B.Baibek: The main task of Nur Otan is to be a mediator between the people and the Government

You are the First Deputy Chairman of the country`s largest political party. Nur Otan is called the People's Party in its policy documents. But why do ordinary people need it? What are its functions? - Many people call Nur Otan the party of power. But it is not true. Nur Otan is the ruling party, and it was chosen by the people who gave it the highest vote of confidence at the last elections. We received over 80% of the votes. Besides, you know that today we have more than 900,000 members. Thus, the main task of Nur Otan is to represent the interests of the citizens, to be an effective mediator between the people and the government. We, as a public organization, need to know what people think and how they live and to inform the authorities about their problems. We have all necessary resources to do that. We have more than 9,000 primary organizations and 3,000 party control posts. No other party or public organization in our country has such capabilities. But many Kazakhstani people call Nur Otan a party of officials... - Yes, there is such a popular opinion. But in reality, there are only 6% of civil servants in the party. The majority of Nur Otan members are teachers, businessmen, doctors and others. Perhaps, this opinion is formed because of ineffective work of the party agencies. But, you know, a party is a living organism. It has to change along with society in a response to the growing demands of citizens. Today citizens expect from us more effective protection of their interests and effective control over both the state and local executive authorities. That is why on the commission of the Leader of Nur Otan we have embarked on renewal. Our goal is to work not as a "party of power", which is associated with bureaucracy, but as a party which represents the interests of the people. You said about renewal. What does it mean? - Today the activities of the party are based on the principles of responsibility, transparency, efficiency and accountability. On the commission of the party leader the control over budget disbursement and government programs implementation through MPs and Maslikhats is being strengthened. This will increase the role of the party's governing bodies such as the Bureau, Political Council, party factions in the Majilis and Maslikhats. Much attention is paid to strengthening of the work with young people in the regions through the modern information technologies. We have introduced the principles of corporate management in the party apparatus. Our personnel policy is based on the meritocracy principle, incentive system and "social elevator". So, for the first time the employees were re-certified, the number of the central office employees was reduced by 30%, the management was reduced from 7 to 5, thus allowing raising the salary of the employees of the branches by 15% and increasing the material and technical base. The School of Political Management (ed. - the former High Party School) has moved from academic courses to the system of practical training. This year alone 440 leaders of the primary party organizations will attend such trainings, which are more than 200,000 party members. The Institute of Public Policy (ed. - the former Institute of Parliamentarism) will focus on study of bills, government programs and on opinion polls. It will provide our parliament deputies with objective and comprehensive information on the people`s problems. What was this preparation and discussion of the Nur Otan Doctrine for? - The Government began to implement major political reforms after the adoption of the "Strategy-2050," dramatically changing the social and political landscape. First of all, these reforms included the formation of the "Corps A", transfer of power from the central government to the regions, introduction of rural governors` elections, and increase of public control. The direct responsibility of officials is being increased, and thus, the key role in the control of government agencies is given to public organizations, first of all to parties. Being the ruling party, Nur Otan should, of course, lead this process, increasing the efficiency of its work. What about the Doctrine? What are its main points? - Our main goals and ideals are explicitly stated in the Doctrine. It is a kind of a constitution of our party, which determines the role of Nur Otan in implementation of the Strategy-2050 and in development of the whole country. Today, while the crisis of values in many countries has led to a political crisis and even civil war, we should instill fundamental values which have formed during the Independence in the public mind for the years ahead, ensuring all of our achievements. The Doctrine as the main ideological document will unite our party members giving meaningfulness to their daily work. And the most important thing is that the Doctrine includes the main principles of the President`s policy, which have become the key to success and prosperity of our country. After all, establishment of an independent and powerful state and preservation of peace and harmony are the result of our President`s consistent policy. There is an interesting provision in the draft document, saying that "The Government and the citizens are equal partners... The Government will be focused on serving citizens` interests ..." Today many people call our country "Kazakhstan" LLP because of the non-transparency in a decision-making, and they say that we need to move towards "The Republic of Kazakhstan" LLP. How do we do it? - I would not compare the political system with corporate management. Efficiency and transparency in a business are assessed by profit. In the state system it is more complicated. Many social issues cannot be considered only through this prism. According to the Constitution, Kazakhstan is a socially oriented state, which means each citizen has the right for high-quality public services. Public administration in competitive countries is based on such service-oriented principle. We made it real by integrating this principle in the adopted law "On Public Service". We can introduce the service-oriented principle, but how can a citizen check what his money is spent on? Do you have a vision of this transparency mechanism? - We should systematically improve the efficiency of parliamentary factions in the representative bodies of the government. For that purpose, as I said, the party should provide deputies with analytical and objective information. We also should consolidate the high potential of the national non-governmental organizations. But how can the party influence the Government, if even the local branches of Nur Otan are under the mayor`s jurisdiction? It turns out that a citizen comes to the party to complain against an official, and this complaint goes straight to the same official, but through the party system. - You are right, this problem does really exist. We are introducing the "E-party" to solve it. For example, the Unified coordination center will be opened in Astana by the end of the year, where citizens` applications from all 300 regional party counseling offices will be sent. This information system will completely eliminate the subjective factor, ensuring transparency of the control. In case of an increase in the number of complaints against a certain mayor, an independent check will be carried out. Today the work of the Party Control Committee is aimed at "purging" of the party's ranks and consideration of complaints against high-rank party members. And the most important thing is that the party leadership will be provided with alternative information. Let's talk about the young Zhas Otan members. Now they are more associated with event organizers... - Unfortunately, it is true to a large extent. Officials, and often party members themselves, take young people as a last resort, associating them with organization of "flash mobs" and campaigns with flags and caps. We are breaking this stereotype. Zhas Otan should become an effective platform for implementation of the ideas and projects of young people. Thus, we have launched two major projects, "Satty Qadam" ("Successful Start") and "Zhastar auylga" ("Youth to the village"). Within the first project, we help young university graduates to do an internship in the civil service, national holding companies and start a career. The second one is aimed at providing the young villagers with an access to state support. As I have already said, the party is a social elevator for talented young people who have no support. Thus, with the help of our party more and more young people are elected to local representative bodies. Today the number of Maslikhat deputies under 30 years old has doubled reaching 84 people. Thank you for the interview.