Lukashenko discussed personnel issue in Olekshitsy
At a recent conference call on the harvesting campaign, the President ordered to promptly select a candidate for the vacant post of Agriculture and Food Minister after the former head of the department, Igor Brylo, was appointed to the post of President’s Aide – Inspector for the Vitebsk Region. During a working trip to the Berestovitsa District, Aleksandr Lukashenko also touched on this topic.
As it became clear during the conversation between Aleksandr Lukashenko and Chairman of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee Vladimir Karanik and the President’s Aide – Inspector for the Grodno Region, Yuri Karayev, First Deputy Chairman of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee Yuri Valevaty had been nominated for the agriculture minister’s position among other candidates. The Head of State asked the Grodno Region Governor, “Why are you not satisfied with the First Deputy Chairman in charge of agriculture?”
“I’m completely pleased with him,” followed the answer.
“You wanted to send him somewhere?”
“I don’t want. They wanted to take him.”
“How could he be taken without your permission?
“We are all state people. He was one of the candidates,” Vladimir Karanik explained.
“Okay, let’s figure it out,” the President summed up this part of the conversation.
Yuri Karayev expressed his opinion, “The main people in the Agriculture and Food Ministry are the commanders of the front, rather than the chief of the general staff, since everything is decided locally. Therefore, the first deputy governor has to some extent more leverage than the Agriculture and Food Minister. This is not the Defence Ministry, not the Interior Ministry.”
The President remarked, “Still, the Agriculture and Food Ministry should mind its own business, being engaged in some new, breakthrough areas and technologies, while everything else should be here.”
In this regard the Head of State cited as an example the situation when the Grodno and Brest regions express the opinion that the work on liming the soil is sometimes seen as more important than land reclamation. The Agriculture and Food Ministry may have a different opinion on this issue, since the Head of State’s instructions on land reclamation must also be fulfilled. The President recommends, “We need to sit down and see together what is more important for us now ... We need to compare the positions ... If he thinks that here the effect will be more from soil liming than from reclamation, you should see and discuss it. Maybe you can adjust somehow?”
At the same time, the Belarusian leader does not insist on any unambiguous solution, it should be found in a professional and interested dialogue, “I don’t know. But I think that all points of view should be discussed... You should sit down and decide.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko addressed Deputy Prime Minister Leonid Zayats, “You are responsible for the volumes while he [the governor] is responsible for the whole region... There must be justice. You will allocate the lion’s share of this amount, e.g., to Gomel and Vitebsk. And what about Grodno? So he says that he would take some part of the money aimed for land reclamation and spend it on soil liming. If this is so critical, take a look jointly with experts. We cannot allow that we are reclaiming, introducing new areas, while the current areas will die and won’t give a harvest ... In general, figure it out. If the locals are right now, and it is extremely important for Brest and Grodno to lime soils, then it is necessary to lime... But you yourself should understand that there is no extra money. You should sit down, think, and calculate it all reasonably. Just not because I’m the boss, you’re a fool. It should not be. See what’s more important.”
