The Palace of Independence is the seat of the president of the Republic of Belarus. An archive photo
MINSK, 2 February (BelTA) – Valery Mitskevich will head the Secretariat of the Belarusian People’s Congress. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the relevant personnel decision, BelTA has learned.
“There are two aspects of the matter. The first one is more important: I would not like to lose professionals from our parliament. And certainly, I believe that you are one of those people, one of those highly professional, experienced people, who have gone through many stages as a lawyer. And who has accomplished a lot. And feedback from people in this regard is great,” the head of state remarked.
“Secondly, we need all the experienced people to avoid errors in this complicated period. You may feel it yourself that some remodeling, restructuring of the government system is in progress due to the Belarusian People’s Congress getting constitutional powers. And, certainly, due to the Belarusian People’s Congress acquiring certain serious constitutional powers we would not like to create some chaos in the government for the next couple of years. Maybe three years. Because you know that chaos in the government will immediately spread to the society,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The president suggested that Valery Mitskevich should head the Secretariat of the Belarusian People’s Congress: “If, of course, you agree (I have not consulted with anyone), I thought at this stage in the capacity of the head of the Belarusian People’s Congress staff (it is and it will be called the Secretariat) you could make a decent contribution to the development of the situation here on top. If we talk absolutely sincerely.”
The head of state warned that a lot of work will have to be done: it is necessary to organize the first session of the Belarusian People’s Congress and work out the procedures. “It is necessary to do everything we have to do during the first session. Certain very serious personnel matters need to be addressed as well. And I have received a draft presidential decree concerning the Secretariat: the authority, functions, and the rest, the personnel [composition]. I have not signed it yet,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “As an experienced man you have to select the appropriate personnel and take a serious look. You may submit some proposals. I think a week is sufficient for submitting them. And we will see how things pan out later on. You have a lot of experience not only in staff management. You are a judge. Your roots go into the judge system.”
“Yes, I started out [as a judge],” Valery Mitskevich confirmed.
“People always remember their origins. This is why later on we will determine how we will proceed. But for now if you don’t mind, I would still suggest that you should head and form the Secretariat of the Belarusian People’s Congress at this stage. And you should get down to preparing [the first session of] the Belarusian People’s Congress. The organizing committee has been set up. It is headed by the prime minister. Let him head it since he is the government. But whatever position he may occupy, you will have to manage and address all these matters,” the head of state concluded.
