister in Georgia has effectively become equivalent to a “political retirement”.

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Lela Djedjelava said that the fact a state minister is a minister without portfolio is nothing new, and that it hardly needs explaining that the political weight of such a post differs significantly from that of the head of the State Security Service.

“If, in the case of Mdinaradze, the decision has already been made to create the position of state minister, then parliament is unlikely to oppose it. However, this raises an entirely different problem. We can clearly see the attitude towards the State Security Service. Its heads should not be changed like socks. This suggests that the importance of this state institution and its function are not properly understood. And this, in my view, is the biggest problem.

The significance of this particular agency for the state, and of the security structures more broadly, is either poorly understood — or this is being done deliberately.

I have often wondered how it came to pass that one former prime minister [Irakli Garibashvili] is in prison, while another [Giorgi Gakharia] is accused of treason and lives in exile. A former head of the State Security Service, his deputy, two former defence ministers — not to mention the president under the previous government [Mikheil Saakashvili] — are also in prison. How did this happen?

All this is being done so that public trust in state institutions is gradually eroded, leading to a complete devaluation of statehood in people’s minds.”

She added that another aim of these moves was to build trust in vague or ill-defined positions, reinforcing the idea that anyone with money can effectively substitute the state.

“In my view, the post of vice prime minister in this country has become equivalent to a political retirement.

Mamuka Mdinaradze is there only temporarily. I am not even sure that the creation and staffing of this ministry will be completed. The head of the State Security Service already has influence over other agencies, even if we put everything else aside.

The worst part is that those who occupy these key positions often end up in prison.

I do not know what Mamuka Mdinaradze’s future will be, but I think [Georgian Dream founder and honorary chairman] Bidzina Ivanishvili, by moving him, is bringing him closer to Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, because the question of replacing Kobakhidze will also arise.

Although the fact that we are discussing this now may prompt Ivanishvili to delay that process.

It should be recalled that Mamuka Mdinaradze is a Kobakhidze appointee. We all recently saw footage of how, during Ivanishvili’s meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Kobakhidze followed behind Ivanishvili like a scolded child.

This entire carousel is driven by the desire of one individual to prolong his hold on power, while further strengthening his own role and diminishing state institutions.”

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Government reshuffle in Georgia