Vigen Sargsyan Manipulates the Public Demand

On November 11, the Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs of the RA National Assembly discussed the bill on collecting a monthly amount of 1000 AMD from each employed citizen on a mandatory basis. According to the bill, the collected money shall go to the soldiers who die or get wounded after January 28 of 2017, and to their families.

During the discussion, RA Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan justified the project by saying that they have tried to develop a policy that would reflect the population’s position regarding this issue. Then, the minister added, “We saw what the society wants, and we created a legal basis for it’.

In other words, head of the Defense Ministry claims that there was a public demand for collection of an equal amount of money from all the working citizens.

However, this is not true. In particular, the public demand consists in optimal use of available resources and opportunities rather than mandatory “donations”. Hence, the public demand is elimination of corruption and illicit enrichment in defense structures.

It is not a coincidence that April war and this topic of paying 1000AMD have given rise to public discussions about the origin of wealth accumulated by different generals and other officers, high ranking officials, ministers and their deputies. These days the internet is washed up with photos of luxurious cars with defense ministry number plates, which in no way can be accommodated within the rational allocation of public funds. And the private properties of senior officers and officials give rise to questions on how it was possible to accumulate such wealth with state salaries for the military.

It is also worth noting that this issue became particularly significant after April war, which showed the extent to which the RA Armed Forces suffer due to the illicit enrichment phenomenon.  The public demand that was formed after April war concerned optimal distribution of resources in the defense structures, the elimination of corruption and illicit enrichment rather than charging additional amounts from working citizens.

However, the newly appointed minister is trying to present mandatory “donation” as a public demand ignoring the actual reality.