Local Government Reform Will Mean Job Cuts

The local government reforms now being planned in Kyrgyzstan will means job losses for many. NBCentralAsia commentators say the change is an opportunity to demand more from public servants who keep their posts – but also to pay them more.



Last week, Prime Minister Almazbek Atambaev announced that the district level of local government could soon be phased out. The change has been prompted by this year’s changeover to a two-tier budget system under which central government and local rural administrations are the only budget-holders.



Kyrgyzstan currently has seven regional administrations, around 40 district ones and 450 of the lowest tier, the rural administrations.



The last significant territorial changes were carried out in 1999, when a new region – Batken - was created out of three districts taken from the southern Osh region, after attacks by Islamic insurgents there.



Kurmanbek Dyikanbaev, head of the Rural Administrations Association, says there are currently too many officials for the small number of residents in some sparsely-populated areas.



“Removing one of the links in the state governance system will reduce the number of officials, the cost of whom accounts for a significant portion of budget expenditure,” he said.



According to political scientist Marat Kazakbaev, local government reforms should improve the quality of public servants and make for better management.



“Radically reducing the number of civil servants will make them more responsible for the work they do,” he said, adding that a salary increase will also act as an incentive.



Member of parliament Avazbek Momunkulov agrees that pay rises are needed to make government more effective, but he would like to see an action plan put in place that includes provision for finding alternative jobs for public servants made redundant as a result of the reforms.



“It's possible that the army of redundant civil servants will be a nexus for social tensions,” he said.



Political scientist Toktogul Kakchekeev says the government should be stricter with those officials who remain in post, applying both civil-law and criminal penalties to those who go wrong. “That way we will be able to combat corruption and bribery more effectively,” he said.



All international financial and humanitarian institutions that render financial and technical assistance to the Kyrgyz government are demanding reforms to the system of administration.



Although the government is willing to make the state administration more compact, some analysts warn that that the changes might be delayed, since it is not necessarily in the government's interest to lose loyal public servants. As former parliamentarian Bolot Mukashev said, “The authorities have a need for the current system of management with its army of officials who are – from local administrations upwards – completely subservient to the White House [Kyrgyz government]. For the current authorities, just as for their predecessors, it makes sense to continue with the administrative system in its present, pliable form.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)