Gulbanu ABENOVA
ALMATY, Dec 6 (THE GLOBE)
�We call for a national dialogue,� spokesmen of the Forum of Kazakhstani Democratic Forces announced at a December 6 press conference in Almaty.
Representatives of Republican People�s Party of Kazakhstan Gaziz Aldamzharov and Nurbulat Masanov, Working Movement leader Madel Ismailov, Orleu leader Seidakhmet Kuttykadam and Tabigat party chief Mels Yeleusizov held the joint press conference to appeal to the Kazakhstani population.
According to this group of opposition leaders, they have seen the gigantic responsibilities undertaken by political leaders, and this has made them appeal to all political forces of the country with the proposal of a national dialogue to find jointly the most efficient ways to overcome the current economic crisis. The opposition leaders appealed, in turn, to all Kazakhstani people, to specific ethnic communities and the cultural centers which represent their interests, to President Nazarbaev and to the Assembly of Kazakhstani Peoples.
Gaziz Aldamzharov reported that he and his colleagues were waiting for the President�s response to Kazhegeldin�s November invitation to begin a dialogue, but had not yet received any answer. �Yes, maybe, we will not be heard as always, but we will try to start a dialogue again and again,� he said.
On December 10, President Nazarbaev is scheduled to speak at the Assembly of the Kazakhstani Peoples. According to Aldamzharov, the Assembly is slated to be reorganized as subordinate to the National Council to the President. As such, it will then serve as mediator between the opposition and the authorities. In Aldamzharov�s opinion, the Assembly cannot have this authority.
The opposition leaders stated that �the authorities would hardly agree with a dialogue, but they needed to make a step.� Nurbulat Masanov called himself and his comrades �the proud face of the people�s face� and called their work �the first signs of the political process.�
The spokesman offered to establish a Constitutional Council to work out a new Constitution of Kazakhstan. The latter is to be the subject to a national referendum.
�The election held in this year proved that Kazakhstan faces a deep contradictions that impede the successive development of the society and postpone its reforms. Moreover, the Constitutional contradictions namely caused the dishonest and unfair elections,� he believed.
The new Parliament which started work on December 1 is evidently more democratic in composition, although many representatives remain from the previous Parliament. This time, a member of the Otan party (which won the election) has become the Speaker. The �force� past of the Lower House Speaker arouses surprise. However, maybe, namely with his �iron hand� Zharmakhan Tuyakbaev will make parliamentarians issue laws that will take into consideration common people�s opinion and will be observed, proposes the Radio Liberty editorial below.
On Wednesday, December 1, the new Kazakhstani Parliament started its work. President Nursultan Nazarbaev personally congratulated new parliamentarians. On the next day, he left for Almaty. The leader of the state highly appreciated the election even though it has been seriously criticized. The President considers the Parliament to be a safety support. In fact, if parliamentarians protect people, many candidates who failed to be elected will have to keep silent. But first steps by the Parliament and some parliamentarians� behavior make us think of different things. The Non-Parliamentary consciousness of some parliamentarians was obvious on the first day when Speakers of both Houses were selected. The Central Election Commission chairman Zagipa Balieva had to calm down parliamentarians who lost their self-control. �I have never interfered in the Parliament�s work,� Balieva said. The new Mazhilis Speaker Tuyakbaev had to shout at parliamentarians: �Stop it! It is not a bazaar.� According to Karavan newspaper, on those days restaurants in Astana were full. Parliamentarians had reserved tables long before. The Communist leader Serikbolsyn Abdildin predicts: �If the previous Parliament was obedient, in contrast, the Otan party along with its leader Sergei Tereschenko will privatize this Parliament.�
Both Speakers are people close to the President. Moreover, Zharmakhan Tuyakbaev originates from Otan. Both Speakers represent force structures. Tuyakbaev is the former chief military Public Prosecutor. The Senate Speaker Abdukarimov was the chairman of the Agency to struggle against corruption. That the former Public Prosecutor�s has come to power is most striking. One of the opposition leaders ,Mels Yeleusizov expressed his opinion to Radio Liberty�s audience: �I do not understand at all, how a person from the General Office of Public Prosecutor, who has nothing to do with the policy, could head the Parliament. Will he just sit and order? We know how Public Prosecutors work. They say as if they hammer nails. Then this will nothing to do with the Parliament.�
The former officer of the General Office of Public Prosecutor, a famous journalist Nuri Muftah, who knows Tuyakbaev for many years says: �He is a worthy man. He has his own opinion, his position. I have a lot of hopes, as Tuyakbaev was elected the Speaker. First, he is a lawyer. Second, he is a public figure achieved the state level. This Parliament is not short of only juridical specialists, but also of elementary literate people. Tuyakbaev will be able to direct them properly. Of course, I cannot ignore his negative features. Either due to previous press in his work, or due to the fact that he was brought up in a southern way, Tuyakbaev lacks courage. In comparison with his competitor Abdildin, he is too indecisive. To justify the post of the third person in the country he has to protect his opinion more bravely.�
Well, the new Parliament has started its work. There are a lot of parliamentarians who are ready to protect people�s interests. If the Parliament works for the time stipulated by laws. But the opposition seems to have a different goal. On Wednesday when the Parliament was just opening the curtains, the next meeting of the Forum of Kazakhstani Democratic Forces held in Almaty. They discussed legal ways to initiate new Parliamentary and presidential elections in 2000. The opposition has to hurry up. According to the information, the Assembly of Peoples of Kazakhstan will be held on December 10. Possibly, an organization alternative to the Forum will be established at the meeting. Though the situation in the opposition is difficult right now, as internal conflicts are still not settled. For example, in the beginning of the week the Working Movement leader Madel Ismailov was publicly blamed. The unmasker was another leader of this organization, Utegen Kabaziev. In the end of the week Ismailov, in his own turn, demonstrated other plans behind his colleague�s back.
