Ihor Koval accused “Trust the Deeds” of obstructing the work of the Odesa City Council

The session of the Odesa City Council, which was scheduled to take place on September 9 as a continuation of the July 10 meeting, was called off due to a protest by the “Trust the Deeds” party.

This was stated during the session by Acting Mayor Ihor Koval.

The people of Odesa have become hostages to the ambitions and political maneuvers of a single political force. If we do not pass a resolution on the consolidation of healthcare facilities, we—pardon my language—will end up losing hundreds of millions of hryvnias, which we will then have to take out of the budget instead of funding the Armed Forces of Ukraine or raising teachers’ salaries. This is a disaster and a betrayal of our duty as council members. I want the city’s residents to know that the boycott by the “Trust the Deeds” faction is blocking the work of the city council.
                                                                                                                       Ihor Koval  

The “Trust the Deeds” council members refused to participate in the session until Council Member Vasyl Ieremiya agreed to abstain from voting and leave the chamber.

 At the start of the session, 45 council members registered on paper, but when they began registering electronically, it turned out that only 33 elected officials planned to participate. The others simply did not register in the electronic system. 

  It all began in August when the “Trust the Deeds” party announced its intention to recall four council members from the city council:Oleg Bryndak, Marina Lozovenko, Oleksandr Matveev, and Vasyl Ieremiya.

However, Vasyl Ieremiya filed a lawsuit, and the court prohibited party members from recalling him from the city council pending a court ruling on the matter. “Trust the Deeds” convened a local convention anyway and decided to recall the council member. 

At the beginning of the session, Acting Chairman Ihor Koval read aloud a notice from the territorial election commission regarding the party’s decision and noted the existence of a court ruling that had not yet been overturned on appeal. Accordingly, Vasyl Yeremiya had the formal right to participate in the session; however, his fellow party members issued an ultimatum: either he would refuse to vote and not use his voting card, or they would do the same, and the session would be unable to proceed due to the lack of a quorum.

After unsuccessful attempts to appoint a counting commission, an editorial commission, and a session secretariat, as well as to adopt the agenda, Ihor Koval gathered the faction leaders for a meeting, announcing a 15-minute recess that dragged on for an hour. Afterward, he announced that the session was adjourned and that a date for its resumption would be announced later.  

Кирило Бойко