The problem of corruption exists in almost all post-Soviet countries, and Kazakhstan isn’t an exception. And even though no one argues that corruption is evil, no one can cope with it. Why? We will try to analyze the reasons using example of Gerogian reforms, with the help of professor of the state University of Ilia Oleg Panfilov.
As we know, Mikhail Saakashvili became president of Geogia in 2004, after which he conducted a series of reforms – extremely harshly, without looking at authorities, traditions, connections and self-interest. As a result Georgia was able to announce to the whole world “We beat corruption”. Delegations from other post-Soviet countries flocked into the country in order to find out “the magic recipe”, and the media of the time had a lot of publications where there was a lot of talk of Georgian reforms. However, nobody went further to acquaint themselves with the Georgian experience.
What was it that Gerogia was able to do and why can’t other countries repeat it? We asked Mr. Panfilov.
Oleg Panfilov is a journalist, expert on human rights and free media, in the ‘00s he worked in Russia as the head of Moscow bureau of Committee to protect journalists (CPJ, New York), director of Center of extreme journalism of the union of Russia’s journalists. In September 2008 he got Georgian citizenship – “for special services” and in Nov. 2009 he moved to Georgia. He is the professor of State university of Ilia. Cavalier of medal of honor (Gerogia)
– Oleg Valentinovic, Georgia was able to bear corruption, something that seems impossible to imagine for Kazakhstan. But can Georgia truly be called I a country in which everything or almost everything is great?
– I think that Georgia today is much better than other post-Soviet countries. I am not talking abiut Baltic counties – they were the least “lucky” to live under socialism, so they really quickly, recovered their European life. As for other parts of post-Soviet space, I can say that Georgia is very different. So different, in fact that I as a person who travelled around the world would even dare to say that Georgia is becoming a decent European country.
– Is there really no corruption in Georgia or did it just take a different form, is masking better?
– No, corruption cannot be masked. It either exists or it doesn’t. Because no matter how hard they might try to find it, sooner or later people find out about corruption.
There is no corruption in Georgia, that I can say with absolute certainty. There is none because there is a civil society and laws, that don’t let this system that once ruined Georgia to be restored, despite new people in the government and politics.
I will underline the main reason why there is no corruption: first of all it is a civic society that doesn’t want to live the way they did under Shevarnadze, secondly there are laws that help civic society to very strictly control the power.
– What laws are you talking about?
– For example there is a law on freedom of information. Thus, any non-governmental organization has a right to anytime receive information, if it doesn’t concern government secrets. Whenever there were attempts of the current power to return the country into the past and use government funds for fancy feasts, representatives of civil society came to restaurants with the demand to receive copies of the check. And they did receive it and immediately published it. Thus, public control is probably the most important thing preventing the return of corruption.
– And who initiated and conducted reforms in Georgia – Saakashvili personally, his allies or someone else? It is very important for us, because most Kazakh citizens would like to use the fruits of reforms of Georgian type, but aren’t personally ready to show active participation, especially politically.
– Of course the main role is played by the leader. And it so happened that in Georgia it was Saakashvili, who assembled a team of highly educated people (I must add that most in his team were people who received education abroad). Reforms never fall from the skies. In conditions of current Kazakhstan they are unrealistic, just as in most of the territory of post-Soviet space with some exceptions (they are now trying to conduct reforms in Ukraine, but very slowly and undecidedly). In order for reforms to be fulfilled or at least started, there first of all needs to be a leader, secondly a program or at least a vision of what reforms are needed, how they will be fulfilled and what results they will lead to. And the third thing that is very important is that there needs to be a desire in the society to change their life and the life of the country.
I will tell you about Georgia before reforms. Firstly, it was one of the most corrupt countries in the post-Soviet space. Secondly, by that time it survived three wards and as a result had a large number of refugees – over three-hundred thousand people fled from Abkhazia. For a small country with population of around 4 million people 3 hundred thousand refugees is a lot. Thirdly, Georgia survived a spike in crime, when the power in the country was in the hands of thieves-in-law, and they solved all the problems in the country, rather than prosecutor or police.
