The total income of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in 1998
was 19,213.70 hryvnias (about $4800), according to his official disclosure
published Friday in Holos Ukrayiny. Of this 18,070.71 was accounted
for by his official salary, while material assistance, gifts, donations,
etc. came to UAH 1149.99. Thus, according to Interfax Ukraine, the President's
monthly pay in 1998 came to about 1500 hryvnias per month.
This seems pretty low, about what an assistant manager working for a
foreign firm in Kyiv gets. No decent Ukrainian manager would even think
of working for such pay, and the Ukrainian presidency would seem to require
a super-manager. And if the job is so modestly valued, we might think from
afar that just anybody could be President, somebody without a clue on how
to run even some subdivision. Or perhaps the post of President offers other
opportunities to supplement one's income.
In the section on immovable property, the President declared a plot
of land consisting of 510.2 square meters, an apartment of 350.5 square
meters, and a dacha of 63 square meters. He seems not to have a separate
house, garage, means of transport, bank account, securities, or other immovable
property.
And think for a moment what might happen to Leonid Kuchma and his family
should he not be reelected. Unemployment among engineers, his profession,
is terrible, and those who do get jobs receive such miserable pay that
one can hardly live on it. Nobody can live on a Ukrainian pension, even
if it were paid on time. Ex-Presidents do not get presents. Since he has
no automobile, he would not even be able to work as a gypsy cab driver
like so many other pensioners!
Well, it became clear to me why Leonid Kuchma wants to remain President.
Are we really so wealthy that we can afford such a penurious President?






