Editor's Note: The Kyiv Post tracks the progress made by Ukraine's post-EuroMaidan Revolution leaders in making structural changes in the public interest in six key areas: economy & finance, security & defense, energy, rule of law, public administration and agriculture.Rule of LawUkraine won a major victory when the European Union on March 2 extended sanctions against disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and his 15 allies for another year, Radio Liberty reported. The decision is expected to be officially announced on March 5.
Meanwhile,
the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said on March 1 it had launched a crackdown
on graft in Ternopil Oblast and arrested two heads of police investigation
departments in the region, a top local prosecutor and a lawyer. They are
accused of extortion.
Another
rule of law issue that came into the limelight recently is the beating of
detainees.
Stanyslav
Krasnov, an activist of the Azov Civil Corps far-right group, says he was
heavily beaten by employees of the State Security Service last month, while the
service says they had to use force while arresting him. He is accused of
illegal possession of weapons, espionage and terrorism.
Serhiy
Oliynyk, a police officer accused of killing a passenger of a car chased by the
police, was reportedly beaten by other detainees in a detention facility
earlier this week.
The
Prosecutor General’s Office opened criminal cases into the incidents. – Oleg
Sukhov
Security
& Defense
Western-style
police patrols were launched in the city of Kremenchug in Poltava Oblast on
Feb. 27 and in Cherkasy on March 1. They will replace corrupt Soviet-style
traffic police.
Vetting
for police officers was completed in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast in January and is
currently under way in Khmelnytsky, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Volyn and Rivne oblasts.
As a
result of vetting in Kyiv, 13 percent of all police officers, 70 percent of
mid-level police officers and 80 percent of top police officials were fired,
National Police Chief Khatia Dekanoidze said on Feb. 15.
In the
city of Odesa, 15 percent of police officers have already been fired, Andriy
Kostyuk, a spokesman for Odesa Oblast’s police department, said on March 1.
In
Kmelnytsky, vetting led to the dismissal of Valery Onisyev, head of city
police.
However,
the efficiency of the police reform was questioned by critics last week: a
scandal erupted when evidence emerged that Anton Shevtsov, head of Vinnytsa
Oblast’s police, has pro-Russian sympathies.
On March,
1 the Defense Ministry launched a new Army FM radio station aimed at
entertainment and information support for soldiers fighting in the Donbas war.
Sponsored by the Spirit of America, a U.S.-based charity, the new radio
station is now broadcasting pop and rock music and news programs. The radio
is planned to be available via FM waves in eastern Ukraine and also on the
Internet via http://svoeradio.com. – By Oleg Sukhov and Oksana Grytsenko
Public
Administration
Ukraine’s
government issued a new resolution on rules of ethical behavior for civil
servants on Feb. 11 that came into force on March 1. From now on they are
prohibited to swear, fight and criticize the institutions they work for. It
also obligates them to “put every effort into forming a positive image of
Ukraine.” The new code also applies to the heads of the public enterprises,
meaning that the public enterprises are being seen as state-owned firms.
The
novelty spurred lots of criticism from the lawmakers and civil activists.
Dmytro Kuleba, a top Ukrainian diplomat, said that the problem with this code
is that “disciplinary liability for violating these rules will put
pressure not on those public officials it should.”
The
Ministry of Education proposed creating consolidated middle schools where
children living in the small villages could study at their 5th to 9th grades.
This way the local communities could save money for schooling and improve education, the deputy education minister Pavlo Khobzey said at a government meeting on March 2. But, before that, communities have to create school infrastructure for students and teachers. – By Olena Goncharova and Oksana Grytsenko
Economy
& Finance
Seeking
to better regulate social programs which cost Ukraine three times more than its
defense expenditure, the government started a verification campaign.
According
to the country’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine will spend Hr 365
billion ($13.7billion) on its social payments in 2016.
The
Finance and Social Policy Ministries together with Special Security Services
began amending the lists of internally displaced persons who receive state aid.
The biggest problem with them as well as with other social payments registries
is that many recipients on them are fake.
Via a
number of schemes, swindlers were receiving money allotted for people who were
long dead or were not entitled to it according to Ukrainian laws because they
remained in the occupied areas of eastern Ukraine.
The
Finance Ministry also got access to bank secrecy to means-test recipients of
subsidies for low-income families. Overall, the government hopes to save at
least to Hr 5 billion ($190 million) this year alone.
The government
stopped paying aid to 180 thousand IDPs in February. According to Social Policy
Minister Pavlo Rozenko, the amount of the “fake” recipients may reach 30-40
percent of 1.7 million people of registered as displaced. However, the
verification process has sent thousands of IDPs who rely on government money in
panic as many did not understand the procedure.
The
Ukrainian Economy Ministry announced a call for directors of 6 big state-owned
companies.
The
government is looking for CEOs for Ukraine’s second biggest thermal power
generator Tsentroenergo, energy system operator Ukrenergo, machinery equipment
producer Elektrovazhmash, postal service operator Ukrposhta, alcohol producer
Ukrspirt and the country’s railway company Ukrzaliznytsya.
This
comes after a promise of the Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to appoint
independent directors at Ukraine’s 50 biggest state entities in order to fight
top-level corruption in the country.
The
candidates must submit documents till
March 15. People with successful experience in the private sector are invited.
The recruiting committee will consist of five ministries and five independent
experts. The announcement follows recent accusations of technocrat ministers in
Yatsenyuk’s government that political groups use state-owned enterprises as
cash cows.
Ukraine’s
central bank slightly relaxed its overregulated procedures with foreign
currency transactions on March, 3. It increased the amount of foreign currency
one can withdraw or buy in Ukraine. The central bank motivated the move by an
increase of popular trust to the banking system. At the same time, the
regulator kept the interest rate at 22 percent. – Olena Savchuk