We not that Georgia, during Shevarnadze’s times was called a Failed state and it really was so. At the moment of Shevarnadze’s coming to power, Georgia was in a miserable state. Economy was destroyed, power and water was given by the schedule, there was no infrastructure pension was just a few dollars, and average salary a few dozen dollars. There was around five separatist factions and the whole country was divided between gangs, whose interests were represented by thieves in law. Police and system of law and order existed only on paper.
Thus conditions were formed in Georgia for people to elect Saakashvili in 2004, moreover, he was elected with a Turkmen score of around 93%. Thus, he received blank check including for conducting of reforms.
Why do I think that there are no such conditions in Kazakhstan and partially in Ukraine? Reforms in Georgia turned out to be vital” either Georgia disappears as a country or conducts reforms. Saakashvili received cart blanche in elections and reforms worked out.
We note that in the annual rating of index of perception of corruption by Transparency International, Georgia in eight years went from 83rd to 35th spot.
In Kazakhstan I assume, a different cultural-mental sphere was formed. I, in no way hint that Kazakhstanis have no such traditions, as Georgians do. But one needs to remember that Georgia is one of the oldest states in the world. Only Egypt is older. And when there is a historical memory, traditions of governorship, it is easier to think of what could be done with the country that first was entrapped in comunism and then in the total corruption of Shevarnadze’s times.
One other thing. In Kazakhstan, a big role is played by the Russian-speaking “fifth column”, thus it is quite hard to fulfill reforms under the motto of “our country, our nation, our government”. Part of Russian-speaking Kazakhstan always looks towards their northern neighbor and check their thoughts with what is said in Kremlin. And Putin as we know, is very afraid of changes.
Also, in Kazakhstan, government propaganda still exists, when opinions of one person – president Nazarbaev are considered deciding. There is no discussions in society, it doesn’t fulfill any democracy, because even the parliament is comprised of Nazarbaev’s supporters. So there are no conditions for conducting democratic social and economic reforms in Kazakhstan.
I once met some young Kazakhs in Europe, who also asked me about reforms in Georgia. I told them that it was a very easy scheme: Saakashvili gathered Georgian students who studied in Harvard, Oxford, Sorbonne , they united around him and after the “rose revolution” they created a government of reformers. The youngest was the minister of agriculture Bakur Kvezereli, he was 26 years old. Among member of that government, the only ones that stand out are Kakha Bendukidze (born 1956, one of the ideologists of reforms, Georgian minister of economy) and if we don’t take him into account, the average age of ministers was 29-35 years old.
I told young Kazakhs all of that and they exclaimed “how great! But that won’t happen in our country. Why not? You are also studying in good universities? “Yes we are, but we are going to come back to Kazakhstan to positions already prepared by our parents” was what they told me. Thus, they already know where they will work, which is essentially corruption.
There was another case. Once, the minister of internal affairs of Kyrgyzstan came, and he familiarized himself with Georgian experience for a few days and was astounded by the changes. Our minister of internal affairs Vano Meraishvili escorted him to the airport and asked him: Are you going to do the same thing we did?” to which Kyrgyz minister only said “Who will let us?”
– Why does this happen?
– Unfortunately many factors are missing for changes in majority of post-Soviet states. And it doesn’t only have to do with a change of regimes, even though it is important. In Ukraine for example, reforms didn’t start in the right way. And this has to do with the fact that people in power are the same ones that have been there the last twenty-five years under various presidents, and many even have communist past.
– And which reforms do you consider key for Georgia?
– In reality reforms didn’t only have to do with politics. I would say the political side was much easier because Georgia is a small country, but we have over 200 political parties (even though many of them aren’t active). What is important is that reforms rid the society of corruption, destroyed corrupt ties.
For example after the administrative reform we can now come to the house of justice – it is a big building, there are almost twenty of them in throughout Georgia and receive over 400 various services.
In three minutes you can register an NGO. Moreover, you don’t need any additional documents besides its statute. In order to formalize and sale and purchase of real estate or vehicle you will need no more than 7-8 minutes. Passport can be received in 10 days, and if you need to accelerate this process it is enough to pay the bank 200 lari (around 70 dollars) and you can get it back in same day.
Thus, as a result of reforms all corrupt ties were broken, corruption mechanisms were broken too. This is the main success of reforms. Officials were deprived of opportunity to take bribes, because all of the documents are made officially and very quickly.
