Image by Alexander Noskin
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he has several candidates to replace former Governor Valeria Gontareva, who resigned after she received death threats for her anti-corruption stance. Her policies helped stabilize the Ukrainian economy and she implemented policies that hurt entrenched, vested interests. She was well regarded by the International Monetary Fund in their push to unlock aid to Ukraine as they enacted further liberalization of the economy.
The president said in Kyiv on Sunday that it is too early to name the candidates as he has not publicly accepted Gontareva’s resignation; the new governor must be approved by parliament, reports Reuters.
Many accused Gontareva as being corrupt herself and being a Russian stooge. The IMF has withheld much of the $17.5 billion aid package as Ukraine has been slow to tackle the systemic corruption in the economy and to force change that will be difficult for the population to accept, such as subsidies and pension reform.
