Government of President Khajimba
The Government of President Raul Khajimba is the current Government of the Republic of Abkhazia.
Composition
Formation
President Raul Khajimba and Vice President Vitali Gabnia were elected on 24 August 2014 after the resignation of previous President Alexander Ankvab, and sworn in on 25 September 2014. Khajimba had led the opposition during the May Revolution against Ankvab. After Ankvab's resignation on 1 June, Speaker of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia Valeri Bganba had been Acting President. During the election, Khajimba competed with State Security Service Chairman Aslan Bzhania, Defence Minister Mirab Kishmaria and former Interior Minister Leonid Dzapshba. Vitali Gabnia was Chairman of the veterans' movement Aruaa before his election.On 29 September, Khajimba appointed as Prime Minister fellow opposition leader Beslan Butba, who had already become Acting Vice Premier following Ankvab's resignation. Khajimba tasked Butba with the formation of the cabinet, which took place over the course of October. Also on 29 September, Khajimba appointed Zurab Margania as Chairman of the State Security Service and Astamur Tania as Head of the Presidential Administration. Margania had previously been Deputy Chairman, leading the Border Guard, and Tania had been appointed acting Head of the Presidential Administration following Ankvab's resignation.
On 15 October, Khajimba approved the structure of the new cabinet. The decree scrapped one Vice Premier, one Ministry — Taxes and Duties, henceforth the State Tax Service — and two State Committees — Resorts and Tourism, merged into the Ministry of Economy, and Youth and Sport, merged into the Ministry of Education. It also created one new Ministry — Energy, Transport and Communications, created from the State Administration for Transport — and one new State Committee — Standards, Consumer and Technical Supervision, created from the State Administration for Standards, Metrology and Certification. It also reconfirmed the Ministry of Emergency Situations, originally created on 21 July. Two Ministries and one State Committee that were expanded and one Ministry that wasn't were accordingly renamed: the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Youth Policy, the Ministry of Culture and the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security and the State Committee for Ecology and the Environment.
Also on 15 October, Khajimba appointed the new Vice Premiers and most Ministers, followed by the final four ministers on 17 October, three Heads of State Committees and a number of lower officials on 21 October and the final two Heads of State Committees on 23 October. Of the Cabinet members appointed by Ankvab, only Defence Minister Mirab Kishmaria, Foreign Minister Viacheslav Chirikba, Repatriation State Committee Head Khrips Jopua and Property Management and Privatisation State Committee Head Konstantin Katsia retained their post. Moreover, Interior Minister Raul Lolua and Emergency Situations Minister Lev Kvitsinia, who had entered the government as Acting Ministers after Ankvab's resignation, were permanently appointed by Khajimba. 2011 Vice Presidential candidate Shamil Adzynba was appointed First Vice Premier, former Vice Premier Viktor Khilchevski Vice Premier and Minister for Energy, Transport and Communications, Suren Kerselyan Vice Premier and Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Rafik Otyrba Agriculture Minister, Nikolai Achba Economy Minister, Adgur Kakoba Minister for Education, Science, Sports and Youth Policy, Elvira Arsalia Minister for Culture and the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Heritage, David Gunba Health Minister, Amra Kvarandzia Finance Minister, Marina Pilia Justice Minister, Saveli Chitanava Head of the State Committee for Ecology and Nature Conservation, Daur Kobakhia Head of the State Customs Committee and Erik Rshtuni Head of the State Committee for Standards, Consumer and Technical Supervision.
On 22 October, Khajimba appointed Leila Dzyba as the new Chief of the Cabinet Staff. On 28 October, he appointed Mukhamed Kilba as Secretary of the Security Council.
Changes
- Shortly after his appointment, Health Minister David Gunba confessed to Prime Minister Butba and President Khajimba that he did not feel up to the task. On 28 October 2014, Khajimba appointed Andzor Goov in his stead.
- On 13 March, President Khajimba carved the Ministry for Resorts and Tourism out of the Ministry for Economy, and appointed Avtandil Gartskia as Minister, who had for some months been acting Security Council Secretary following the ouster of President Ankvab.
- On 16 March, President Khajimba dismissed Prime Minister Butba and appointed First Vice Premier Adzynba as Acting Prime Minister. In a press conference afterwards, Butba said that he had made Khajimba aware of his intention to resign. He claimed that the Presidential Administration had taken over many of the responsibilities of the Prime Minister, creating a 'second government'. There had been rumors of Butba's resignation almost since the beginning of his term, explained variously by a power struggle between Butba and Khajimba and by Butba's supposed bad performance as Prime Minister.
- *On 20 March, Khajimba appointed MP and former United Abkhazia Chairman Artur Mikvabia as Butba's successor.
- *On 30 March, Khajimba approved the new cabinet structure, on 8 April he appointed Ministers and on 11 April Chairmen of the State Committees. The number of Vice Premiers was reduced from two to one, with Aquafon Deputy Director General of Operations Dmitri Serikov replacing Suren Kerselyan, who remained Labour Minister, and Viktor Khilchevski, who did not return as Minister, as the Ministry of Energy, Transport and Communications was abolished. The Ministry for Taxes and Duties was re-established and Rauf Tsimtsba, who had already been Minister under Alexander Ankvab, was re-appointed. The policy areas of Youth and Sport were transferred from the Ministry of Education and Science to two separate State Committees, headed by Alias Avidzba and Bagrat Khutaba, respectively. Finally, Rafik Otyrba was replaced as Agriculture Minister by former Gulripshi District Governor Timur Eshba, Nikolai Achba as Economy Minister by Adgur Ardzinba and Khrips Jopua as Repatriation State Committee Chairman by Vadim Kharazia.
