Monday, October 21 2019 18:13

ArmInfo. One of the factors contributing to the effectiveness of the management system is decent wage. There was a lot of talk about low salaries of civil servants  and the need to raise them. However, the process of increasing  salaries should be transparent and public, according to the "Hetq"  Online.(''Trace").

According to the ''Hetq'' journalists, by the secret decision of  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  the salaries of ministers, deputy  ministers and general secretaries of ministries were significantly  increased. Moreover, an order to increase salaries was given in July  this year.

To verify the information, the editors first sent a written request  to three ministers.  ''We received May- August data on the number of  employees and the salary fund.

In the case of one ministry, there was a substantial difference in  the salaries of the same number of employees. We sent an additional  inquiry to the three ministers asking how much the minister had  received in terms of salary, bonuses and other salaries.

For example, Emergency Affairs Minister Felix Tsolakyan received a  salary of 6 million drams in May, June, July and August, as was the  case with Minister of Nature Protection Erik Grigoryan. If we divide  the salary by 4 months, we get 1.5 million drams a month. We had sent  a similar inquiry to the Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan. The  secretary general of the ministry did not provide us with information  about Janjughazyan's salary. Instead, he suggested waiting for the  annual disclosure'', the publication notes.

The amount of salary of public officials in Armenia is defined by  law.  According to the RA Law on Remuneration of Public Officials, a  minister's salary coefficient is 12. In order to receive a minister's  salary, this number must be multiplied by the base salary of 66,140  drams. The sum is AMD 793,680, which includes taxes. Meanwhile,  without making any changes to the law, minister's salary doubled,  amounting  to 1.5 million drams, according to the prime minister's  secret order.  The same is the case with the salaries of deputy  ministers and chief secretaries.  According to the coefficient  stipulated by law, the salary of a deputy minister is 562,160 drams,  which became 1.060 million drams. The salary of a chief secretary has    increased from 595,260 thousand drams to 870,000 drams''.  ''Hetq''  asked PM Nikol Pashinyan in writing asking why the process had been  carried out in secret.  Here is the response of Armen Khachatryan,  Acting Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the  Prime Minister's Office:  "The issue you raised was, as you have  mentioned, carried out by secret procedure, so such information is  not subject to disclosure. It is important for us to note that the  officials you cite submit a declaration of property, income, and  interests, which implies that the above process is entirely public  and transparent."