KHARKIV, Ukraine - A broad coalition of politicians and anti-corruption activists on Jan. 18 set the ambitious goal of driving the current political elite from power.
The Movement for Cleansing, a coalition set up last month by Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili and his allies, held its third anti-corruption forum in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with more than 1 million people. The first two forums were held in Odesa and Kyiv in December.
The movement’s more immediate goals are the dismissal of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. They are accused of covering up corruption and deny the accusations.
Serhiy Leshchenko, a Verkhovna Rada member from the president’s bloc, called Avakov and Shokin “the main protectors” of corrupt bureaucrats.
Former Georgian President Saakashvili, meanwhile, has been involved in a tense standoff with Yatsenyuk and Avakov after accusing them of graft. He has also been promoted as Yatsenyuk’s potential replacement.
The Movement for Cleansing is expected to include all people who share its goals regardless of their specific ideology or party affiliation. Some of the movement’s members say it may participate in future elections and become a party.
The forum’s organizers included the Bendukidze Free Market Center, a think tank inspired by Georgian reformer Kakha Bendukidze, and the Nova Kraina think tank, among others.
Participants of the Kharkiv forum and previous ones included members of Saakashvili’s team, as well as representatives of the Democratic Alliance, Samopomich, the Bloc of President Petro Poroshenko and Batkyvshchyna parties.
Over 3,000 people attended the Kharkiv forum, with big lines forming at the entrance.
Participants of the forum announced a drive to collect 1 million signatures in support of their goals.
Some of them described their movement as the third attempt to root out corruption and fundamentally change the political system after the 2004 Orange Revolution and 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution.
Saakashvili, who spearheaded the Rose Revolution against Georgian President Eduard Shevarnadze in 2003, hinted that supporters of the anti-corruption movement would take to the streets in Kyiv’s central Pechersk District if their demands are not met.
“We must send the elite that’s been robbing the country for 20 years to the dustbin of history,” Saakashvili said.
The movement’s manifesto, read by singer Ruslana Lyzhychko, says that its goal is to “replace the corrupt political elites and eliminate the causes of corruption forever.”
The forum’s participants argued that Yatsenyuk’s Cabinet spearheads corruption and called for replacing it with a truly reformist government.
They were referring to the corruption investigation against Mykola Martynenko, a Yatsenyuk ally, and graft accusations against Avakov, Igor Kotvitsky and Andriy Ivanchuk, all members of Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party.
Another target is Shokin, who has failed to take a single high-profile corruption case to court.
“Shokin is currently the symbol of corruption,” said Vasyl Hatsko, leader of the Democratic Alliance, a reformist Christian Democratic party. “He has derailed the prosecutorial reform and let hundreds or thousands of corrupt officials and separatists roam free.”
The forum’s participants also spoke about the need to make the newly-created National Anti-Corruption Bureau and National Agency for Preventing Corruption work and to pass anti-corruption legislation.
Another goal of the Movement for Cleansing is to promote a legislative package on economic freedom, deregulation, “fast and transparent privatization” and changing the tax system to foster economic growth, Hatsko said.
“Economic freedom for the people and unavoidable punishment for corrupt officials are our priorities,” he added.
According to the movement’s manifesto, “Ukraine needs new rules that will decrease the government’s interference in the economy and social life.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
