National bank chairman resigns as chaos grips Verkhovna Rada (12/15/02)

National bank chairman resigns as chaos grips Verkhovna Rada

by Conor Humphries
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - The Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, Volodymyr Stelmakh, resigned on December 12 as opposition forces seized the presidium and podium of the Verkhovna Rada, preventing voting on his dismissal from taking place.

"I signed the agreement after a meeting of the conciliatory council - it is not permissible that there be such a political row," Mr. Stelmakh told the Ukrainski Novyny news agency.

Following the announcement of his resignation, attempts to vote on the dismissal resolution continued until Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn eventually closed the session, as fighting broke out between deputies of the opposition and the pro-presidential parliamentary majority.

The protest in the session hall began after Serhii Sas of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc announced that the Verkhovna Rada Regulations Committee had decided the draft resolution on Mr. Stelmakh's dismissal could not be voted on as Parliament had already refused it, adding that it could only be heard at the next session of the Rada.

Members of the four opposition groups, the Tymoshenko Bloc, Our Ukraine, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, then proceeded to block the presidium and rostrum to prevent the vote from going ahead. After a break, Mr. Stelmakh's resignation was announced, but the deputies continued to block the hall.

Eventually Mr. Lytvyn appeared in the technical service area at the back of the session chamber to attempt to hold the voting. However, members of the opposition proceeded to switch off the electronic voting system to prevent the vote from taking place. Mr. Lytvyn then adjourned the session, as fighting broke out between deputies.

The Rada had tried to dismiss Mr. Stelmakh to replace him with Serhii Tyhypko, leader of the pro-presidential Labor Ukraina parliamentary faction, on November 27 but fell short, with 13 deputies from the majority voting against the motion.

Mr. Lytvyn explained the failure by noting dissatisfaction among majority members following the distribution of posts in the Cabinet of Ministers. The majority has consolidated itself since then, however, on December 6 signing an agreement on the redistribution of parliamentary committees and the next day an agreement of cooperation and mutual responsibility with the government.

Mr. Stelmakh, who was halfway through his term as chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), had been criticized by President Leonid Kuchma and former Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh for putting a stranglehold on the economy through a policy of high interest rates.

He was praised by others, however, including the World Bank, whose country director for Ukraine and Belarus, Luca Barbone, criticized the plan to replace Mr. Stelmakh at a press conference in Lviv, claiming that the move would weaken the NBU.

In late November, then-Prime Minister Kinakh asked President Kuchma to initiate the dismissal of Mr. Stelmakh, accusing the management of the NBU of ineffectiveness in its monetary and credit policy, and poor oversight of the banking system.

Pressure has been growing on the opposition to unite and resort to radical measures, as the majority continues to consolidate its grip on power.

On December 6 the four main opposition parties were faced with a loss of control of 19 of Parliament's 24 committees when the parliamentary majority agreed on a formula for distributing the posts among its members. Voting on the redistribution of the posts was to proceed after voting on the dismissal of Mr. Stelmakh.

Currently 19 of the 24 committees are held by opposition factions, but their transfer will represent a significant loss for the opposition forces once the pro-presidential factions use their slim majority to push them through.

In a further move, Vice-Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Dmytro Tabachnyk on December 10 told Ukrainski Novyny that he intended to ask the Cabinet of Ministers and Verkhovna Rada to take all national deputies who are not members of the majority in Parliament off governmental committees and boards.

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