The dedicated committees of the Senate of the Parliament featuring the leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the General Prosecutor’s Office, representatives of the departmental system of education and science and community leaders discussed the implementation of the 2019-2021 Roadmap intended to upgrade the internal affairs agencies at the government hour.
In his opening speech, Senator Vladimir Volkov noted that based on the results of the corruption monitoring by the Anti-Corruption Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was among the top five most corrupt state authorities. Over the past three years, law enforcement officials have committed 1,846 crimes, of which 1,051 corruption offenses. Thus, in his opinion, corruption remains the most vulnerable spot of this Ministry.
The Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security Mukhtar Kul-Muhammed, who acted as a co-moderator, focused on the establishment stages of the internal affairs agencies and the Roadmap approved as initiated by the First President – Elbasy N.A. Nazarbayev. The Deputy believes that its further steps were disclosed in last year’s Message delivered by the President K. Tokayev to the people of Kazakhstan and aimed at further increasing the level of public confidence in the internal affairs agencies. This Ministry, in his opinion, is unique, the most numerous and multidisciplinary one, which includes, in addition to the police force, the National Guard and emergency agencies. Therefore, the process of reforming the internal affairs agencies provides a simultaneous impact on all sides of the multifaceted activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In his speech, the Minister of Internal Affairs Yerlan Turgumbayev reported on the progress of the Roadmap implementation. Among the measures taken as part of the upgrading, he cited the manpower structure optimization, the improvement of the wage system and social protection of employees. “We have reduced administrative costs and released more than 600 vehicles. As a result, the number of police officers per 100,000 people decreased from 471 to 393. That means, we have reached the level of European countries by this parameter,” the Minister said.
First Deputy of Supreme Supervisory Authority Berik Assylov, Head of the Karaganda Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Akynkali Darmenov, Chairperson of the Public Council at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Marat Kogamov expressed their views and suggestions on this issue.
Following the discussion, the Senate Deputies gave recommendations aimed at further improving the activities of internal affairs agencies. These include the elaboration of the subsequent gradual transfer of security functions to the competitive environment, the transfer of healthcare services for prisoners to the Ministry of Health, an inventory and provision of local police stations with the necessary equipment. Police authorities were invited to launch a pilot project to equip penal institutions with video surveillance with accession to the national video monitoring system in one or more regions under the auspices of the General Prosecutor’s Office, create an information and analytical center for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to predict risks and threats to public security in order to use the results of this work to prevent crimes.
By the way, Senator M. Kul-Muhammed reminded the participants in the government hour that the Upper Chamber chaired by Dariga Nazarbayeva had been discussing the establishment of a separate emergency state authority for several years with regard to geography, nature and other factors. This initiative, as well as his proposal to increase the allowance for internal affairs officers, including the faculty of departmental educational institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was included in the final document to be sent to the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Concluding the event, the Chairperson of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation, Judiciary and Law Enforcement Agencies of the Senate Vladimir Volkov emphasized the importance of upgrading the internal affairs agencies as initiated by Elbasy.
