The more we try not to write about prime minister Tigran Sargsyan the opposite is happening. On the contrary, the moment we have a notion not to allude to the theme of Tigran Sargsyan on that very day, something happens that doesn’t let the notion become realize.
The last thing that made us remember the prime minister was his meeting with the students of Yerevan State University, more accurately the thoughts that he expressed during this meeting. The discussion was dedicated to corruption. The prime minister emphasized the importance of the ability to recognize the world in whole for formation of a modern society. "Armenia’s future is connected with the way of thinking, which is dominant in this auditorium. “This meeting is important in a sense you can see and understand my vision of those problems of concern to you. What matters most is to understand the rules and laws according to which the world develops and what kind of society we need in order to be competitive. For the solution of any problem we should first be able to correctly formulate that and have the right methodology. You as students should know this.” When speaking of corruption, according to the prime minister it is important to understand the modern world. As to the issue of corruption, Tigran Sargsyan said it is possible to overcome it only in case there is a common conviction that corruption is an evil. He says the desire of students to partake in the anti-corruption movement is too important. Tsolak Hakobyan, chairman of the YSU students’ council, presented a package of students’ proposals, directed to raising the efficiency of the struggle against corruption. As a response to these recommendations Sargsyan mentioned, “When we first came to power and there was the need to substitute the soviet corrupt officials with new and young uncorrupt specialists ANM was sending us various recommendations on select people, by assuring that those individuals will never take bribes. We were asking them where they worked before. They would for instance mention in Mergelyan institute. Who would ever take a bribe there? Nonetheless, we have appointed many people like that but they would still take bribes.” From this response of the prime minister we would think that by a right staff policy it would be impossible to fight corruption. However, right after that statement a new history is told, which makes the statement on the appointment of Mergelyan experts even more unclear. According to the prime minister the person should know that he cannot become a deputy-minister or head of division with “C” grades. “We have a serious shortcoming here. Mostly the people with lowest academic career strive for high posts. They tell me the following. Mr. prime minister, we will work the way you want us to. Or we will do what you tell us to. We will be loyal too and promises like that. It means that these people don’t have either knowledge or values. We should stay far away from such people. These people are very dangerous,” said the prime minister by reminding that these people are never committed. This is a real sincerity to his subordinates. This is also a very original approach. It turns out that people will lower education are more inclined to corruption and the ones, who graduate with “A” grades in universities also receive halos of sanctity. But one question is obviously unclear. If in the past the ANM was constraining to appoint this or that official then what is the problem now? Why wouldn’t the prime minister choose the right people now? And if the people with little knowledge and potential corrupt officials are the most dangerous ones, why doesn’t he get rid of them? We shouldn’t go too far. We can start from some of the ministers. As of the assumption that “C” students shouldn’t submit high posts we probably need some legislative changes here. We are sure that the MPs will not oppose to this suggestion because our National Assembly exceptionally consists of intellectuals. Let us return to the actual matter – corruption because his further thoughts are more interesting. “The more we speak about corruption the more corruption grows,” almost self-confession was made by the prime minister. It’s noteworthy that yesterday’s meeting was nothing else but an event to speak about corruption. It turns out that yesterday’s attendees proliferated corruption to a certain extent. Let us also note that this logic (when too much speaking of something harms the actual process) very well explains why our economy has oligopoly system, why the rates of shady trade so high, why the structure of the economy is not diversified, etc. We are reaching the most interesting part – the political will, which has already become a catchphrase. “Let us have a political will to resolve this matter,” said the prime minister. But do not be anguished. He didn’t request the government to have political will (it would be surprising if he said that to himself). He merely repeated the words of others for his next thesis. And the prime minister started his next thesis like this, “Here there is one secret. What is a political will?” He engaged in a dialog the representative of the student council of the economic department. Let us present the dialog without cuts.
– Have you should will in any sector, asked the prime minister.
– Yes, I have conducted social polls and have publicized the data having become a target group for the people, who I included in the polls, said the representative of the student council of the economic department Harutyun Azgaldyan.
– Harutyun has raised the most important point – expression of the individual will. If we are speaking about garbage removal or tax reforms or corruption it turns out that we need political will… In 2003 in London the CB chairs of 12 countries have gathered. There were also representatives of governments of respective countries, IMF, World Bank. And they were trying to find out why the funds are not enough to overcome poverty, corruption risks. The results were not satisfactory for any of the mentioned countries. So each country was present their ideas on their own flaws and drawbacks. After listening to the speeches of all the delegates in the end it was found on that the priorities were not identified. Methodological mistakes were not identified. The main issue was once again mentioned the absence of political will. By them the governments have not demonstrated sufficient political will and were not able to overcome challenges, told the prime minister and mentioned that the political will depends on each individual the way he/she was raised. He also highlighted that the politicians must first of all test their political will among their relatives. “The ones, who are interested in that, may read my article on “how to conduct revolution,” said Tigran Sargsyan. If after all this the students of the university and the future leaders of our country have realized what a political will is and how it can be demonstrated then they will for sure understand how to conduct a revolution.