Master student Sergaliyeva R.T.,
Candidate of Economic Sciences, Professor, Bugubayeva R.O.

Karaganda Economic University of Kazpotrebsoyuz, Kazakhstan

 

Modernization of government service in the Republic of Kazakhstan

 

The Republic of Kazakhstan is in the process of optimizing and improving the structure of government for several years, the purpose of which is to create a professional Government that can effectively decide current and future issues of Kazakhstan's development. The formation of modern high-performance government service is one of the key problems that is putting forward.

By 2050, Kazakhstan plans to enter the top 30 developed countries of the world. To achieve this strategic goal, the government adopted the policy of rapid modernization in the economic, social and political spheres. It becomes increasingly clear that the successful implementation of modernization is impossible without an efficiently functioning state administration system.

Development strategy of Kazakhstan until 2050 envisages further strengthening of statehood and development of Kazakhstani democracy. The goal is to create a new type of state management, strengthen the responsibility of state authorities for development of plans and programs to create an integrated system of state audit on the basis of best international practice, to introduce a multilevel system of crisis response, to decentralize management, to create a professional state apparatus. The head of state noted: "our system of selection and promotion of personnel, in which all citizens have equal rights and chances, provided a sufficiently high level of professionalism and transparency of the government staff. We managed to make a kind of revolution in the state administration and to refocus it on improving the quality of state services to the population." In this regard, the problems of modernization of government service in the Republic remain relevant given the new tasks and prospects of development of the government and society.

Modernization of government service which is held in Kazakhstan implies the transition of Kazakhstan from the position of the open model to the classical career system of government service, is typical for many countries of continental Europe (France, Germany, etc.). The expected results of the reform are: achieving government service authority among the population, the effective work of state bodies, ensuring a stable cadre of public authorities in numerical and professional attitude, elimination of corruption and other criminal manifestations among public servants. This is exactly what the society expects from a modern government service.

The choice of long-term strategies, determining priorities, modernization of government service under the realities of the XXI century require the government and people of great effort, firmness, flexibility, discipline and creativity. Professionalization of government staff will give the possibility to successfully overcome all the existing problems in the country. In their understanding the concept of "government service" should be synonymous with "serving the nation (society)" [1].

An important step to achieve the goals was the transfer of all state bodies to control the "eventual results". The result of the formation of the new model will be a professional government service, focused on the result and high-quality government services, also matching the actual needs of the state and socio-economic development.

In March 2015, Nursultan Nazarbayev has initiated the five institutional reforms to improve the functioning of government staff and improve the efficiency of government:

1) the formation of the modern government staff;

2) the provision of primacy of law;

3) industrialization and economic growth;

4) the future of a unified nation;

5) transparent and accountable government.

In May the state program "Plan of the nation - 100 concrete steps on implementation of five institutional reforms" was approved [2]. For the enforcement of these reforms the national Commission on modernization under the leadership of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan was created. The Commission includes five working groups, consisting of domestic and foreign experts.

These institutional reforms in key development sectors of the country are an integral part of the program on realization of Strategy "Kazakhstan - 2050", which foresees fundamental changes to the economic and social structure of Kazakh society due to the transition to a comprehensive economic pragmatism on the principles of profitability, return from investments and competitiveness, which imposes new demands to government administration. Modernization in this area involves improving the system of state planning, decentralized control, building effective and performance-oriented government service. However, the solution of these problems is impossible without a professional government staff and modern management technologies. A special section of Strategy is devoted to strengthening of statehood and development of Kazakhstan democracy, the formation of a new type of public administration that meets the demands of serving the nation.

 Next important step in the modernization of government staff has been the enforcement of the new Law "On government service of the Republic of Kazakhstan" from January 1, 2016 [3].

The law is aimed at improving the professionalization and efficiency of  government staff through the introduction of efficient and transparent mechanisms to enter government service, the assessment system and career planning, creation of administrative body "A" and increasing the role of personnel services, improvement of incentives and motivation of state officials, ethics and anti-corruption measures.

Among the innovations the following can be mentioned:

- identification of the personnel reserve of administrative government service of administrative body "A";

- clarification of the term "bonus" as monetary payments, set by state officials on the results of the evaluation of the effectiveness of their activities;

- extension of the list of main principles of government service;

- mainstreaming into the duties of state officials providing information security in the process of work with information resources of the public authority;

- update the prerequisites of admission to government service;

- extension of selection of personnel reserve of administrative government service;

- determining the exact working day hours of state officials (five-day working week with two days off);

- a substantial extension of the provisions on rotation of state officials;

- change of terms of imposition of disciplinary sanctions, etc.

