Transparency International Georgia has prepared an evaluation of how the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara performed its oversight role in 2016-2020. Specifically, the Council did not use four out of nine oversight mechanisms. The report covers the period between November 2016 and 11 September 2020.

The aim of the research is to analyse the mechanisms of oversight over the Government of Adjara. These mechanisms are defined by the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council of Adjara. Previously, Transparency International Georgia included a similar evaluation in the document assessing the work of the 2012-2016 Supreme Council.

Overview of the legal framework

According to the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and the Constitutional Law of Georgia on the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, the Supreme Council of Adjara, along with the legislative activities, is tasked with overseeing the work of the Government of Adjara.

Chapter 14_^[1] of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council lists the mechanisms which can be used to control the Government of Adjara:

• Exercising the right of posing a question
• Hearing reports delivered by the Chairperson of the Government
• Public officials attending plenary sessions
• Minister’s Hour
• Hearing members of the Government and other public officials
• Approval of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara
• Vote of no confidence in the Government
• Control over budget fulfillment

Our research revealed that the Supreme Council of Adjara did not use all mechanisms envisaged by the law and was unable to exercise full-fledged oversight over the Government of Adjara. This influenced the work of both the Council and the Government, namely:

• In 2016-2020, only three members of the Supreme Council posed 11 questions to the state and local self-government bodies operating on the territory of Adjara: Davit Gabaidze and Vladimer Mgaloblishvili from the Georgian Dream faction and Elguja Bagrationi from the United National Movement faction. None of the Council members used the mechanism of interpellation;
• In 2016-2018, Zurab Pataradze, former chairperson of the Government of Adjara, did not present an activity report to the Supreme Council of Adjara; Tornike Rizhvadze, since his appointment to the post of the Chairperson of the Government of Adjara on 21 July 2018, presented activity reports to the Supreme Council twice;
• In 2016-2020, no public officials were summoned for hearing at the plenary sessions of the Supreme Council. In addition, no Minister’s Hour was held at the Council before 2020. At the spring session of 2020, within the framework of the Minister’s Hour, each minister of the Government of Adjara was heard once;
• In 2016-2020, quarterly and annual republican budget fulfilment reports were discussed 14 times in total;
• The Supreme Council did not uncover any irregularities in terms of the lawfulness of the republican budget expenses. Correspondingly, the Supreme Council did not demand from the Chairperson of the Government to suspend the spending of the budget resources;
• Unlike the Council of the previous convocation, no vote of no confidence in the Government of Adjara was initiated by the Supreme Council of the current convocation. (On 8 September 2014, seven members of the ruling coalition’s Georgian Dream faction at the Supreme Council of Adjara supported the initiation of the issue of voting no confidence in the Government of Adjara. However, several members of the faction changed their stance and the vote of no confidence procedure was never started).

Approval of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara

According to Article 132 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, within two weeks after the recognition of the authority of the newly elected Supreme Council or after the termination of authority of the Government of Adjara, the President of Georgia presents to the Supreme Council for approval the candidate for the post of the Chairperson of the Government of Adjara and the ministerial candidates nominated by the candidate for the post of the Chairperson of the Government. The candidate for the post of the Chairperson of the Government of Adjara presents an action plan to committees, factions and at the plenary session.

The Supreme Council of the 2016 convocation approved the Government of Adjara twice:

• On 5 December 2016, it approved Zurab Pataradze as the Chairperson of the Government and, on 19 December, it approved the Government;
• After Zurab Pataradze’s resignation from the post of the Chairperson of the Government, on 21 July 2018, the Council approved the Government of Adjara with Tornike Rizhvadze as its Chairperson with 14 votes against one through secret ballot.

Vote of no confidence in the government

According to Article 133 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, the Supreme Council is authorised by the Constitutional Law of Georgia on the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and by the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara to declare a vote of no confidence in the Government of Adjara. The issue of the vote of no confidence in the government can be initiated by at least one third of the total number of the Supreme Council members.

The Supreme Council of the current convocation never raised the issue of the vote of no confidence.

Exercising the right to pose a question

According to Article 126 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, a member of the Supreme Council is authorised to pose a question to a body accountable to the Supreme Council, the Government, a Government member, and to receive their response. The question is posed in writing. Each institution and public official who receive such questions are under the obligation to provide their written response to the Supreme Council within 10 days after receiving the question. A corresponding public official can receive a 10-day extension to respond to the question if this is agreed with the author of the question.

In 2016-2020, three members of the Supreme Council posed questions to the state and local self-government institutions operating on the territory of Adjara: Davit Gabaidze posed questions to these institutions nine times; Elguja Bagrationi and Vladimer Mgaloblishvili each posed one question:

In addition, a Supreme Council faction, a group comprising at least three members of the Supreme Council, have the right to interpellate a body accountable to the Supreme Council, the Government, or a Government member who are under the obligation to answer the question at the Supreme Council plenary session. Questions are answered during the Government Hour. Questions can be written or oral.

