Rada approves new finance, health ministers

Ukraine’s parliament approved the appointment of two
new ministers at its Mar. 30 special session, having conducted two votes after
the first attempt failed to draw enough support from the pro-presidential The
People’s Servant faction. Serhiy Marchenko was approved as finance minister,
having served as a deputy head in the Presidential Administration under
Poroshenko in 2018-2019 and deputy finance minister in 2016-2018.

Marchenko replaces Ihor Umanskiy, who was appointed
early in the month but drew criticism quickly for failing to sign important
documents and undermining a simplified procurement procedure, the pravda.com.ua
news site reported this morning, citing an anonymous People’s Servant MP.

Maksym Stepanov is the new health minister, having
served as the head of the Odesa regional administration under former President
Poroshenko between 2017 and 2019. His predecessor, Illia Yemets, also served
for barely a month after being appointed earlier in March. He was accused of corruption by Voice MPs
that allegedly slowed the government’s coronavirus response.

Meanwhile, the candidacy of Olha Buslavets, a veteran
energy ministry official widely recognized as being loyal to energy magnate
Rinat Akhmetov, was withdrawn from parliamentary review by President Zelensky
for lacking enough votes, the pravda.com.ua news site said.

Zenon Zawada: This
weekend’s scandal involving Denys Yermak forces the media and analysts to raise
the question to all new appointments to key positions of whether they paid for
their post. Marchenko seems a logical move, considering his finance ministry
background, but Stepanov has no medical experience, other than what appears to
be a specialist’s degree in an unknown subject from Gorky Medical University in
Donetsk (according to his Wikipedia page).

What’s particularly significant about this vote is
that President Zelensky no longer can rely on his own parliamentary faction to
approve even basic measures, such as appointing new ministers. Instead,
Zelensky will have to rely on coalitions with other parliamentary factions and
groups. The People’s Servant is divided among at least half a dozen groups with
various interests and loyalties.