KAZAKHSTAN IN A NEW REALITY: TIME FOR ACTION
Dear compatriots!
Dear Chairmen of the Chambers of Parliament, deputies, members of the Government!
The work of the regular session of the Parliament begins at a difficult time.
Our country continues to confront the pandemic that threatens the entire global community. We have mobilized all resources to protect the life and health of Kazakhstanis. At a critical hour, the people of Kazakhstan rallied into a single whole.
The fight against the coronavirus has vividly manifested the primordial features of our people: mutual assistance, indifference, readiness to jointly resist an unprecedented calamity.
I express my sincere gratitude to the doctors, law enforcement officers, military personnel, volunteers, entrepreneurs and all concerned, conscious citizens for their steadfastness and responsibility. You have shown a vivid example of perseverance and responsibility. I consider this a manifestation of genuine patriotism.
In the current difficult conditions, our main task is to maintain socio-economic stability, employment and income of the population.
Two packages of operational anti-crisis measures were adopted. More than 4.5 million Kazakhstanis who temporarily lost their income received assistance in the amount of 42,500 tenge. More than 450 billion tenge was allocated for these purposes. In neighboring Countries and even in some developed countries, this kind of assistance was not provided.
Over a million people received food and household kits. At the initiative of Elbasy, the Chairman of the Nur Otan Party, more than 550 thousand families have been covered by the one-time financial support of the Birgemiz Foundation.
The pandemic has become a stress test for all States. In the fight against the virus, they face many difficulties. The situation then stabilizes, then new outbreaks occur.
The government has learned from its mistakes, managed to rebuild literally on the move. The main thing is that we did not hide anything from our citizens, we tell the truth about the losses, no matter how bitter it may be. This distinguishes Kazakhstan favorably from some states.
But the improvement of the epidemiological situation is not a reason for complacency. The struggle continues. According to the forecast of the World Health Organization, it will take at least two years to defeat the pandemic.
The coming months will be held in a mode of increased mobilization. We must be ready for this. We need to work thoughtfully, ahead of the curve, and not extinguish "fires" in manual mode. All decisions should be based on verified forecasts.
The Government is implementing a mechanism of point restrictions and adaptive quarantine. A comprehensive program to combat the pandemic will be developed.
All the obligations of the state in the social sphere and in terms of supporting the economy will be fulfilled. For these purposes, 1 trillion tenge is allocated from the National Fund. The indexing of social benefits will continue. By 2023, it is planned to allocate over 1 trillion tenge for this.
We will definitely overcome the current difficulties. But we must not forget about the long-term development of our state in the new geopolitical realities.
Today, the world has plunged into the deepest recession in the last hundred years. The recovery of the global economy, according to experts, will take at least a period of up to 5 years.
Meanwhile, the competitiveness of future leading states is emerging precisely in the era of crises and fundamental changes. Kazakhstan should take its rightful place in the new world.
Thanks to the far-sighted policy of the First President – Elbasy Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, solid foundations have been created in economic development, serious authority has been gained on the world stage.
In the context of the formation of a new world order, we will have to give a serious impetus to reforms, the quintessence of which is the National Plan and Five Institutional Reforms.
We must ensure a decent life for our citizens, protect their rights, strengthen the rule of law, and strengthen the fight against corruption.
So, what is our plan of action?
I. A NEW MODEL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Reforms in this area should be carried out systematically.
To begin with, we will change approaches to public administration, personnel policy, decision-making system and responsibility for their implementation.
In the conditions of a pandemic and crisis, the current system of public administration is working at maximum speed. Solving operational tasks takes time and resources. But in no case should we lose sight of the distant horizon. Therefore, I have decided to create an Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms with direct subordination to the President.
Such a body previously existed and successfully performed the tasks assigned to it. Now it will once again become the central link of the entire system of state planning. The reforms developed by the Agency should be concrete, realistic and, most importantly, binding on all government agencies.
