Tasks for the new government – repository of scientific works, online commission of State Architectural and Construction Inspection (SACI), E-social and video recording of driving test

01.04.2021

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This week, Ukraine receives a new cabinet council. A previous cabinet council should hand over the affairs to a new one, and perhaps, back into politics. Works on combating corruption will also be passed on. Prior to that, the public appreciated the work of the ministries on the implementation of anti-corruption measures within the initiative «Razom Proty Korupcii» («Together against corruption») during January-July 2019. This does not mean that, saying goodbye, officials declare the overcoming of this shameful phenomenon. We are talking about the most active actions in this direction.

According to «Razom Proty Korupcii», the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Regional Development and the Ministry of Finance were better in try to implement anti-corruption mechanisms on the background of all ministries.

Since 2016, ministries have implemented 83 anti-corruption measures in cooperation with the government-public initiative «Razom Proty Korupcii». Referred to measures in the areas of activity of the ministries: medicine, energy, defense, economy, culture, environmental protection, social sphere, transport, construction, etc. Some measures are aimed at radically reforming traditionally corrupt structures, such as the State Architectural and Construction Inspection (SACI), or, for example, changing management approaches by introducing open competitions for health care managers.

During the discussion the coordinator of the government-public initiative «Razom Proty Korupcii» Oksana Velychko explained that this is not a «hot» fight, but the development and implementation of steps that reduce corruption risks. «How to measure the prevention of corruption? We are dividing the events into stages,» Ms. Oksana noticed. «For example, when obtaining a driver’s license. Steps: laws, equipment of test points, pilot projects, dissemination of experience, etc. We monitor the implementation of steps on a quarterly basis. We make a report, compare with plans. We do it together with the public. Ask for rating it. It’s a long way.

There are measures taken, for example, in the economy – an automated register of Value-added tax (VAT) refunds. But corruption seeks loopholes and bypasses our barriers. Then we have to go back. For example, we have compiled a «red list» of impossible deviations from building codes but it is useless. We are looking for other ways, we are developing other measures, for example, the creation of electronic registers and systems, etc. We hope that the new government will continue this practice and successfully complete this work».

Representatives of the ministries told how the theoretically implemented mechanisms should work. Deputy Minister of Regional Development Lev Partskhaladze spoke, in particular, about the innovations in the work of the commission for the issuance of building permits: «The commission is online, everything is on the Internet.» This is important because there are major problems with the transparency and openness of such permits. Permits are issued by the State Architectural and Construction Inspection – SACI.

According to Mr. Partskhaladze, there are measures that take time for implementation – for example, changes in laws, and there are those that can be implemented quickly. For example, creating an e-cabinet. If there is such an office, the customer sees who has received the documents so far, how many days they are processed, what comments, etc. It is also possible to improve the work of the Commission for rejection of applications for construction at SACI. Now it happens that the customer submits documents, he is denied, but does not know what the problem really is. «We want to make a commission online, the applicant can be present, at the end of the commission receives protocol comments. We will stop unfounded demands, which are now 50%,» the Deputy Minister said.

On the one hand, such successes should be gratifying. On the other hand, ut causes cognitive dissonance. After all, for example, Mr. Partskhaladze’s office is actively implementing new state building codes, which, in the opinion of ordinary citizens, only worsen their living conditions. «Norms», that cannot be called normal, because they allow turning cities into concrete jungles, in which a normal person can neither live nor live. Mr. Partskhaladze himself is known as one of the lobbyists of developers. In collaboration with Igor Lysov, a former representative of the Party of Regions in Kyiv, Mr. Partskhaladze lobbied for amendments to the law «On the regulation of urban planning».