We note that the overall number of officials in Georgia through the years of reforms has decreased in half, and the salary of those remaining grew 15 times. The number of structure themselves has shrunk as well: out of 18 ministries, only 13 are remaining, out of 52 institutions 34 remain.
What are people dreaming off? They dream of security, quality medicine, good education. And some of the initial reforms were the ones in those spheres.
Ministry of interior was completely reformed and now the police in Georgia is one of the best in Europe, and possibly the only one in the world where employees don’t have demeaning nicknames – cops, pigs,etc. Here they are just called policemen. Police is respected and police treats citizens with respect. The essence of the reform was that at once 97% of employees were replaced, destroying the corruption within the interior ministry, salary was raised, control was harshened.
In Kazakhstan this might not be possible, due to corruption and familial ties, etc.
Then, the education reform was started. It is still being implemented – something changes some things are being added. Today in Georgia, around quarter of schools are private and over half of 63 univeristies are as well. Principals, deans and presidents of universities are being elected by a collective, namely heads of departments themselves.
In schools, when a kid goes to first grade, government gives him a netbook (made in Georgia out of special plastic), special educational programs are installed on it, aimed towards the first stage of school – from the first until fourth grade. English is a required language starting from first grade, thus youth here might not know Russian but knowns english. When kids graduate school the receive free notebooks from the state. In universities we have a Bolognese system of education, professors have good salaries – much higher than in Kazakhstan. As a result few Georgian colleges are world accredited.
Science was reformed as well there is no academy of sciences in Georgia – this large amount of slackers, who receive money for nothing. All scientific research was handed to universities and transferred to grant system. Thus, scientist apply for a research, an independent commission, consisting of foreigners reviews it perspectives and only then, government allots money for this research in the form of grants; or scientists receive them from various international funds.
Healthcare here is private and ensured. Majority of working population can ensure themselves based on their palce of residence, and those who don’t work can buy one of the cheapest insurance packages for 5 lari (around 2 dollars of monthly payments). Depending on price of insurance treatment is paid for.
We note that as a result of reform of medicine in Georgia, a system of insurance medicine was created from scratch, around 200 new hospitals were built and many old ones were reconstructed, ambulance system was created from ruins.
Reform that isn’t talked about as much, but is quite successful in my opinion, is the reform of the army. Today, in Georgia an army is created that meets all the requirements of NATO and has modern weapons. There is no Soviet technology in it. Army isn’t large, only around 35 thousand people, but is quite able and mobile. Military constantly participates in NATO teachings.
There were other reform of which we can talk about for hours, but they are all aimed at making people’s lives better.
– What were the economic reforms like?
– The economic reforms were quite simple. Georgia was never an industrial powerhouse. We have a few metallurgic plants, that worked and still continue working, because everything here is private not public. In Georgia, all state enterprises were subject to privatization, as well as plants, factories etc. The only thing that government owns is administrative buildings. There is also a scientific-technical center Delta – plant of the ministry of defense, which produces modern military equipment, weapons, that we sell. The last batch of armored vehicles was purchased by Saudi Arabia.
We note that after the reforms in tax area and business administration, Georgia entered the lsit of top 5 countries of the world with minimal tax burden, and in the last year of Saakashvili’s rule was 8th in the list of Doing Business (easiness of doing business in the world). Reforms also touched on the energy sphere. Under Saakashvili Gerogia started building of 16 new power stations, part of which are already finished, and the country is turning from an importer to exporter of electric energy.
The only sphere of economy that started to rapidly develop due to reforms was tourism. Even agriculture develops very slowly here, because we are surrounded by powerful competitors – Turkey, Israel. In rural areas people of course grow agricultural products, but only for themselves. In industrial scope this isn’t profitable because it is cheaper to buy from Turks. Georgia today due to Saakashvili’s reforms, built roads, hotels and refurbished cities became a tourist destination that receives 6-7 million tourists a year. It is twice as many as population of Georgia.
We note that Saakashvili’s government has developed special program for turning rural areas into brand tourist objects. In 2007 the first to be rebuilt was the town of Signakhi. After that Batumi, that was turned into a lavish resort on Black sea, as well as Akhaltzikhe, Kutaisi, Gori and Telavi.
– So much was done during Saakashvili’s rule, but he himself had to leave the country. Why? Was his persecution justified?