Interpellation was not used by the Supreme Council of the 2016 convocation.

Government activity report delivered by the Chairperson of the Government of Adjara

According to Article 128 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, the Chairperson of the Government must present to the Supreme Council a written report on the Government activities annually, during the last month of the spring plenary sessions.

Former Chairperson of the Government of Adjara Zurab Pataradze did not present an activity report to the Supreme Council in 2016-2018. Since his appointment to the post of the chairperson of the Government of Adjara on 21 July 2018, Tornike Rizhvadze presented activity reports to the Supreme Council twice – for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.

Appearance of public officials at plenary sessions

According to Article 129 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, the Supreme Council, on the basis of the request made by a committee or a faction, by the decision made by the majority of votes of members attending the plenary session but no less than one third of the total number of members of the Supreme Council, summons to the plenary session a Government member, a public official and a head of an agency accountable to the Supreme Council. They are under the obligation to appear at the plenary session, answer the questions posed to them at the session and present an activity report.

In 2016-2020, public officials were not summoned and heard at the plenary sessions of the Supreme Council.

Minister’s Hour

According to Article 130 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, the Minister’s Hour entails individual members of the Government apart from the Chairperson of the Government of Adjara, presenting activity reports of corresponding ministries at the Supreme Council plenary session at least once a year. The reports must also cover the questions posed to the ministers in accordance with the procedure envisaged by this Article. Questions prepared by committees and factions to guide the Minister’s Hour are sent to the corresponding members of the Government no later than 10 days prior to their appearance at the Supreme Council. Ministers are authorised to refuse to discuss the questions received past this deadline.

The Minister’s Hour had not been held at the Supreme Council prior to 2020. At the Supreme Council’s 2020 spring session, all ministers of the Government of Adjara made one appearance each for the Minister’s Hour. Factions and committees did not send the list of questions to be discussed to the ministers in advance.

Hearing members of the Government of Adjara and other public officials

According to Article 131 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, members of the Government of Adjara, public officials and heads of institutions accountable to the Supreme Council are heard by the Supreme Council upon request. These officials must present to the Chairperson of the Council in writing the issues they wish to present to the Supreme Council no later than three days prior to their appearance at the Council.

No hearings of public officials took place in accordance with the procedure envisaged by this Article in 2016-2020.

Discussion of the quarterly budget fulfilment reports

The Supreme Council, by means of its Finance and Budgetary and Economic Issues Commission and other commissions, implements a general, consistent oversight of the fulfilment of the republican budget. According to Article 134 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, within one month after the end of each quarter, the Government presents to the Supreme Council a quarterly overview of the republican budget fulfilment (gross total).

These quarterly budget discussions cover budget receipts, expenditures (including resources allocated from the reserve fund), changes in balance and comparison of the actual total budget balance with the projections made for a relevant period.

Ramaz Bolkvadze, former minister of finance and economy of Adjara, presented an overview of the republican budget of Adjara for the first quarter, two quarters and three quarters of 2017 and an overview of the first quarter of 2018.

The overview of the two and three quarters of 2018 was done by the incumbent minister of finance and economy of Adjara, Jaba Putkaradze. Putkaradze also presented the overview of the first quarter, two quarters and three quarters of 2019 and the two quarters of 2020.

Discussion of the annual budget fulfilment report

According to Article 135 of the Rules of Procedure of the Supreme Council, the Government presents the annual republican budget fulfilment report to the Supreme Council no later than three months after the end of the budget year.

On 31 March 2017, the Government presented the annual report on the fulfilment of the 2016 republican budget. The State Audit Office of Georgia prepared a corresponding review of this report, offering recommendations. The Audit Office also prepared a review after the annual report on the fulfilment of the 2017 budget was presented.

Based on the reviews prepared by the State Audit Office on the annual budget reports for 2018 and 2019, we can say that, when preparing the 2019 budget report, the Government of Adjara did not consider recommendations prepared by the Audit Office for the previous year. According to the Audit Office’s conclusion, the budget-funded organisations did not develop programmes on the basis of appropriate research and detailed analysis of the needs of the population and expediency. Furthermore, they did not use freed up resources to plan and implement new programmes and measures tailored to the interests of the population.

In addition to the discussion of the annual budget report, the Supreme Council has the right to oversee the lawfulness of the way the Government is spending the republican budget. In the event of uncovering irregularities, it can address the Chairperson of the Government with the demand to suspend the spending of the budget resources.

This did not occur during the reporting period.

Recommendations

As a result of evaluating the oversight role of the Supreme Council of Adjara of the Fourth Convocation, Transparency International Georgia prepared the following recommendations:

• The Supreme Council must use more actively and comprehensively the oversight mechanisms that it enjoys under the Constitution of Adjara, the constitutional law and the Rules of Procedure;
• Members, factions and committees of the Supreme Council need to work more with various public groups in order to thoroughly study the problems facing the population of the autonomous region, including the needs that arise as a result of incompetent work of various government agencies, and exercise efficient oversight of the Government as a whole as well as individual ministries.