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PRESIDENT SARGSYAN'S SALARY TO TRIPLE IF GOVERNMENT BILL IS PASSED: MP PASHINYAN SAYS "NO WAY"
Grisha Balasanyan
17:05, October 24, 2013
It appears that the Armenian government believes that paying state
employees more money translates into better functioning employees.
The government also believes that higher wages to state employees will
cut down on corruption risks and increase the overall productivity
of the bureaucracy.
At least that is the argument the government has been using to support
it's a bill that the National Assembly has been debating for the past
three days.
Take President Serzh Sargsyan for example. He now gets a monthly
income of 436,460 AMD ($1,075).
If the government sponsored bill passes, his monthly income would
shoot up to 1,322,800 AMD ($3,258) as of July 1, 2014. That's a
whopping 200% increase.
National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamyan and Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan now get 373,540 AMD ($920) per month. This
would rise to 1,190,520 AMD ($2,932) if the bill is adopted.
Armenia's Deputy Prime Minister now gets 357,810 AMD ($881) monthly.
This will increase to 992,100 AMD ($2,444). Also getting the same
wage will be the Prosecutor General, President of the Cassation Court,
President of the Control Chamber and the Human Rights Defender.
Under the new law, Members of Parliament, Provincial Governors
(Marzpet), and First Deputy Ministers will receive 661,400 AMD ($1,692)
across the board. MPs now make 331,595 AMD and Marzpets, 258,190.
The Police Chief of Armenia, who now takes home 402,810 AMD ($992),
will be getting 793,680 AMD ($1,955). This is the new salary that
Ministers and the Chiefs of Staff of the Government and President
will receive as well.
The government says it wants to implement a more unified wage scale
system that would gradually do away with the salary discrepancies
among various departments that have accumulated over time.
Since the proposed pay raises directly impact on their pocketbooks, MPs
actually have followed the debates with greater than usual interest.
Many didn't understand how the government calculated their new wage
rate, given that the same wages would also be received by Provincial
Governors and First Deputy Ministers.
All government Chief of Staff Vache Gabrielyan could say in this
regard was that the calculations were based on professional studies
and interviews conducted with various officials, including MPs.
This seems a bit suspicious since I couldn't find one MP who said
they had been interviewed.
Some MPs demanded that the names of their colleagues who had been
interviewed, and asked to evaluate their work, be made known.
Gabrielyan promised to publish their names but they haven't been
so far.
For example, MP Arpineh Hovhannisyan wanted to know who had evaluated
the work productivity of the Presidential Chief Advisor, who will be
getting paid 727,540 AMD if the bill passes. That's 66,140 more than
the MPs will get, so I guess many in parliament felt somehow slighted.
Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan rhetorically asked if the government
was doing such a great job to warrant these raises.
He declared that he would vote against any raises for President
Sargsyan, National Assembly Speaker Abrahamyan and other officials.
"These are people under whose watch poverty has jumped from 27.6%
to 37%," Pashinyan said.
http://hetq.am/eng/news/30250/president-sargsyans-salary-to-triple-if-government-bill-is-passed-mp-pashinyan-says-no-way.html
Grisha Balasanyan
17:05, October 24, 2013
It appears that the Armenian government believes that paying state
employees more money translates into better functioning employees.
The government also believes that higher wages to state employees will
cut down on corruption risks and increase the overall productivity
of the bureaucracy.
At least that is the argument the government has been using to support
it's a bill that the National Assembly has been debating for the past
three days.
Take President Serzh Sargsyan for example. He now gets a monthly
income of 436,460 AMD ($1,075).
If the government sponsored bill passes, his monthly income would
shoot up to 1,322,800 AMD ($3,258) as of July 1, 2014. That's a
whopping 200% increase.
National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamyan and Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan now get 373,540 AMD ($920) per month. This
would rise to 1,190,520 AMD ($2,932) if the bill is adopted.
Armenia's Deputy Prime Minister now gets 357,810 AMD ($881) monthly.
This will increase to 992,100 AMD ($2,444). Also getting the same
wage will be the Prosecutor General, President of the Cassation Court,
President of the Control Chamber and the Human Rights Defender.
Under the new law, Members of Parliament, Provincial Governors
(Marzpet), and First Deputy Ministers will receive 661,400 AMD ($1,692)
across the board. MPs now make 331,595 AMD and Marzpets, 258,190.
The Police Chief of Armenia, who now takes home 402,810 AMD ($992),
will be getting 793,680 AMD ($1,955). This is the new salary that
Ministers and the Chiefs of Staff of the Government and President
will receive as well.
The government says it wants to implement a more unified wage scale
system that would gradually do away with the salary discrepancies
among various departments that have accumulated over time.
Since the proposed pay raises directly impact on their pocketbooks, MPs
actually have followed the debates with greater than usual interest.
Many didn't understand how the government calculated their new wage
rate, given that the same wages would also be received by Provincial
Governors and First Deputy Ministers.
All government Chief of Staff Vache Gabrielyan could say in this
regard was that the calculations were based on professional studies
and interviews conducted with various officials, including MPs.
This seems a bit suspicious since I couldn't find one MP who said
they had been interviewed.
Some MPs demanded that the names of their colleagues who had been
interviewed, and asked to evaluate their work, be made known.
Gabrielyan promised to publish their names but they haven't been
so far.
For example, MP Arpineh Hovhannisyan wanted to know who had evaluated
the work productivity of the Presidential Chief Advisor, who will be
getting paid 727,540 AMD if the bill passes. That's 66,140 more than
the MPs will get, so I guess many in parliament felt somehow slighted.
Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan rhetorically asked if the government
was doing such a great job to warrant these raises.
He declared that he would vote against any raises for President
Sargsyan, National Assembly Speaker Abrahamyan and other officials.
"These are people under whose watch poverty has jumped from 27.6%
to 37%," Pashinyan said.
http://hetq.am/eng/news/30250/president-sargsyans-salary-to-triple-if-government-bill-is-passed-mp-pashinyan-says-no-way.html