Liberalism of Shamba

Image removed.Sergey Shamba. Photo: © Liberali

Prime Minister Shamba has kept his promise made in front of journalists at a press conference. From now on the representatives of independent media will be allowed to attend government sessions.

Despite the law from 2004 under which all mass media outlets registered in the country had equal right and obligation to air or publish cabinet meetings only the selected ones i. e. government mass media was trusted with this business until now. For independent journalists the doors of government sessions were closed.

The former prime minister and now vice president Aleksandr Ankvab has once openly said that journalists themselves could define the area of their professional activity: “Journalists should prepare their reports so that officials like them. If a journalist writes well, he/she is ready to cover the government work and will not write rubbish”.

No independent journalist could match the criteria offered by Ankvab and the cabinet meetings were covered by the government press only. However, after the presidential elections whimsical Aleksandr Zolotinskovich was replaced by Sergei Shamba as the head of government. Finally the issue of allowing independent journalists on government sessions was solved together with a multi-year legal problem.

Changing the established rules of the game Shamba was far from the illusion that independent or opposition-minded media organizations would accept the rules offered by his predecessor about “writing well”.

If we analyze this step of the head of government we will see that the taboo needs to be lifted not only from journalists but in the first case from Sergei Mironovich himself.

Shamba who led the ministry of foreign affairs for 13 years was considered the most open Abkhaz politician who can receive any criticism no matter how sharp with European coolness.

Sergei Shamba’s ability to talk to his opponents has always been admitted and valued by his strongest critics. By allowing independent journalists to attend cabinet meeting Shamba reinforced his image of a liberal politician and has hinted that in a new job as well he would remain as open to journalists as during his career at the ministry of foreign affairs.

Although the presidential elections were held in Abkhazia several months ago, the preparations for the next elections is already underway. The thing is that the small size of the political elite means that the main competitors for the presidential job are already well known. These are Aleksandr Ankvab and Sergei Shamba.

The next five years will be used by the public to compare the two figures and their strengths and weakness. In fact, this process has already started.

The incumbent prime minister is well aware that his competitor unlike Ankvab cannot be a family man and cannot oversee each “Russian” construction and selection of chairs for the philharmonic concert hall and tiles for Sokhumi pavements.

This is not his strong side.

It is clear that Shamba does not have such a management experience.

But on the other hand he can portray himself a liberal politician who got rid of a widespread sickness of Abkhazian politics, which is taking revenge of political opponents. Unlike Aleksandr Ankvab, Shamba can try to unite the split society.

However, even in this context Shamba will have to meet certain criteria because liberalism is his only way to success.

The terminology used in the article belongs to the author only and not to “The Liberal”

The article has been prepared with the support of Heinrich Boell Foundation. The views and opinions expressed in the publication do not necessarily reflect those of Heinrich Boell Foundation.