I would like to greet everyone!
It is true that tornado is forecasted today - meteorologists advise people to stay home. You even were late because of smoke as well, but we still made it here. I feel certain responsibility before the memory of Mukhran Machavariani and you. I want to greet Miss Nana 9the daughter of poet) and each of you. It feels like it was yesterday when I was sitting in this yard together with great poet, with Mukhran Machavariani.
I was nervous and this is why I was stumbling when I read his poems. These poems represent the genetic code not only for me, but for each of you as well. Often we do not appreciate our contemporaries, the epoch that is already gone.
Of course I want more artists to be born in Georgia and most probably they would be born, however we all realize that poets like we had in 20th century - Galaktion Tabidze, Lado Asatiani, Titsian Tabidze, Mukhran Machavariani; before that in 19th century - Vajha Pshavela, Akaki Tsereteli and others, public figures of Ilia Chavchavadze's scale - might never born again.
This was absolutely different epoch, absolutely different surrounding...
I have a feeling that Mukhran Machavani was sitting here, in this garden yesterday. We haven't celebrated his jubilee, however we all think about this and we are going to fulfill it. Honestly, I regret it a lot that it came up so.
It might not sound well in front of his daughter and family, but sometimes physical existence of a person doesn't matter that much - because this person becomes a part o something that is rather important than physical existence. Before Georgia exists, before our nation exists - their poetry would exist for sure.
Besides this, I came here not only to pay honor to his memory, but to fulfill his promises.
Before his death (and I think he felt this) he tasked us and we have made a promise to provide these villages with running water.
I spent very interesting part of our childhood in village of Upper Imereti and I know it well what does running water and roads mean for villages, I know what type of people live here and how insufficient the living conditions are to the level of their development, to their intellect, talents, aspirations and even to their ambitions.
This project coasted more than one million - 1 200 000 GEL, but we did it. I am not mentioning the amount, to make someone feel that I am reproaching - this is your money and your money was spent on it. We have made it to the end almost everywhere.
It is possible that there are some families, which have no running water still - but they will have it soon as well. More than 1000 families have running water at this moment.
In 30-40 years no one will be surprised because of running water in Georgia, but I want generations to be raised, that will call this spring water - Mukhran's springs.
One more promise was fulfilled that we gave him. You know that when I was speaking with him, the occupants stood here in the neighbor village and they have left this territory. They will leave the rest of Georgia as well. We still have to fulfill this major promise. Of course our live is not easy and much changes in more slow way, compare to how I wish. Problems are created every minute.
Petroleum was rather cheap last year - you are cultivating the land with it. Products became more expensive as well. People can hardly feed their families here, but I want you to remember that Georgia will continue going forward despite all constraints, because we are a very talented multi-ethnic nation. No matter how big problems would they create for us, we will always get up and continue our way forward.
I saw a project of Tamar Kvesitadze's statue recently and as always critics in the center of Tbilisi disliked it. I am not surprised because of this, because it is our old habit - if someone appears in our society, who is special and talented we must chase them, oppose them and eat them from the very beginning. Of course it is painful for every painter or artist, politician or an ordinary citizen, but the main idea of this statue is that cut, destructed Georgians raise and continue our progress despite everything. This is a statue of those who fell dead during the war or were killed during repressions - no matter how they split us, no matter how they would fight with us - we would still raise and continue progress. This is a brilliant idea and no matter who say what - this monument would not only be raised in some city of Georgia but the idea would be fulfilled as well and Georgia would continue it progress no matter how they would try to split us!
Second issue that is important as well is that we have to employ all our internal recourses in order to realize it all - I don't know it you observe political debates (most probably you do, because you are interested in everything), but now there are debates on how the elections system must look like.
The preparatory works have already started for the elections of next year and one of the requests of radical parties is rayon's not to have their representatives in the Parliament. Party should decide who their representatives would be in the Parliament. Which political leader that is on TV last 20 years and sells itself as a political leader is wiser than Kote Abashidze (local citizen) - who has no connections with politics and realizes that this is stupidity.
We are dealing with some concrete and easy thing, I was a majority deputy of Tbilisi central rayon. I knew exactly that I was responsible not in front of my party leaders, not in front of some of my friends, but in front of those people, who elected me. I traveled and visited these people, I looked in their eyes and exactly they would fire me from the next elections, if I didn't fulfill their tasks.
Next Parliament would staff the Government; it means that the Parliament would have bigger influence then.
One and the same 30-40-50 people, that we see on TV last 20 years, now fight to make sure that they will distribute everything among one another. they are not cultivating lands, not driving tractors, they are not doing any jobs for the society. These people would go to some TV stations and will teach us from there.
