During his speech, he assessed the resignation of Ministers Davit Shavliashvili and Elguja Khokrishvili and said that it does not sound very serious when a young person names health problems as the reason for a resignation. He also added: "I have been in politics for so many years and neither in Georgia nor elsewhere in the world have I ever heard a minister say that he was resigning because he misses his family." According to Davit Bakradze, such statements illustrate the lack of responsibility from the side of the ministers. The host of the show, Giorgi Gabunia, reminded Mr Bakradze of the fact that Nika Gvaramia, as the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, left his position in order to study abroad. Mr Bakradze answered that when Nika Gvaramia decided to resume his studies abroad, he had already resigned from his position and a person who is free from employment obligations can take care of his education whenever he wants. He also added that had the then Minister of Education and Science of Georgia left his position in order to resume his studies abroad, he would have made the same comment about him as well.
FactChecktook interest in Davit Bakradze’s statement and checked the official reasons for the resignation of several ministers over the past few years.
On 21 April 2015, the Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development of Georgia, Davit Shavliashvili, resigned. The official reason for his leaving of office was a deteriorating health condition. On 28 April 2015, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia, Elguja Khokrishvili, also left his position. Mr Khokrishvili explained his decision by his wish to be with his family.
Several examples of the resignation of ministers during the office of the previous government are also interesting. On 9 December 2009, the then Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Nika Gvaramia, resigned. Mr Gvaramia resigned in order to resume his studies abroad.
Another minister, Irakli Okruashvili, left his office with the same reason in November 2006. He was transferred from the Ministry of Defence of Georgia to the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. He occupied the position of the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia for only ten days. "Irakli was telling me that he wanted to go abroad in order to improve his education in the military and political fields and wanted to resign as the Minister of Defence of Georgia for the same reason. I asked him to agree to work in the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia but he later decided to go through with his initial decision and I respected that," said the then President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
Lado Gurgenidze resigned from the post of the Prime Minister of Georgia in August 2008. According to the statement of the then President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, it had been agreed at the time of his appointment that Mr Gurgenidze would occupy the position of Prime Minister of Georgia for only a year. Lado Gurgenidze was substituted by Grigol Mgaloblishvili who resigned in January 2009 due to a deteriorating health condition.
Conclusion
In 2009, Nika Gvaramia left the position of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia in order to resume his studies abroad. In addition, we have seen that other ministers left their positions during the offices of both the current and the previous governments citing reasons which have been assessed by Mr Bakradze as ‘not serious.’
Hence, FactCheck concludes that Davit Bakradze’s statement is FALSE.
