State Contracts and Fear of Inspections: How Akims Subordinated Maslikhats

Maslikhats are official representative bodies expressing the will of the people, which officials must fulfill. Everything, however, turned out the other way around in reality. Orda looked into the matter.

The first republican forum of maslikhat deputies from all levels of the Amanat party was recently held in the capital of Kazakhstan. Two thousand people attended it.

One of the main speakers was the chairman of the Amanat Party, Yerlan Koshanov. He mentioned the importance of interaction between akimats and maslikhats, emphasizing that they are not competitors, but partners:

"It is the deputies of maslikhats who choose the akim of the region. Audit commissions are formed. Approve territorial development programs and budgets. This means that maslikhats, along with akimats, are responsible for the quality of life in the regions. Reports to maslikhats, approval of programs, and budgets should not be formal. Discussions are needed at the local level. In them, deputies can defend the interests of their constituents."

However, an opinion has long been established in Kazakhstan that maslikhats are neither competitors nor partners for akimats, but rather subordinate units. Their members are called upon when it is necessary to approve the annual budget or approve another project developed by the akim's office.

There is another opinion that only loyal and trusted people, who will not ask too many questions, become maslikhat deputies. Sometimes really principled, ideological activists, public figures, fighters for the truth, as well as academics, experts, and experienced business executives manage to get elected to the maslikhat. But this almost never changes the balance of power.

An Orda correspondent spoke to experts to find out why this is happening.

Confusion in Definition

Sergey Khudyakov, an expert in the field of local self-government (LSG) and housing and communal services, a member of the Public Council of the North Kazakhstan Region, drew attention to the fact that no law of the Republic of Kazakhstan says that the maslikhat is a local self-government body (LSG).

However, there is a tricky formulation according to which self-government by citizens is carried out directly, as well as through gatherings, meetings and maslikhats. That is, it is done by citizens through maslikhats, and by maslikhats on behalf of citizens.

"But in fact, maslikhats are part of the system of state bodies of local executive power according to the Constitution. And at this level, all decisions are made by the akim with the executive office. And the members of the maslikhat are busy with personal affairs most of the time, and they discuss the problems of their municipality only when they are called to a session, and most often support the akim's ideas,"

the interlocutor noted.

And it turned out that the executive branch assumed the powers of the representative government and the right to make decisions and impose its decisions on deputies of all levels, concluded Sergey Khudyakov.

Maslikhats and State Tenders

Akbope Abylkasymova, a member of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, and leader of the movement "Kazakhstan bizdin shanyragymyz", also shared her opinion.

She noted that the Maslikhat, according to the Constitution, is a representative and elected body. And according to the law on LSG, it must express the will of the population and, therefore, according to the idea of the legislators, it is a local government body.

Although the maslikhat does not officially answer to the akim whatsoever, there are also unofficial elements.

"Firstly, there are people in the maslikhat who earn money from state budget expenditures. The same developers who have billion-dollar contracts, for example, for the construction of roads or repairs of buildings. There is a conflict of interests: what kind of representation of the interests of the people can we talk about when a person's personal interest can affect the decision-making process? Naturally, not about any,"

Akbope Abylkasymova believes.

Secondly, party representation continues to dominate the maslikhats. And party discipline requires members to follow the leadership's course, that is, as the head of their branch said, so party members vote with rare exceptions. The heads of the branches try not to quarrel with the akim.

Why? Because the city akim has effective levers at its disposal. These are often close ties and the opportunity to ask for the services of the city court's chairman, the prosecutor, the head of the sanitary and epidemiological supervision or the tax authorities. These people are able to organize inspections or arrange other troubles for an entrepreneur or an enterprise manager, not to mention ordinary citizens. Therefore, even though the akim is nonpartisan, party functionaries do not want to ruin their relations.

"In order to achieve independence of maslikhats from akimats, I think it is necessary to choose 100% of the maslikhats' structure in single-mandate districts. The requirements for candidates for deputies could include confirmation of the absence of contracts with government agencies over the past five years. And to increase the number of deputies at least twice. The work of the deputy of the maslikhat is public, so there will not be a big burden on the state budget,"

the interlocutor said.

According to Akbope Abylkasymova, the more deputies there are, the harder it is for everyone to find a "way out" and "ask" to vote the way the city akim needs. A big plus of increasing the number of deputies to 150 people in the Almaty maslikhat will be the opportunity to divide the city into fairly small sectors. And it will be easier for the deputies to fulfill election promises, and for residents to hold them accountable. Holding fair elections is undoubtedly key. The deputies of the maslikhats would thereby be truly independent.

Original Author: Danil Utyupin

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. Please refer to the original article in Russian for accuracy.