In this week political life of the President was also rich in events. In the second half of the week Nazarbaev held the third meeting of the Foreign Investors� Council, received the Chevron head Matski, and met foreign ambassadors. Criticism by foreign investors was so serious that President Nazarbaev had to admit mistakes on the investment policy. The President asked ambassadors to shift from Almaty to Astana fast. But neither ambassadors nor investors are eager to move to Astana. This is another complex of problems.
05.12.99
Kazakh Service of Radio Liberty
(Full text, translated from Kazakh by THE GLOBE)
A few words make a huge difference in considering the $8.5 billion of foreign investments at work in Kazakhstan. This is the figure announced December 3 by Dulat Quanyshev - Chairman of the Kazakh National Agency on Foreign Investments. The �devil is in the details� as English speakers say.
The first significant detail Chairman Quanyshev volunteers�that eight of ten of those dollars went directly to oil and gas activity and metals. This investment is divided between licensing fees that go to government agencies, equipment, professionals, labor, and some localized social benefits like training, clinics, and housing. The fuel and metals industries still rely heavily on both imported equipment and imported labor. The labor, from management to rough necks, spends some additional money in Kazakhstan, but the benefits are not nearly as great as if all the labor could be Kazakhstani. Kazakhstan�s low level of investment in modern career and skills training assures that foreign labor will get the best paid jobs for the foreseeable future.
At the recent Foreign Investors Conference in Astana many foreign experts and business people working in Kazakhstan are not nearly as optimistic as Mr. Quanyshev and the President. Head of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Horst Koehler said. He added that Kazakhstan needs to take serious steps to improve the court system and local government and that it should ratify international tax treaties and enforce of international arbitration awards
�Kazakhstan is still considerably behind the most successful Central and Eastern Europe economies in the quality of its investment climate.� ABN Amro Bank�s general manager Otbert de Jong said, �Slowly confidence is coming back a little bit from foreign investors. The interest is there, but we don�t see a lot of additional investment.�
Even President Nazarbayev, according to Agence France Presse, recognizes the problem and said, �Everything is done slowly and poorly, even though the country wants to attract foreign capital.� As the man with the power to appoint every local official, to propose and veto laws and issue and enforce economic decrees the President is the man foreign investors look to for change.
Even the International Finance Commission (IFC) whose mission in life includes a heavy emphasis on small and medium sized businesses, has invested over 70% of its money in Kazakhstani energy and metals giants. The fact that such a huge proportion of foreign investment is in fuels and minerals, suggests a serious that Mr. Quanyshev should not be so proud of the figures announced. The lifeblood of national economies are seldom a few large foreign investments in high profile industries. Small and medium business investment is the salvation of transition economies.
This lesson has been made clear throughout eastern and central Europe. The Polish, Hungarian, East German, and Czech economies did not prosper and begin to feed their countries and stabilize their economies because Santa Claus and his helpers arrived with oil drills. Thousands of foreign investors came to invest in bakeries, shoe factories, small sewing shops, meat processing plants, and metal fabricators.
Kazakhstan has yet to attract this kind of investment. The reasons are clear to any foreigner who has ever tried to do business in Kazakhstan�bureaucracy, corruption, crime, and high taxes. Kazakhstan�s large agricultural potential, its experience in animal husbandry, its great variety of raw materials and its cheap labor should be fertile ground for foreign investment.
Instead of addressing these problems, the country struggles on under officials who would rather boast of a mere $531 per citizen in foreign �investment�, most of which does not to to either Kazakhstanis or the government of Kazakhstan. (Divide $8.5 billion by 16 million people.)
The question that really matters to Kazakhstan�s citizens is not how much foreign money is invested in doing business in Kazakhstan, but how much of that money finds its way into the pockets of ordinary citizens.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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