Kazakh public servant must have professional skills, rather than loyalty to superlatives

ASTANA. January 13. KAZINFORM /Zauresh Balkenova/ The theme of public service reform is as eternal as the state apparatus itself. First Vice-Rector, professor of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Kaparov tells about the process of administrative reforming in Kazakhstan and what distinguishes the modern public servant from the bureaucrat of old formation.

Serik Gabbasovich, how effective is the administrative reform for the country?s economic development, more efficient use of state assets, reducing the cost of the state apparatus in the current crisis ? The administrative reforms in Kazakhstan overran the crisis. I would like to note here that administrative reforms are a permanent process in all states without exception. In 2003, the World Bank did researches in several countries and came to such conclusion: the main cause of administrative reforms is firstly, bloated state apparatus, and secondly, the poor quality of public services. A large bureaucracy results in a decline of the quality of services, gives rise to various administrative barriers and inevitably leads to corruption. Ex-Premier Margaret Thatcher, known above all, for her merits in the reforming of the British public service, managed in the middle of the 80s to save the public service from unnecessary functions, handing over their performance to a competitive environment. Through optimization, state apparatus reduced its expenditures respectively; cost of public services became less expensive. One of the principles of ?Iron Lady? was: less state functions and fewer public servants means less corruption. We also are in the process of transition quantity to quality. Now it is more important for us to have fewer but skillful public servants. I would like to note that the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 29 March 2007, on some issues of administrative reforms enables top government officials to have the fewest number of personnel with which the management can work full-straightly, and savings from the streamlining of this process can be directed at improving employees' salaries i.e. a small number of staff can do the same work, and to earn more. Unfortunately, many chief executives did not take advantage of this decree. Analyses conducted by the Agency of Public Service show that the number of staff of many state bodies have not been cut. For instance, in France the same optimization was held under the slogan: one computer replaces three civil servants. Now we have both lots of civil servants, and computers. Crisis is good in revealing the artificially created ?bubbles?, which have to burst sooner or later. I believe that the ballast of civil servants, which does not bring real benefit, but spends the state funds, and moreover, creates administrative barriers and unnecessary bureaucracy, will pass. After all, we must come to understanding that the public officials are the elite, along with the military, scientific or political ones. The public servants is the managerial elite, but increasing the number of the staff of the state apparatus, in my opinion, washes out the elite essence, leads to common comprehension. Through our Academy we try to create this elite, but not as a special caste, but rather in terms of professionalism, high sense of duty and responsibility to the state and the people, particularly the commitment to ethical principles. The Head of the state in one of his speeches stressed the importance of ?building confidence and respect for civil servants, undermined during the Soviet stagnation and survivability of bureaucratic flaws nowadays?. The President also talked about professionalization of public service, due to which we can obtain the public servants of ?new generation?. I think that the Head of the state is quite right, when he pays close attention to the administrative reform, because nowadays very much depends on the professionalism of the public servants. If you remember, speaking at the Anti-corruption forum, the President announced 8 ethical norms of a public servant, although there is the Code of Honor, approved by the Decree of the Head of the State in 2005. Only this year the Agency of Public Administration penalized over 1, 5 thousand public servants for violation of the Code of Honor. This is becoming a serious problem. A survey, conducted in 2005 by the research center ?Sandzh? commissioned by the Agency of Public Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which covered 1000 consumers of public services, showed, that only 35% of consumers were satisfied with the quality of provided services, 42% were satisfied with the terms of providing services. Only 14% of the civil servants? consumers believe in the effectiveness of the civil servants? Code of Honor and 27% of the interviewed public servants. Herewith only 57,3% out of 245 interviewed public servants from various state bodies recognize the importance of monitoring the clients? views. Anti-corruption legislation also needs to be changed, since it no longer corresponds to the level and nature of the development, as well as to the character of the processes, which we see today. The President reiterates that at the current stage for the further successful realization of reforms Kazakhstan needs public servants of ?new generation?. But few people know that governance is a whole science, which still waits to be mastered by our public servants. However, civil servants are not ready born; people become civil servants, obtaining definite experience and knowledge. What role belongs to the Academy of Public Administration in the process of Kazakhstan?s public service reforming? The Head of state instructed to establish a school of the public policy within our Academy of Public Administration. Already at the end of November last year the relevant order was decreed. We had a meeting with Dean of the School of Public Policy at the Singapore Lee Kuan Yew University Mr. K.Mahbubani. This school is a part of the global network of public administration, with brand of the University of Harvard. We already signed the MoU and we will train the staff for the ?А? corps. These are the managers of high level - top-managers of the public policy. The Academy in general will be preparing the civil servants of the ?B? corps, executors of high rank, who may be involved in the development of strategic documents. We would like to share experience not only of Singapore?s School, but of some other leading foreign centers, which train public servants. Education for 30 students will be in English, the requirements are quite high. In the future our Academy is supposed to take a leading place in training public servants for Central Asia. We will also focus on training public servants from the eastern region of Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. We have developed a strategic plan, which aims to increase and create new education programs, which are now most in demand. We plan to teach, not only public servants but other people who are interested in state administration. National companies and state holdings are showing great interest in the field of public administration because considerable experience has been accumulated here too, and I can say that the crisis managers who apply their knowledge in private companies went out of state structures. Public servants have constantly to improve their knowledge because their skills quickly become outdated due to the changing requirements and the updating process. Kazakhstan?s public service is potentially very promising. For comparison - in Russia the average age of public servants is round 55-60 years, so there is now a serious problem in their public service to attract young professionals. There is also an opinion that public service attracts losers or those who are waiting for further movement up the career ladder. I would say that you can find both types among 100 thousand Kazakh officials. However, they do not set the tone throughout the system; it is based on honest professionals who can and want to work in his/her place, seeing the prospects for further growth. In fact, all becomes true in comparison. Motivation of officials is linked with the possibility of self-realization. We know that only a tenth of those working in the private sector can be successful in business, trade, and the rest are forced to work for someone's pocket. It is hardly believable that any private company will train its staff in times of crisis. But our state does it in the framework of special programs, and it will keep on this activity. In a crisis the state is a good employer that is already important, moreover, public servants? salaries increase. In addition there is a package of social guarantees provided by the state, although it is not as solid as in Western countries, but still, I think, in the near future public service will gain more attractiveness. Yet it must be recognized that the main reason for the outflow of the most capable public service staff, in most cases, is a small salary. What do you say about this? Minimum salaries for public servants worldwide vary, on average, at the level of USD 5-10 per hour. Public servants? salary is much higher there. If we look at our civil service, it still does not stand up to such criteria. Public servants? salary should make not less than USD 800 per month in average. I think the salary of the public servants will be radically reconsidered as the reform of public service is underway and instructions of the Head of the State on implementation of new progressive model of the state apparatus are put into practice. A new motivation package will be a powerful stimulus for professionals to enter the new elite of Kazakhstan's public servants. Thank you for the interview. Kazinform note: According to the Academy of Public Administration, over 94 thousand positions are almost substituted, the overall staff strength makes 104 thousand positions. The average age of the public servants is 39 years old; their work experience in public service is 9 years. The average age of the political officials is about 47 years. Nearly 80% of public servants have a higher education; most of them are graduates of two universities. About 58% of the personnel are women.