It is true, this is politics, everyone has their own jobs and it is a part of democracy as well, but one and the same 30-40 people teach the whole Georgia during last 20 years and then they say: why do we need to ask population of Tbilisi or rayon's, of Rustavi, Sachhere or Argveti regions who should represent them in the Parliament and who will staff the government? We have to gather Gio, Dato, Nicka and so on and decide everything on the spot, later we will inform the population as well. Now people are not mature enough to elect us, because they haven't reached this level yet...
This is what they offer to us.
Here is a majority deputy elected by you and if you declare your trust on the upcoming elections as well, he will staff the next government, he will select the Prime Minister and the Ministers as well. In case if you will not be asked your opinion, the Ministers and Prime Minister will be elected by those 30-40 persons that have visited Rustaveli Avenue only during last several years or in restaurants that are located in the neighborhood as well. I understand it very well that here and before the foreigners they say that we should have democracy. I am the first who supports democracy in Georgia. These parties are weak, but no one asks why? Their weakness is conditioned because of having zero interest in the public opinion of Argveti. If public opinion is not interesting for you, you will never receive their support and sure you would be weak. They are explaining it with their "brilliantness" and say that people weren't raised up to their levels...
I used to visited the neighborhood area often in my childhood and I know that people here are wiser than in Vake or Saburtalo.
The major idea of Rose Revolution was to return politics back to people and we managed to do this sure, but not always everything comes out in an ideal way, we know one thing - the source of our government is people. People raised us in their hands and drove us where we are now and people are the ones who can throw us back, because their opinion matters only. People are not statistical unit, it is a unity composed by some concrete persons, who have very high intellect and who has expressed huge firmness during the years running. It would be great if new people would appear in Georgia. It is not possible one and the same persons to be on arena all the time, who appoint themselves as political leaders and consider themselves genius. Such faces must appear by all means.
By the way if you observe we are experimenting all the time in this direction. It is true that these experiments are not successful always, but we bring new people in our Government all the time. We must bring new people in the Parliament as well, but if want progress, first of all we should consider opinion of every single member of this society.
Democracy works in following way - democracy is not the leadership of one and the same 100 persons that consider themselves as elite and look at someone from above.
Something happened in Kutaisi recently. Some writers went there, some were good, some bad - but it doesn't matter. Everyone must understand that word means a lot and it could hurt someone. Especially politics is a matter of words. It is unacceptable to look over some city from above, especially, if it is one of the major cities of Georgia. The majority of Georgian intellectuals came from Kutaisi. Even today, 60-70 percent of IT specialists are from Kutaisi. Mockery is not a joke. You touch a very specific substance by it and it has no meaning are you talented or not, you wanted to do this or not.
I made a comment regarding this fact and some people got irritated and said: this is not President's business. I am not going to arrest someone just because they said something - I do not possess the mechanisms for it by the way and I am not going to limit someone either. It is democracy and everyone can say whatever they want, but I am as well a part of the society and I have a right to say something on the behalf of Kutaisi population: I am not going to listen to our mockery and stand how they are looking at us from above. If they have right to speak, I have a right to stand up and leave the hall.
Georgia belongs to each and every of its citizen, despite where does he live - in Argveti, Kutaisi, Varketili or Vake - Chavchavadze, Paliashvili or Barnov streets.
By the way I am not an enemy of Vake - I was the majority deputy of this very region.
Exactly because I was the deputy of this region - I know what is the major principle - I have to depend on society and not on my party boss.
I also know what does democracy mean and I know what does a country mean and what does it meant to drive a country to the peaceful end.
Mukhran Machavariani was a huge figure and we all know it. Each of us are proud of him and especially you, because he was from this village.
Miss Nana knows it well that in every decisive moment Mukhran Machavariani stood on the side of Georgia's interests. He often did it quietly, because every expression he would utter, could become a subject of attacks of small, ambitious, envious and cruel people.
Despite this fact, he stood on the side of truth always and never made a mistake. It is true that all of us make mistakes and not even genius is an exception, but this man had never made a mistake. He never made a mistake, because he had never left his own land and people. I remember it well, how he tasked us to construct running water system for this village...
I simply want to make a wish, no matter how intensive the globalization would be, Georgian to remain as a genetic code of our multi-ethnic society always - where they speak different languages, have different cultures and we must honor this. This is a component of Georgian culture, part of our unity and future success.
I want to thank you all today, for giving maximum comfort to this man in the last years of his live and he expressed his gratitude by this running water system. He did it exactly, not any of us.
Today, according to your task I would make this running water crane with a great pleasure. It is true that we should had take care of it earlier, I want to remind you here that the death of this man was the reason of why we arranged 50 defibrillators in more than 50 spots. It is very hard to look at what happened here, this is why at every spot of public gathering more than 100 persons there would be defibrillators. People working in public areas were trained for this reason last month. As your water, this defibrillator is named after Mukhran Machavariani.
So, during last several months some very good things happened here: the occupants left Perevi, defibrillators were installed all around Georgia and you have running water here.
You see what does it mean, when a person is talented. Talent always plants kindness, I am positive in this.
Thank you very much.