All these innovations are accompanied by measures of socialization of employees, training of new administrative culture based on the principles of serving to the nation, honesty and integrity. Provides for the development of a new code of Ethics of the state officials and the establishment of a authorized officials on ethics [4].

In order to improve the efficiency of anti-corruption events held within the modernization of government service (in 2013, Kazakhstan was ranked 140th out of 177 countries in 2015 123 place among 167 countries in the corruption perception Index of Transparency International), in the course of the reforming of the government service the following measures with anti-corruption character are implementing:

- the introduction of competitive selection for the vacant position of administrative state officials, official (public) adjuration;

- adoption of Code of honor (rules of ethics);

- introducing the duty to inform the official (eligible appointment) about the contradiction between the private interests of a state official and his powers;

- restriction of joint service of close relatives in the same public authority;

- provision of the Declaration on incomes;

- transfer of property in trust management;

- ensuring transparency of the privatization process, the activities of the national companies and state enterprises, and private companies;

- the adoption of specific solutions in the field of tax policy, subsoil use and land matters;

- opening of service centers on the principle of "one window" when a citizen can in one place to execute all necessary documents [5]. These measures will contribute to strengthening the efforts for fighting against corruption offence and improving ant-corruption policy in Kazakhstan.

Also one of directions of modernization of government service of the country is the creation of e-government. The creation of e-government was necessary in order to make the work of the authorities more effective, transparent and accessible to citizens.

Electronic government is the integrated mechanism of interaction between the government and citizens, state agencies with each other, ensuring consistency with the help of information technology. This mechanism helped to reduce queues to state authorities and to simplify and expedite the receipt of certificates, permits and many others. Improving the work of state authorities is one of the most important areas in the reform of government staff. January 31, 2017 in the Message of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev to people of Kazakhstan "the Third modernization of Kazakhstan: global competitiveness" was mentioned: "the processes of rendering government services should be as optimized. Need to reduce the time and the list of documents to eliminate duplicate formalities. Thus it is necessary to transfer them to a fully electronic format, without compulsory physical presence".

However, it should also be noted that, in practice, the implementation of "E-government" was faced with the problem of the lack of a critical mass of citizens who are ready to fully use e-GOV services. Kazakhstan has not been given due attention to improving skills to use new and unusual for people systems and increase the level of computer literacy, especially in the regions.

Innovation in the modernization of government staff in the current year was the address of President Nursultan Nazarbayev on 26 January 2017 [6]. It refers to the redistribution of powers between branches of government. According to the Head of state, the new reform – the President gave some of his powers to Parliament and the Government. This, in his opinion, increases the effectiveness of the control system.

For the President in the new environment, the priorities will be strategic functions, role of Supreme arbiter in relations between the branches of government. The President will also focus on foreign policy, national security and defense of the state. The role of the Government and Parliament will increase.

The proposed program will create a margin of stability of the political system; enhance the role of the Government and Parliament, and thereby provide a more efficient mechanism of response to modern challenges. The reform programme shows that our country is going in the direction of democratic development. All of this is in the future development of the country and correspond to the Five institutional reforms. The fifth paragraph of the "open Government" and assumed a serious redistribution of powers.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized that today a fairly effective model of government service that meets recognized international standards in Kazakhstan has been formed. Government service in Kazakhstan has great potential for its development.

As the President of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev said in his program "the plan of nation is the path to the Kazakhstani dream", a modernization of government service is a key mechanism for the success of the plan of the modernization process in Kazakhstan." And in our view, every citizen of Kazakhstan, who is the conductor of these reforms have to work hard and to make every effort for the quality of their implementation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference list

 

1.     Kaparov S.G. Modernisation of the public service in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Textbook. - Astana: Acad. state. Ex. under the President of RK, 2010-212s.

2.     Plan the nation - 100 concrete steps to implement the five institutional reforms // Information Portal https://www.zakon.kz.

3.     Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated November 23, 2015 № 416-V «On State Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan" / / The Ministry of Civil Service Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan

4.     Human Resource Management: A Textbook. Ed. 2nd, ext. and rev. / Pod Society. Ed. A.I.Turchinova. - M .: Publishing House of RAGS, 2008. - 608 p.

5.     Baymenov A.M. Some features and tendencies of development of public service in the Republic of Kazakhstan // Sayasattanu-Politics. - 2010. - № 2. - S. 80-84

6.     https://www.nur.kz/