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Georgia The Cabinet
The government team selected by Shevardnadze, called the
Cabinet of Ministers, was quickly approved by parliament in
November 1992. Sigua returned as prime minister. Four deputy
prime ministers were chosen in November 1992, including Tengiz
Kitovani, former head of the National Guard and minister of
defense in the new cabinet. In December 1992, the Presidium of
the Cabinet of Ministers was created. This body included the
prime minister and his deputy prime ministers as well as the
minister of agriculture, the minister of finance, the minister of
state property management, the minister of economics, and the
minister of foreign affairs.
In December 1992, the Georgian government included eighteen
ministries, four state committees, and fifteen departments, which
together employed more than 7,600 officials. Many appointees to
top government posts, including several ministers, had held
positions in the apparatus of the Georgian Communist Party.
Although Shevardnadze's early appointments favored his
contemporaries and former associates, by late 1993 about half of
the top state administrative apparatus were academics. Less than
10 percent were former communists, about 75 percent were under
age forty, and more than half came from opposition parties.
In September 1993, the cabinet included the following
ministries: agriculture and the food industry; communications;
culture; defense; economic reform; education; environment;
finance; foreign affairs; health; industry; internal affairs;
justice; labor and social security; state property management;
and trade and supply. Each of the five deputy prime ministers
supervised a group of ministries.
In practice, the Cabinet of Ministers was a major obstacle to
reform in 1993. Pro-reform ministers were isolated by the
domination of former communists in the Presidium, which stood
between Shevardnadze and the administrative machinery of the
ministries. In 1993 Shevardnadze himself was reluctant to push
hard for the rapid reforms advocated by progressives in
parliament. The cabinet was superficially restructured in August
1993, but reformers clamored for a smaller cabinet under direct
control of the head of state.
Data as of March 1994
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