Feedback Test
The government does not fear self-criticism and welcomes criticism and requests from the public, said Minister Anatoly Tolstoukhov addressing the Nationwide Public Hearings called to discuss the government’s record in 2003 and its action plan for 2004. The aim of the hearings was to exchange opinions and jointly develop specific proposals regarding the implementation of the government’s 2004 action plan called Consistency, Effectiveness, and Responsibility. In implementing its 2004 action plan, the government will direct its efforts toward continuing the pension reform and bringing the salaries and wages into the open, said Vice Premier Dmytro Tabachnyk, stressing that “The top priority for the government is to preserve what has been achieved since independence and move from hands-on control of social processes in the mode of situational responses and hole patching to long-term planning of the state’s development.”
The discussion proceeded in four thematic sections: humanitarian policy, government policy within the context of building a civil society and furthering market economy transformations, and regional and social policy. The hearings were attended by about thirty cabinet members, a hundred journalists, and several hundred representatives of grassroots organizations from all over Ukraine. Common for all sections was a quite informal and sometimes harsh tone of the discussion set by the grassroots representatives. The executive had come under a torrent of criticism. Government members in turn promised quite reservedly, if not limply, to take everything into account.
Local authorities were censured sharply, in particular because it is very difficult to arrange for an appointment with municipal officials. Meanwhile, many problems are impossible to solve without the personal intervention of an official vested with extensive powers.
Yet compliments were also lavished on the government and in particular Premier Viktor Yanukovych, even though he was not present for the hearings. One could tell that many speakers from the grassroots organizations simply wanted to let off steam. Still many specific proposals have been voiced, which the cabinet would do better to heed it if really welcomes public feedback. In particular, these proposals concern government policy in the media, fiscal, environmental, educational, and pension policies.
Speaking in an interview with The Day, Anatoly Tolstoukhov voiced his opinion that the benefit of such discussions is above all in that those in power and the public at large learn the culture of discourse, adding that he felt more comfortable when he heard constructive criticism of the government and relevant proposals and not only compliments. According to Tolstoukhov, it is crucial for the government to receive feedback on its program, which will enable the cabinet to confirm the expediency of many of its planned steps. A resolution was passed based on the results of the public hearings, in which the participants summed up the results of discussions on all four sections, accentuating the immediate priorities for both the government and the grassroots.
INCIDENTALLY
During the Nationwide Public Hearings Vice Premier Dmytro Tabachnyk said that he does exclude the possibility of a resolution on the support for a single presidential candidate from the majority being adopted at a forum in support of the political reform slated for April 2 in Kyiv. “What the public will decide at this forum is not and should not be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers. Relevant resolutions have been passed at every oblast forum,” said Tabachnyk, adding that “Such a mass gathering of grassroots organizations from all across Ukraine is a major political event, very important and interesting. You and I, and everybody else will be interested to learn about the decisions reached at this forum.”
