A third of the surveyed Kazakhstanis do no believe in the effectiveness of combating corruption, Tengrinews reports citing the Vice Chairman of the of the Social Council for Countering Corruption Magzam Kassymov.
A third of the surveyed Kazakhstanis do no believe in the effectiveness of combating corruption, Tengrinews reports citing the Vice Chairman of the of the Social Council for Countering Corruption Magzam Kassymov.
“The indifference of our citizens towards corruption is based on pure skepticism. To the question 'how do you evaluate the effectiveness of combating corruption in Kazakhstan?' 33.1% answered that 'everything remains the same, the combat is conducted to pacify the public only'. 11.8% said that 'there are no positive changes and corruption is increasing and strengthening'. The main reasons for ineffectiveness of combating corruption according to the surveyed Kazakhstanis are: “it is conducted by those who are engaged incorruption” (13.4%), 'it is a question of mentality' (9.5%), and 'it is conducted for the appearance’s sake only' (5.9%),” Kassymov said.
The Kazakhstani society, according to Kassymov, has not developed anticorruption consciousness. Moreover, the indifference is an indicator of a low level of legal literacy and awareness. “Meanwhile, these factors are key to creating intolerance towards corruption in the society. On an initiative of the Social Council for Countering Corruption, Nur Otan political party conducted a survey in all the regions of Kazakhstan in August, 2014. To a question 'have you been into a situation that involved corruption during this year, independent of the fact whether you bribed or not?', 32.7% answered in the affirmative and 71% of them confessed of giving bribes,” Kassymov said.
Speaking about the main reasons for engagement into corruption, 36.6% of the surveyed Kazakhstanis said that they wanted to either get a positive result or a better work from officials. 25.7% said that they wanted to solve their issues faster as they did not have time to address their issues legally. “Such behaviour results from legal nihilism and underdeveloped civil culture among Kazakhstanis,” the Vice Chairman observed.
1600 Kazakhstanis from different regions of the country participated in the Nur Otan survey.
Earlier, the youth wing of Zhas Otan and Nur Otan political parties conducted a survey among university students on corruption. You can read about the results of the survey in our story called Final exams for $60: Corruption at Kazakhstani Universities.
Reporting by Assemgul Khassenova. Writing by Gyuzel Kamalova