Sienkevych responded to Dombrovska's demand to dismiss his deputy for education and said that he was doing a good job

Anatoly Petrov, photo: NikVesti

The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, has praised the work of his deputy, Anatolii Petrov, following the scandal over the new catering for schoolchildren. According to him, Anatolii Petrov is effectively managing the social block.

He said this today, 11 December, during a press conference on the incident with the catering in schools, according to NikVesti.

As you know, on 9 December, in a commentary to NikVesti, Deputy Mayor of Mykolaiv Anatolii Petrov said that problems with food in schools arose due to a lack of staff at the enterprise. He also added that he had not yet seen the video of food being prepared outside under a tent in the rain.

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Later, on 10 December, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council, Tetiana Dombrovska, demanded the dismissal of Vice Mayor Anatolii Petrov, who, according to her, had seen the cooking conditions but did not report the violations, «because there had not yet been a scandal».

During the press conference, the editor-in-chief of NikVesti Kateryna Sereda asked the mayor how he assessed Anatolii Petrov's work in connection with the scandal.

«Anatolii Petrov is working very well. He is the person who is responsible for the entire social block, and in principle, for social protection in general. He is the person who has organised the work of his departments, including this one. I think that Anatolii Leonidovich, as an experienced person, simply did not comment in order not to say something that could damage the reputation of the mayor and so on,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Catering for Mykolaiv schoolchildren

On 9 December, NikVesti showed the process of providing some of the city's schools with food prepared by a private company «Prosecco 8», which received a catering contract from the municipal enterprise. Parents of the children said that they did not receive breakfast on Monday, and the food was delivered only in the afternoon.

The footage showed the company's employees cooking porridge outside under a tent in the rain.

Vitalii Kim, a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council and head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, responded to the scandal. After that, the Main Department of the National Police of Mykolaiv region opened a criminal investigation into violations of the rules for preparing food for city schoolchildren.

Only in the evening did the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, respond to the video. The mayor called the situation unacceptable and initiated an inspection.

In her turn, Tetiana Dombrovska, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council, called the scandal with the new catering for schoolchildren a failure of the authorities. She demanded the dismissal of Vice Mayor Anatolii Petrov and Director of the MPE-C Petro Vasheniak.

The State Audit Service has launched an audit of the procurement of catering services for Mykolaiv's educational institutions due to signs of violations of public procurement laws.

It should be noted that the Mykolaiv City Hall decided to engage a private contractor after a public outcry over the quality of school meals. At the end of November, the municipal enterprise MPE-C chose the company «Prosecco 8», which will deliver food to some of the city's schools in December. During the open tender «PROSSECCO 8» became the only participant and winner of the tender for catering services. The price of the services was 14 million 279 thousand 658 hryvnias.