Electronic government against petty corruption in Kazakhstan

The increasing role of electronic government has gone hand-in-hand with the growing demands for transparency and accountability in all regions of the world. Kazakhstan is not an exception. In accordance with the E-Government Readiness Index, Kazakhstan ranked 81st place in 2008, 46th place in 2010, 38th in 2012, 28th in 2014. Electronic Government defined as ‘The employment of the Internet and the world-wide web for delivering government information and services to the citizens.  One  important  function  of  electronic  government  is  to  reduce  the  risk  of  corruption.    E-government  creates «transparent communication» that allows citizens to apply directly through the internet to the government, removes officials as mediators between citizens and the government, thus reducing risk of administrative corruption. The article proposes to consider the opportunities for reducing the petty corruption in Kazakhstan due to introduction of electronic services, as well  as issues and challenges for the successful use of e-government   to combat petty corruption. 

In the 2014 Corruptions Perception Index (CPI), Kazakhstan ranked 126th among 174 countries. Kazakhstan has undertaken an extensive initiatives to reduce corruption by introducing electronic communication. In accordance with the E-Government Readiness Index, Kazakhstan ranked 81st place in 2008, 46th place in 2010, 38th in 2012 and 28th in 2014, demonstrating intensive development of e-government. In the United Nation's EGovernment Development Index, comprised of online services, telecommunications infrastructure and human capital development in equal parts, Kazakhstan rose from 38th to 28th place in the two-year between the 2012  and 2014 reports (UN, 2014) E-Government is defined as the employment of the Internet and the world-wideweb for delivering government information and services to the citizens. E-Government Readiness Index (E-GRI) index is published by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations every two years. This index is a comprehensive indicator of the development of electronic communication, which consists of the results of the three sub-indices: Index of development of electronic services Online Service Index (OSI), Index of telecommunications infrastructure (ITI), Human Capital Index (HCI). Thus E GRI = 1/3 OSI + 1/3 ITI + 1/3 HCI. The first index Online Service Index (OSI) is based on the on the results of a survey of websites of the government and five ministries finance, health, education, labor, social security and describe web presence of public authorities. Survey websites are evaluated in terms of content, functionality and use for the delivery of public services electronically.

The second Index Index of Telecommunications Infrastructure ( ITI) calculated on the basis of the development of electronic communications infrastructure, infrastructure capacity for e-services, including the density of mobile and fixed communications, broadband Internet subscribers per 100 population and the  number  of computers per 100 population.

Third indexes Human Capital Index (HCI) consists of indicators of literacy, education, longevity and overall quality of life. In Kazakhstan according to the World Development Indicators the literacy rate is 99.8%. In terms of Internet penetration in   Kazakhstan were  more than 70 % of Internet users in 2015[1].

UN carries out rating of E-GRI every two years. In our analysis we conduct a comparative analysis of EGovernment Readiness Index  among the countries of the former Soviet Union.   Indicators   of   OSI ,  ITI and HCI in Kazakhstan comparatively with other post soviet countries relatively high. In accordance with the EGovernment Readiness Index, Kazakhstan ranked 28th in 2014. For comparison, Readiness Index of EGovernment ranked Kazakhstan 38th in 2012, 46th place in 2010, 81st place in 2008. According to United  Nations Report in 2012 Kazakhstan  was tied with Singapore on the second place in the world in term of  electronic participation. Dynamics of changes in the rating on E-Government  Readiness Index (E-GRI) among  the post soviet countries from 2012 to 2014 shows  that Kazakhstan  has the biggest  progress  (+10) comparatively with other countries. Russia stayed  in the same place as in 2012 year. Ukraine decreases  indices  on 19 positions.Thus, the citizens of Kazakhstan are provided by ample opportunities to get public services electronically. They can get the benefits of electronic payment services such as payment of various  taxes, fees  and fines, as well as submission of applications and getting a variety of socially relevant permits. From the theoretical point of view, this should improve the transparency of permitting and reduce the bureaucracy and corruption in Kazakhstan.

