This is not a column about corruption in the OVIR (Office of Visa and Registrations). Such would be met with a collective ho-hum. Bribery is endemic in Ukraine whether you are dealing with an uncomplicated request for permanent residency, as above, or driving down the road and getting stopped by the militia.
These penny-ante transgressions are easily dealt with, though getting things done above-board takes a little longer. The four words road police generally hate to hear is “give me a ticket.” which means wasted time for them and no bribe. Most often they just wave you on, even if you were in the wrong.
But these incidents represent merely the small stuff in the Grand Bazaar of bribery.
One has to wonder what went horribly wrong recently when three high state officials, including the nation’s prime minister, ended up with egg on their faces after a signing ceremony when a billion-dollar gas deal was revealed a hoax reminiscent of the MTV series where celebrities get “punked.”
Did someone in the scenario not get the last page of the script? What non-transparent shenanigans took place that led to a Spanish businessman being in the same room with Ukraine’s PM, signing a bogus deal on behalf of a company that immediately denied they even knew him?
Was there a bribe avalanche that started at some low level and simply went out of control? Or was it just a massive cock-up? This story is not over. Something smells here.
It was fortuitous that the hoax or scam took place the same week of the Kyiv Post/East Europe Foundation Tiger Conference, which had as its headline speaker Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili, a fellow who the World Bank says greatly diminished corruption in that country.
Though Saakashvili had his sails trimmed after his party lost parliamentary elections in October, he remains president through most of next year. At the Tiger Conference, he said something that showed confidence that Georgia would not roll back the progress it has made on various fronts.
In essence, he noted that Georgians had experienced government efficiency and a huge reduction in corruption from the lowest to the highest levels, and that there was no turning back no matter who led the nation.
The Georgian government has set up one-stop offices so residents can handle a myriad of real-life administrative functions without knocking on dozens of doors. It has virtually shut down petty bribery by government officials and the police.
Of course there is corruption everywhere, including Georgia.
I come from a state, West Virginia, where two governors, a couple of Senate presidents and a gaggle of lobbyists ended up in jail for various offenses a few years back. It is said that a grand jury appearance in that state is a rite of passage.
However, the difference between my home state and Ukraine is that the officials actually committed crimes and were not merely tried and convicted because they were political opponents. No political leader goes to jail for making a wrong decision. Bad judgment, absent a crime, is not punishable in courts—only at the ballot box.
The Tiger Conference posed the question: “Will the sleeping tiger awaken?” It would be foolish to think one confab or a series of meetings can make a sea change in the way Ukraine does business. They can only point to problems, offer possible solutions, and hope ideas gain a foothold.
From the conference, my hope is that Ukraine’s leaders will stop being faux delusional.
Ukraine’s government is like the alcoholic who refuses to admit that he has a drinking problem. It continues to say that black is white, that the road ahead is paved with cotton candy and that the dark storm clouds ahead will only result in a misty drizzle.
No thinking person believes this.
Many years ago, the pop psychologists of the advertising world suggested that perception is reality. They were plain wrong. Eventually, reality sinks in with a thud, and all the rosy pronouncements by government represent just so much fried air.
Kyiv Post CEO Michael Willard can be reached at [email protected].