– If the charges were justified, Saakashvili couldn’t have travelled around the world. He is only being persecuted in three countries Russia, Georgia and now Ukraine.. does it need any further explanation?
We note that new regime in Georgia accused Saakashvili of embezzling and declared him wanted, however attempts to turn the case to Interpol, in order to start the search of Saakashvili outside of Georgia failed. Experts of Interpol told persecutors office of Georgia the unjustifiable nature of accusations and refused to accept the case.
– So why did Saakashvili’s party lose the 2012 elections?
– It is easy to answer this question – it could become second CPSU.
We note that the party United national movement created by Saakashvili got 63% of votes in 2008. In 2012 at the aprliamentray elections – 40,43% of votes based on party lists. In 2016 – 27% of votes and 27 based on lists.
If we are to live in a democratic country, we need competition, there needs to be variety. Change of ruling party (Georgian dream – Democratic Georgia, as a result of winning 2012 elections, became the ruling political alliance of Georgia, was founded by Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili – was useful to Georgia. Now people have opportunity to compare what was done under Saakashvili and was is being done in the past five years, or more precisely what isn’t being done. Even those projects that Georgian dream positions as theirs are in fact old projects of Saakashvili and his team.
At the same time, Georgia, after Saakashvili’s departure didn’t change its foreign policy course or its views towards NATO, EU and preserves all that was created under Saakashvili. Why? Only because this is the desire of the population. Sociological surveys which are conducted a few times a year show that citizens of Georgia that number of citizens of Georgia that would like to see their country as part of NATO or EU isn’t decreasing but rather increases. And the amount of population that thinks that Russia is an enemy or adversary already reached 86%. And even if Georgian dream has pro-Russian politicians they can do nothing about the population. That’s it.
Thus a system created by Saakashvili cannot be destroyed. People like receiving government services in minutes, having a police they are not afraid to ask for help, and not giving bribes, as it was just 13 years ago. System created by Saakashvili gave people a chance to feel like decent people and not to live in conditions of corruption. Is there a survey data about current perception towards Saakashvili in Georgia?
Sociological surveys never asked about population’s attitude towards Saakashvili, because it is useless – he isn’t the president and doesn’t even live in Georgia. As for my conversations with people, I don’t see any hate towards Saakashvili. There are of course those who hate him, especially out of old nomenclature of Shevarnadze, that were exiled in the beginning of reforms as bribe-takers and corrupt ones. I assume they comprise around 20-25 percent.
– Why in your opinion, political reforms happened in Georgia and not say in Armenia or Azerbaijan?
– As I already mentioned, firstly, there was a leader, secondly traditions of governorship. Georgia always liied as an independent country. Of course it was conquered from time to time by neighbors Persians or Turks. In 1801 Russian empire conquered it, then Bolsheviks did. But in any case it restored its independence. Georgia is a small but very ancient state.
– What distinguishes Georgian political class from other states’ of post-soviet space?
– In Georgia almost all parliamenaries and members of government speak English. They either got their diplomas abroad or did internships there got PhDs. In that sense Georgia is a European nation. But most importantly it is following of laws. If there are people that don’t want to follow laws they can’t do it. That’s the difference
– What could Kazakhstan learn from Georgia?
– There are a lot of things you need to change for that. I once wrote an article on what necessary for color revolutions. And like in the Fifth element, if one factor is missing nothing will happen. Thus, elements of success of color revolutions are – traditions of governorship, public policy, freedom of speech etc. But one of the most important ones is the anti-Kremlin position of those in power.
There is such factor in Georgia and largely in Ukraine. We said that we don’t want to be Russia’s little brother. Georgia managed to not only distance itself from Russian politics but exit its organizations like CIS, ODKB etc. It separated itself from propaganda. There was no Russian TV in Georgia for 9 years.
We must build our government, I sometimes call it revenge. In order to withstand the empire you just need to make your country better. Georgia avenged, becoming better and more atractive to people. And thus I now tell Ukrainians that their goal is not as much to withstand Russian army in Donbass but to avenge Russia by building a moder democratic European country.
– Does Kazakhstan have a chance to separate itself from Russia?
– I am sorry but I think that right now Kazakhstan has no chance of doing that.
