According to Maulen Ashimbayev, during the active phase of combating the pandemic, vulnerabilities in the public administration system became apparent. During the broadcast on “Khabar 24” TV channel, he called quarantine a serious stress-test for the entire state machinery. “Many people witnessed problems related to the efficiency of government authorities. Not all decisions are made swiftly, some government authorities or departmental officers often duplicate functions, and many processes that should be converted into digital format are outdated,” Maulen Ashimbayev said.
“We need to improve the state machinery, reboot the system, and use new modern technologies in the operation of the state machinery. Digitalization should be introduced more actively, which will allow, first of all, to render services to the population in a very short time, to make decisions and distribute information. There is a need for new approaches, such as project management in the public administration system, that are being actively used in the Western countries and show their effectiveness. For example, the government in Great Britain is widely and purposefully using the system of project management,” Maulen Ashimbayev told in his interview.
The speaker of the Senate also noted the necessity to enhance the human capacity of civil servants, to hire promising, active and ambitious specialists. The question was also raised about the election of akims of villages, settlements and rural districts as mentioned in the next Address of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
“Certainly, the appointment of akims by election is one of the mechanisms intended to attract enterprising and dynamic people to the civil service system. And this mechanism will enable the population, i.e. residents of villages and settlements, to independently elect those people who will govern the administrative division. As for the dates, this process is likely to start as early as next year. Since, as you remember, the Head of State mentioned in his Address that next year the terms of office of a number of Akims will expire,” Maulen Ashimbayev noted.
The Chairman of the Senate also underscored the importance of ensuring access for the nomination to the positions of akims of the maximum number of citizens, while not creating legislative obstacles for the participation of certain categories of population.
“The basic criteria for candidates to akims should be established. These include citizenship, education, and professional experience. This will allow active and enterprising people, including youth, to show themselves through participation in elections. If the population in the relevant district finds his/her promising and appropriate, they will elect him/her. We will take this into account while reviewing the bill,” the Speaker of the Senate said.
