KZBlog

On the 28th of February, the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, gave his annual Address to the People of Kazakhstan, the speech where he gives the government its tasks and strategies for the year. You can go to Akorda.kz for the full text of the speech.

Overall the speech focused on improving social protection and on reforming the economic sphere. Acknowledging the nation’s economic success of late, the President set forth tasks of building on that prosperity, using it to create a social safety net and to realize further economic growth. Finally he touched on democratic reforms and set forth measures that he had endorsed earlier when the Democratic Task Force proposed them: to give Parliament the power to appoint members of the Constitutional Council (which decides on the constitutionality of laws and draft laws), the Central Election Commission and the Accounting Committee (which audits government organizations). Currently, these powers belong to the President. He noted that democracy means strong rule of law–presumably to stave off criticisms that democracy equals anarchy and to signal that the government will not weaken itself. He also stated that no one doubts Kazakhstan will remain a Presidential republic (and I must agree, there is no doubt on this point). Overall the speech focused on what needs to be done, without focusing directly on existing problems, and while the tone was optimistic, it was more of a practical speech that set forth an agenda, rather than an ideological rally.

Social Measures
The speech began by detailing a number of new measures in the area of social protection, possible due to the enormously successful economic growth of the nation:

First, the one-time payment to pregnant mothers will increase by 100% to 34,740 tenge (about $300). Monthly benefits will also go up. He also noted that the program of providing welfare payments to pregnant women has been successful and the rate of increase of the population has been steadily accelerating. Second, working women will still have their pension funds paid, even on maternity leave. Third, in general pensions will go up to international standards. Pensions will also be linked to inflation so that as prices rise, so will pensions. Fourth, wages need to be increased, specifically in the areas of education, healthcare, culture, sport, and social services in order to attract good workers. “Hazard pay” must also be introduced for those workers with dangerous job; as the President said, “I understand the workers. I, myself, was one of them (Nazarbayev worked at a blast-furnace in a coal factory in Karaganda many moons ago). And now Kazakhstan has the prosperity to address these problems. Finally, 100 new schools and 100 new hospitals will be built. And only in regions that really need them.

Tasks for the Future
Getting to the meat of the speech, he then set forth 10 interlinked tasks for the Government:

1. To not only ensure economic development, but to control growth, including to capitalize on Kazakhstan’s competitive advantages in the region and the world, to carefully regulate natural monopolies (such as oil and natural resources), and to encourage both foreign and domestic investment.
2. To make Kazakhstan a regional engine of development again by looking for areas where Kazakhstan is naturally competitive, by diversifying the economy and particularly by looking at foreign markets in the former CIS. He endorsed the idea of a Eurasian Economic Union.
3. To improve the energy industry with a well-thought out energy policy and that everything be run on a market basis, looking to both the needs of the foreign market and Kazakhstan itself as well as looking for new areas of profitability.
4. Develop sectors of the economy outside of natural resources through investment and looking at the new economy.
5. To build modern infrastructure, including power supply, in order to help Kazakhstan enter the world economy. This will entail identifying potentially strong regional areas and strategically developing their infrastructure.
6. Modern education for an innovative economy so that a graduate of a Kazakhstan university will be hirable in any nation in the world. Education should be held to world standards, including accreditation of universities and schools. Human capital is the key to developing new technologies.
7. Social services should work on modern market principles. Particularly he focused on giving apartments to people in need and the ending of corruption where these apartments go to civil servants who already have 3-4 apartments (see below for more). Furthermore, Astana should be a model of social services with top medical services and a world-class university.
8. A modern political system which will address the real situation in Kazakhstan, not just abstractions or imitation of foreign experience. Based on research already conducted all over the country, and from meetings with political parties, government officials, and the public, he recommended strengthening Parliament, increasing the role of political parties, strengthening the judicial system–including introduction of trial by jury, and strengthening of the local maslikhats (currently essentially advisory bodies for the regional akims, which hold little power).
9. Administrative reforms, using international experience, to ensure that the government works effectively on its assigned tasks, not interfering too much with the economy or the new holding companies.
10. Promotion of Kazakhstan and its achievements in the regional and world stage, continuing the work the nation has begun to cooperate with other nations and international organizations in areas of the war on terrorism, energy safety, ecology, and epidemics.

There was some talk in the higher-echelons that the Prime Minister, Massimov, was very involved in the writing of this speech. However, it should be noted that the new government recently came to power, and by law they should present their new government program one month after formation. This they did on the 12th of February. I think it’s pretty reasonable in this case for the President and the PM to work closely together. Otherwise, Massimov could have put forth one program only to have the President contradict it 2 weeks later.

