Prime minister wants his ministers to meet with the people

Heads of the Internal Affairs Ministry and Ministry of Industry have ignored their scheduled meetings with the public, according to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

In contrast, ministers of digital development, labor, energy and emergencies successfully held a set of such meetings. All of them were well organized and announced beforehand.

“Heads of several ministries failed to hold 15 scheduled meetings with the population. For instance, the Ministry of Industry failed to hold meetings in two regions. The Ministry of Energy and Internal Affairs did the same. No explanations will be accepted. Officials are obliged to hold these meetings. Moreover, vice ministries must be involved in this process to arrange meetings with as many citizens as possible,” the prime minister said.

The official highlighted that regional governors must also be closer to the people for transparent and real-world communication.

“If we want to establish the hearing state, we need such meetings. They should be a vital tool of communication with the population. Meetings with governors are even more anticipated by society because they might be useful to find solutions for a wide range of issues,” Smailov underscored.

The prime minister promised that governors would meet regular people in person, even if this would require long trips to districts. Smailov believes such meetings will allow the authorities to resolve different urgent issues.

Earlier this month, the cabinet published an instruction for such meetings with the public. The document urges akims to follow the schedule or even go beyond the plan if needed to meet the people’s expectations. Governors are not allowed to speak longer than a quarter of the time allocated for a meeting.