- In May, following two confrontations between police officers and members of the State Security Service, Interior Minister Raul Lolua handed in his resignation. It was accepted by President Khajimba on the evening of 14 May, and he appointed former Gagra District Prosecutor Beslan Khagba as Logua's successor.
- On 26 May, Khajimba appointed Diana Pilia as Head of the Cabinet Staff.
- On 9 October, Khajimba dismissed Interior Minister Khagba, and appointed Leonid Dzapshba, who had already held the post from 2010 to 2011 under President Sergei Bagapsh and who had scored a 3.4% fourth place in the 2014 Presidential election.
- On 4 May 2016, Khajimba dismissed Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Astamur Appba upon the latter's request. On 6 May, he accepted the resignation of Head of the Presidential Administration Astamur Tania. In the following days, Presidential Representative to the People's Assembly of Abkhazia Dmitri Shamba served as acting Head of the Presidential Administration. On 16 May, he appointed Gagra District Head Beslan Bartsits as Tania's successor, and on 7 June, First Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce Adgur Lushba as deputy Head.
- On 30 June, Prime Minister Mikvabia formally opened the new Treasury Department within the Ministry for Finance.
- Following a pending motion of no-confidence against him, the storming of the Interior Ministry by opposition activists and a failed referendum to bring about an early presidential election, Mikvabia announced his resignation as Prime Minister on 26 July 2016, accepted on the same day by Khajimba. In an interview with Caucasian Knot, Mikvabia stated that the strong unrest in society was being caused by the government's efforts to structurally improve the financial situation of Abkhazia through measures such as the introduction of VAT, that he did not want to work under conditions where society itself hindered development and that he hoped his resignation would defuse tensions. Khajimba appointed Adzynba as acting Prime Minister for the second time.
- * On 5 August, Khajimba appointed newly appointed Presidential Administration Head Beslan Bartsits as the new Prime Minister. Bartits in turn was temporarily succeeded by First Deputy Head Dmitri Shamba, until Vice Speaker of the People's Assembly Daur Arshba became his permanent replacement on 10 October.
- * The structure of the new cabinet was only decreed on 5 September, one month after Bartsits's appointment, increasing the number of Vice Premiers from two to three, abolishing the post of First Vice Premier and introducing the State Committee for State Language Policy. Most appointments had already been made by that point.
- * On 12 August, Beslan Eshba, who had held the same role in the Government of President Ankvab, was appointed Vice Premier, while Dmitri Serikov was re-appointed as Vice Premier and appointed as Finance Minister, replacing Amra Kvarandzia.
- * On 15 August, outgoing First Vice Premier Shamil Adzynba gave an interview with Sputnik Abkhazia in which he declared that he had applied for resignation because a number of recent appointments directly contravened the Law on Language which required the use of Abkhaz by government officials. Adzynba's resignation was granted that evening by President Khajimba.
- * On 16 August, MP and former State Customs Committee Chairman under President Vladislav Ardzinba Aslan Kobakhia was appointed as the third Vice Premier and as Minister for Internal Affairs. Suspended outgoing Interior Minister Dzapzhba was appointed presidential advisor on law enforcement agencies instead.
- * On 23 August, Pension Head Ruslan Ajba was appointed Labour Minister, replacing Suren Kerselyan, while the Ministers for Culture, Emergency Situations, Defence and Tourism were re-appointed.
- * On 24 August, veteran politician Daur Tarba was appointed Agriculture Minister instead of Timur Eshba and the Ministers for Economy, Justice, Health and Education were re-appointed.
- * On 30 August, the Chairmen of the State Committees for Youth and Sport were re-appointed, while former Vice Premier Vakhtang Pipia replaced Konstantin Katsia as Chairman of the State Committee for State Property.
- * On 5 September, linguist Nurbei Lomia was appointed Chairman of the new State Committee for State Language Policy.
- * On 20 September, outgoing Foreign Minister Viacheslav Chirikba released a statement in which he announced his resignation because he was unable to continue in his post under the current circumstances. The Presidential press service responded by claiming that Chirikba had not been re-appointed because he had failed to lead a delegation to Transnistria in early September. Chirikba refuted this in another statement in which he explained that he had not been able to lead the delegation due to an attack of hypertension and claimed that the decision to re-appoint him had already been made at that point and that he had originally submitted his resignation on 31 August after Khajimba had for more than a month refused to meet him to discuss foreign affairs. In a press conference one week later, Khajimba specified that Chirikba had not been active enough as Foreign Minister and that as head of the Ministry, he had to be held responsible for certain financial irregularities that had been uncovered by the Control Chamber. On 4 October, Khajimba appointed as Chirikba's successor Daur Kove, head of the Presidential Protocol Department and previously Deputy Foreign Minister. In the intervening period, Deputy Minister Oleg Arshba had served as acting Minister.
- * On 1 November, Khajimba reappointed the Chairman of the State Committee for Ecology and appointed Akhra Pachkoria as Chairman of the State Committee for Standards instead of Erik Rshtuni and Daur Kurmazia as Tax Minister instead of Rauf Tsimtsba.
- * On 5 November, the three-month deadline for appointing the new government formally expired. On 14 November, the Chairmen of the Customs and Repatriation State Committees were re-appointed.