The Supreme Presidential Council for Reforms is being created, whose decisions will become final. For a more objective assessment of the rapidly changing situation, the Statistics Committee is being transferred to the Agency.
It so happened that in the system of state planning, the state apparatus acts as the main planner, executor and appraiser. This is wrong.
The state planning system should ensure the mobilization of all human resources, involve the private sector and society as full-fledged partners at all stages: planning, execution, evaluation.
It is necessary to stop the preparation of state programs with a large number of indicators and indicators. It's time to switch to the format of concise national projects that are understandable to all citizens. As a goal setting, the primacy of the result over the process should be determined.
Carrying out such a radical reform will require a review of the activities of the entire state apparatus. Here, synergy in the planning and implementation of reforms becomes important.
You will need to reboot the public service system. The pandemic and the transfer of most government employees to remote work mode have shown that the state apparatus can and should be reduced.
I instruct you to speed up the deadlines for reducing the state apparatus and employees of the quasi-public sector. This year they should be reduced by 10%, and next year - by another 15%. Thus, we will solve the task of reducing officials by 25% already in 2021. Depending on the results and taking into account digitalization, we will make a decision on further reduction.
At the expense of the saved funds, the wages of the remaining employees will be increased. Low-paid public service costs society too much. Misunderstanding of this issue leads to negative selection, loss of competencies, initiative and, most importantly, to corruption. Therefore, from July 1, 2021, a factor-point scale should be introduced. This will lead to increased responsibility and motivation of civil servants.
We are in dire need of new personnel – professional, with fresh views and initiatives. The civil service should not turn into a closed caste.
At the same time, it is important to ensure continuity and institutional memory, preventing the fall of professional and ethical requirements. Here I would like to focus on the issue of the institute of responsible secretaries.
When introducing this institution, it was assumed that their irremovability would free ministers from administrative and personnel work, ensure the stability of the apparatus. In fact, this did not happen. Moreover, there are frequent cases of lack of mutual understanding between ministers and responsible secretaries. As a result, the common cause suffers.
The demand should be from one person – a minister appointed by the President. Therefore, the institute of responsible secretaries should be abolished, their duties should be assigned to the heads of the ministries' offices.
To implement the above proposals, I instruct you to adopt a package of amendments to the legislation on public service by the end of the year.
Rulemaking issues should also be reviewed.
During the quarantine, the sluggishness of the legal system gave rise to the effect of a "narrow neck". We had to introduce a state of emergency and adopt the so-called "emergency Decree". But such measures cannot be a systemic response to crisis situations.
The main problem lies in the excessive legislative regulation of the activities of the executive branch. We demand from ministers and akims, but their powers are limited by detailed norms of laws and regulations. This slows down the work of not only the state apparatus, but also loads the Parliament. Its Chambers are forced to consider detailed norms that could become the competence of executive bodies.
In a rapidly changing world, the slow speed of decision-making becomes a threat to national security. Therefore, within the framework of the Concept of Legal Policy, a balance between the levels of legal regulation should be ensured by changing the legislation. We cannot delay this.
It is also necessary to solve such an important problem as improving the corporate governance of quasi-state companies.
There are dozens of national companies and tens of thousands of state-owned enterprises operating in the country. At the same time, large quasi-governmental organizations are joint-stock companies whose purpose is to ensure profit. But if part of the state functions is transferred to them, then their activities should be purely of a service, auxiliary nature for citizens and the economy.
In many joint-stock companies there was a confusion of concepts. Corporate governance is becoming an additional bureaucratic procedure.
The reform of the entire quasi-public sector should be continued. Some decisions will be announced today, and the Government will submit proposals to me on the rest.
II. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NEW REALITIES
The long oil supercycle seems to have ended. You should be prepared for a completely new global market environment.
The creation of a truly diversified, technological economy is not just a necessity for us, this path has no alternative.
At the same time, the economy must work to improve the welfare of the people. The growing public demand for a fair sharing of benefits from the growth of national income, for effective social "elevators" must necessarily find a positive answer.