A bigger transparency of certain state structures is one of the most curious phenomena of the day. In a rather efficient manner, they are publishing a lot of information that, even a year ago, would never appear on the first pages of the pro-governmental media-resources (even though it would not be purposefully shoved under the rug so the citizens won’t know it).

The reasons for this are clear — the situation in the country is so complex, uncertain and unstable that the authorities must obtain the trust of the population by any means possible. They need the population to believe them and not the other information sources. For this reason, they are now performing the miracle of transparency, efficiency and honesty on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, it is not a given that, once the emergency rule ends, the quarantines and the other restrictions lifted, this kind of transparency, efficiency and honesty will continue to exist. Nonetheless, individual structures, such as the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour, have already earned a positive assessment of their policy today. With that, willing or unwilling, it is becoming clear to what degree these structures in particular and the state as a whole were wrong or were consciously fooling themselves in the past.

Let us demonstrate our idea by using the example of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The press-release of the agency devoted to the subject of the social aid payments from the National Insurance Fund as of April 23, 2020, presents the following data (text in bold by kz.expert).

«As of April 23 of the current year, 4 mln 146 thousand social payments from the National Social Insurance Fund (NSIF) have been assigned due to the loss of income during the period of the emergency rule (ER). Of them, for the first month, 3 mln 727.5 thousand have been assigned, for the second month, 418.5 thousand have been assigned. As of April 23, 8 mln 21 thouans citizens have applied for the payment of „42 500“ tenge».

«3 mln 585 thousand applications have been denied the assignment of the 42 500 tenge due to the fact that they failed to pass the test of the compliance with the Rules of assigning the social payments from the NSIF due to the loss of income during the ER».

Two figures are important here from the internal political standpoint:

• first, the total number of the citizens applied for the social payment,
• second, the number of the citizens that have been denied it.

We have no doubt that, among the citizens who wished to receive the social aid, there were quite a few of those who were not eligible for it. But, in any case, the very fact that, out of the 9,193 mln Kazakhs, whom the Statistics Committee considered able to work in March 2020, 8.021 mln requested the state to support them is shocking. We are talking about 87,3% or every seven persons out of eight.

Of course, only 4.146 mln or 45,1% of the able to work citizens have received (or will) receive the aid. In other words, every nine applicants out of twenty.

And this, considering that, according to the current rules, «the social payment from the NSIF due to the loss of income related to the restrictions of activities for the period of the emergency rule in the amount of 42 500 tenge per person is assigned to the following categories:

— individual entrepreneurs and employees of small and middle-size industries on unpaid leave;

— employees of big industries operating in the quarantined residential areas on unpaid leave;

— employees of non-commercial legal bodies on unpaid leave; with the exception of the governmental ones;

 — persons engaged in private practices (notaries, private law-enforcement agents, attorneys, professional mediators);

— physical bodies — payers of the single social tax in accordance with Article 774 of Kazakhstan’s Internal Revenue Code;

— physical bodies — contractors receiving their income based on the job/service providing agreements for which tax agents have paid the mandatory pension taxes». 

With that, let us remind you that «the force of Subsections 1) and 2) affects the employees of the national asset-managing holdings, national holdings and national companies». Apart from that, the state employees of the budgetary organisations continue to receive their salaries and other additional payments. 

Thus, as of March 2020, out of the 9,193 mln able to work Kazakh citizens, 87,3% thought themselves deserving of the state money and 45,1% were considered eligible for that. One must agree that these figures, even at the time of the crisis, clearly show that the real economic situation even of the able to work citizens is much worse than Akorda, the Library and all the super-presidential power vertical believe (and say on the regular basis).

P.S. When this article had already been written, Managing Director of the Government for the Citizens State Corporation Murat Zhumanbay informed the press that 164 730 Kazakh citizens had returned the social aid in the amount of 42.5 thousand tenge. Here is a quote: «164 730 Kazakhs have returned it voluntarily. The aid in the amount of 42 500 tenge from the NSIF is assigned to 4 192 234 Kazakhs, 4 054 417 have already received it». And that’s the only good news in this uber-complex situation.