Table 1. Rating  of   E-GRI  among post-soviet countries in 2014 

Source: United Nation E- government  survey 2014 http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/Portals/egovkb/Documents/un/2014-Survey/E-Gov_Complete_Survey-2014.pdf

Table 2. Dynamics of changes  in the rating on E-Government Readiness Index 

Source:United   Nation   E-    government   survey   2014   http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/Portals/egovkb/ Documents/un/2014-Survey/E-Gov_Complete_Survey-2014.pdf 

Table 3. Rating of OSI    among post-soviet countries in 2014 

Source: United Nation Egovernment survey 2014 http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/ Portals/egovkb/Documents/ un/2014-Survey/ E-Gov_Complete_Survey-2014.pdf 

Table 4.Index of ITI among post-soviet countries in 2014 

Source: United Nation Egovernment survey 2014 http://unpan3.un.org/ egovkb/Portals/egovkb/ Documents/un/2014-Survey /E-Gov_Complete_Survey-2014.pdf

Table 5.Index of HCI among post-soviet countries in 2014 

Source:       United       Nation       E-government      survey       2014       http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/ Portals/egovkb/Documents/un/  2014-Survey/ E-Gov_Complete_Survey-2014.pdf

 According to Corruptions Perception Index (CPI) conducted by Transparency International in  2014 Kazakhstan ranked 126th among 174 countries, tied with nations such as Togo, The Gambia, and Pakistan. CPI ranges from 0 to 10, where 0 the highest level and 10 the lowest. Kazakhstan ranks constantly from 2 to 3. What we mean by the concept of corruption in Kazakhstan in particular? Corruption is commonly defined as the misuse of entrusted power for private gains. In Kazakhstan corruption can be described by kleptocracy (abuse of authority, manipulation of the public property in sphere public procurement, creating of oligopolistic market); extortion (permissive and licensed spheres); cronyism (unofficial relationships or patron-customer relationships); nepotism (preference of relatives in matters of employment and promotion); lobbying of affiliated business enterprises by officials for a fee.

According to the General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan [2]the most corrupt spheres in Kazakhstan are Public procurement; Permissive sphere (sphere of State permits, Department of Architecture, Centers of registration estate, ministries); Control and police authorities (Traffic police, military enlistment offices, Finance Police, Customs, Tax sphere, Courts).

Next level of corruption has been calculated based on measuring the proportion of consumers who have used unofficial way of solve of problems.1. Traffic Police (55%)2. Customs (46%)3. Sanitary inspection SES (41%). Some social spheres including Education, Kindergartens and others are also can be corrupted, due  to lack of  places in kindergartens, government grants in education, jobs and etc.

In the context of our study, we mostly consider the administrative corruption related to bureaucratic delays, or so-called administrative barriers that contribute to the risk of corruption. Under administrative barriers commonly understood bureaucratic or other obstacles in obtaining a public service. There is a point of view, according to which the various administrative barriers contributes to the risk of corruption. People who faced with administrative barriers try to minimize their loss of time in expectation in obtaining public services, the inconveniences associated with the collection of a set of documents, some additional documents, also the uncertainty resulting from services. For instance, Kazakhstani scientists conducted study of Administrative  Barriers as a source of corruption offenses in the public service in 2007 in 33 state agencies and departments in 16 major cities Kazakhstan. Authors of this study surveyed 4,473 people who reported about 29 various forms of administrative barriers including time consuming; lack of information, discomfort, unfriendly environment and incompetence of staff , wrongfulness.  «There are two most common administrative barriers, which associated  with corruption – cronyism (38 %) and extortion (23 %). Overall, extortion distributed on 17% less than the cronyism. Thus, common reasons of administrative barriers often comprised in the low quality of public services, incompetence of the staff and ill-structured organization of public services» [3].

How Electronic Government can combat petty corruption in Kazakhstan ? We can answer to this question by proposing the follow assumptions

1. Egovernment creates electronic «transparent  communications»
2. E-government removes officials as the mediators between citizens and the
3. Egovernment reduces discretion of officials
4. Egovernment can lead to a reduction in petty corruption avoiding bureaucratic administrative barriers Many of the elements of Kazakhstan's e-government aim to reduce corruption   in the most corrupt  spheres

in Kazakhstan such as Public procurement, licenses and permits sphere and Control authorities. For example Electronic procurement site – http://goszakup.gov.kz implemented in the  electronic  format  since  January  1, 2010. It is enabling entrepreneurs, without leaving the office, to participate in tenders. This procedure ensures transparency of the process, creates equal conditions of competition and reduction of budget.