Ad-Libs

Another interesting note about this speech was that the President went “off-script” several times. The speech was not broadcast live, as it usually is. Instead they showed it in the evening. I was speculating that perhaps he had gone too far off-script, and I was playing a game while watching, to try to detect cuts. However, they did show quite a bit of ad-libbing by the President, often in Kazakh (as my wife said, you can tell that his native language is Kazakh, that he dreams in Kazakh because his Kazakh is so beautiful and because when he started to go off, he would switch to Kazakh. He got particularly excited talking about economic inefficiency and corruption. [Disclaimer]

So at one point, talking about the need to develop new successful industries to make Kazakhstan a regional and world “player” in the economy, by looking for competitive niches, he told an anecdote about camel meat being sold in New York. This camel meat came from Australia. How is this possible? Well, domesticated camels were introduced to Australia and quickly became wild, leading to a problem of too many camels. So they turned it to their advantage by selling the meat! Why isn’t Kazakhstan in on this? What about horsemeat? Lamb meat? We need to develop a Kazakhstan brand name for Kazakhstan products.

In charging in the government with improving and modernizing the educational system of Kazakhstan, so that a person with a Kazakhstan diploma can work anywhere in the world, he said in Kazakh, if we don’t do this, our universities will keep selling diplomas and making rectors rich–a shot at the system of corruption which is found in universities where professors and rectors accept bribes for passing grades. In discussing the need for educated and qualified workers, he turned to the Minister of Labor and Social Protection and said, I am addressing you personally. We are paying people and if they can’t do the work, what are we paying them for? Look into this area of unqualified workers

Finally, in discussing the development of a modern economic system, one that is not only prosperous but also one that grows, and where that growth is governed well, he began to speak about the development of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), saying we need to teach people to manage their money, to trust banks and investments. In America, 45% of investment in stocks is by private individuals. And Kazakhs put their money in bags and keep them at home!

However, the biggest ad-lib of all turns out not to be an ad-lib at all.

In discussing Task 8, about social services being provided by market principles, he said:

Теперь из того, что я говорил на Совете Безопасности. Мы сделали эту программу и определили, кто получает ипотечное жилье. Это молодые семьи, учителя, врачи, потом – госслужащие. А что получается? Даже коммунальное жилье, которое выделяется инвалидам войны, труда, не имеющим ни копейки, даже их жилье отдают чиновникам, которые имеют по 3-4 квартиры! Вот для партии «Отан» хороший повод все это взять под контроль. Я поручил, если вы помните на Совете Безопасности, опубликовать всех поименно. Ни одна газета не публикует эту информацию. Думаете почему? Потому что наши чиновники этому препятствуют. Тихий саботаж и сопротивление тому, что говорил Президент. Как можно терпеть таких чиновников на местах, и тех, кто этими регионами руководит?

The government is giving a great number of apartments to the people of Kazakhstan. The Security Council decided that government apartments should go first to young families, second to teachers and doctors, and third to government workers. However, civil servants take it all, even apartments meant for invalids, wounded veterans, poor workers with not even one cent, go to civil servants who already have 3-4 apartments. And do we see on television that these bureaucrats are returning the apartments? Do we read about this in one newspaper? No! Even though I said that every recipient of an apartment must be published by name. This is quiet sabotage of what the President says!
Interpretation mine

While these ad-libs may appear to be unpresidential, and overly chiding, he did hit some key areas of corruption and some real problems in the government. I thought the end of the speech set forth a nice tone–and he basically said what I would love to say many of the government officials I work with:

Основная задача Правительства – системно работать вместе с Парламентом над улучшением законодательства страны, управлять бюджетом, его расходованием, внедрением новых технологий, общественным порядком, здравоохранением, образованием, безопасностью страны, внешней и внутренней торговлей. … Акимам надо заниматься тем же, что и Правительство, только на местах – здравоохранением, образованием, общественным порядком, пропагандой политики государства, местным бюджетом, его расходами. Вот коротко суть того, к чему мы должны прийти.

The job of the government is to work systematically with the Parliament to improve the laws of the country, to manage the budget, to introduce new technology, provide social security, education, health care, national safety and foreign and domestic trade. (Adlib: It’s enough.) The Akims should do the same thing, at the regional level–to provide public health, education, and social security, to publicize government policies and worry about the budget!

In the context of discussing modern methods of management and ensuring rule of law, I took this to mean, look to your own garden. Enough corruption, enough messing around with this and that. Just work to do what you are supposed to do. While I’m not sure I agree with his suggestion that the government should be run using Western business methods–government is not business–on the whole I agree that the government spends way too much time trying to build superfunds or promote its world image and not nearly enough time running the schools and hospitals. Let’s hope this is a sign of a change for the better.

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[Disclaimer]
As usual, I fully admit that I am not a fluent Russian speaker, that my note taking in Russian when a long speech is going on is often flawed and I do not claim to be quoting the President directly, hence my lack of use of quotation marks. Corrections or differing opinions gratefully accepted.