That law abolished public hearings, and the public was deprived of virtually all rights when considering construction plans and programs. And only two years ago, the new law «On Environmental Impact Assessment» restored these rights. What comes out of this, read, for example, in our article «DTP Nauky Ave.-Yagidna St.: the community took over the function of conducting public discussion and rejected the idea of new buildings»

Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mykola Kuzio noted that, in his opinion, the ministry is actively advancing in the implementation of its plans. This was facilitated by the so-called «Environment Days» in parliament, when the entire session day was devoted to environmental legislation. This, in particular, allowed the adoption of laws on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). «We see the Environmental Impact Assessment in electronic format (there is a special section and register on the website of the Ministry of Environment – autor),» Mr. Kuzio added. «From the point of view of preventing corruption, one of the key is the process of policy formulation and implementation, which cannot be carried out without truthful and comparable data that should be available to the general public. To solve the problem of data reliability, the environmental monitoring system itself needs to be reformed. The «Vidkryte dovkillia» («Open Environment») initiative will enable citizens to have information gathered according to European standards, politicians – to make evidence-based (based on reliable data – author.) decisions in the environmental field and measure the effectiveness of this policy».

The process takes place at different stages. The Deputy Minister has said that the monitoring of water resources is already underway, we already have data comparable to European ones. Talking about the air, the government decided to introduce such monitoring two weeks ago as well. And we can add that for even better work in this direction, it would be good for the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada to visit cities with large dangerous industries at least once in their lives. Read about this material “Verkhovna Rada should be relocated to Kryvyi Rih instead of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources»

Deputy Minister of Social Policy Mykola Shambir said that the E-SOCIAL system is currently being developed, which should ensure transparency in the provision of social support. Everyone will be able to manage these processes through their own electronic cabinet. In addition, the first stage of creating an information system for more open and rapid humanitarian assistance has already been launched. Oksana Velychko added that Ukraine has already taken loans twice – in 2012 and 2014 to create this system, but the E-social system is only 30% ready. The expected launch is in 2021.

Another important task for the Ministry of Social Affairs is the electronicization of humanitarian goods, which will allow tracking the movement of humanitarian goods to the final recipient. Therefore, it will be possible to minimize numerous abuses in this area and not only low-income families are regarded. The war in Ukraine has brought a multimillion community of internally displaced people (IDPs) who desperately need social support. «Aktyvni Gromadiany» («Active Citizens») wrote about a part of problems which these citizens faced in the material «Defenders of migrants appeared under «press» because of the organization of mass appeals to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)»

Oleh Pilat, a land expert at BRDO, the Office for Effective Regulation, spoke about how to reduce corruption risks in the field of land resources. He called the main components of the process the narrowing of the institution of free land privatization, simplification of the land registration procedure and ensuring the information interaction of the state land. «Now free privatization is a continuous abuse. We propose to leave it only for the participants of the anti-terrorist operation or for those who have legally built estates and have not yet registered the ownership of the land for some good reason.»

If we look at this problem more in detail, privatization in Ukraine in general is the biggest problem. Read, for example, ««Agrarni naykovtsi» («Agrarian scientists») of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences (NAAS) oppose privatization and do not allow villagers to own land, and the State have funds from privatization»

According to activists with «Razom Proty Korupcii» («Together against corruption») a call video recording during driving test is among the most popular measures that need to be completed by the new government. It is planned to introduce a pilot project, during which practical and theoretical exams for driver’s licenses will be recorded on video. This will prevent corruption during exams, minimize corruption, which leads to the subsequent purchase of rights without sufficient knowledge, respectively, to road accidents. This is a task for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

An electronic register of temporary incapacity leaves is very important for the Ministry of Health. Next year, the country plans to move from paper to electronic hospitals. This will prevent the falsification of “hospital” and will add convenience to patients and doctors. The annual losses of the state from counterfeiting by “hospital” – is approximately 1 billion UAH.

The task for the Ministry of Education and Science is a repository of scientific works. It is planned to launch a virtual repository (repository) in Ukraine, which will store all scientific works of Ukrainian universities. The information in this repository will not be restricted for publication, and will be submitted in a format that allows its automated processing by electronic means, open access to it, as well as its further use. One of the functions of the repository is to check academic texts for text (alphanumeric) and graphic matches, which will be a serious barrier to plagiarism once the repository is filled.

Оleg Listopad