Electronic Licensing. The e-license portal http://elicense.kz has 16 categories comprising  hundreds  of licenses and permits including such important spheres as transportation, construction, health care, legal services, and environmental protection. By 2013, the portal had issued over 30,000 licenses of various kinds. Now Egov.kz  portal users are offered 235 interactive and transactional services.

Electronic registration of individual business, which was injected in 2013. EBusiness registration. “Starting a business» is the first indicator in the Base of Doing Business Index from the World Bank. Usually this is an area of high level corruption. Before implementation of electronic registration to create a construction business, the applicant was required to collect 12 different documents and permits and wait for  approval  30 days  or  more. Now we can see the reduction of amount of required documents to  the  minimum  and  timesaving  since electronic procedure takes 15 minutes.

Electronic service in traffic police. In 2012 in the largest cities of Kazakhstan such as Amati, Astana, Karaganda, Aktau launched a Specialized Electronic Center of Service of population registering vehicles and getting driving licenses. Using an electronic database, payment of fines over the Internet, cameras on the roads reduces the «human factor» and risk of petty corruption. Public Service Centers called «single window» service where multiple social services are accessed. Starting in 2011, Public Service centers became part of the electronic government initiative with an emphasis on paperwork reduction and bureaucracy that  significantly   reduces risk of petty corruption for getting of different kind of certifying document and permissions. Anecdotal evidence of impact of egovernment on reducing corruption came from the head of Transparency International's Kazakh branch who reported that according to their surveys, petty corruption in service provision had been reduced from 80%  to 14% [4].

To enhance the role of egovernment to combat pettycorruption Kazakhstani government faces several issues such as technical problems, lack of access to high-speed internet especially in rural areas, computer literacy and digital divide. Lack of computer literacy gets reflected in lack of skills of using computer and in distrust of electronic documents. A report to a parliamentary committee indicated that the e-government portal had  2.6 million registered users by November 2014. That represents nearly 25% of the population over the age of 20, 56% are under the age of 34 and less than 10% are older than 44. From this, we can see that most active users are young and educated people[5].

Also we can note limitations of effectiveness e-government and lack of transparency. E-government can  be very effective in reducing of petty corruption since of reduce of administrative barriers and inefficiencies of social service. However, less effective in fighting with high-level corruption in oligopolistic society.With our point of  view to enhance the role of e government in fighting corruption Kazakhstani government should solve the following tasks: Integrate e-government applications with a system of measures to combat corruption;Provide free access to public information and increase transparency in society; Popularize electronic government activities and access to the use of government information; Development of anti corruption strategy and morality of intolerance to corruption;Constantly monitor the effectiveness of e-government to combat  corruption  since  systematic surveys of citizens will help to establish more clearly the impact of e-government on corruption, as well  as  provide valuable feedback.

1. «Интернет-аудитория Казахстана: портрет и предпочтения пользователя» http://forbes.kz/stats/internet-auditoriya_kazahstana_portret_i_predpochteniya_polzovatelya
2. Д. Сатпаев «Коррупция в Казахстане и качество государственного управления»Институт развития экономики, (Япония), 2013 г. http://www.ide.go.jp/Japanese/Publish/Download/Report/2012/pdf/C24chpdf.213
3. Турисбеков З., Джандосова Ж., Тагатова А., Шиликбаева Н. «Административные барьеры как источник коррупционных правонарушений в сфере государственной службы», Центр исследований САНДЖ, Алматы 2007г. http://www.sange.kz/files/4513/6021/8303/ e        pdf
4. «Казахстанская коррупция эволюционировалаэксперт» 14 августа, 2014г. kzhttp://bnews.kz/ru/news/post/222735/
5. «Интересная статистика электронного правительства» http://egov.kz/wps/portal/Content?contentPath=/egovcontent/stat&lang=ru