Lukashenka And Grandma Zina’s Jacket

What has the Belarusian ruler forgotten about?

I have a relative, we call her Grandma Zina. The 90-year-old lady has long become senile, she barely recognizes even the closest family members. However, it doesn’t prevent her from telling one and the same story about the jacket her daughter-in-law remodeled, to anybody and everybody.

The story itself is rather simple, but it turns into a whole detective when performed by Grandma Zina. In the old lady’s version, the mischievous daughter-in-law stole her favourite jacket, altered the sleeves, changed the buttons and put it back, all this to make her mother-in-law insane. Grandma Zina has been telling this story to all comers for 15 years, showing that very jacket as proof and demanding “to remodel it back the way it was”.

In the first year, the relatives sincerely tried to convince Grandma that no one had touched her things. They even showed her old photos of Grandma Zina wearing the same old jacket. However, the old lady remains persistent and keeps torturing her family with that “fascinating” story, making her permanent audience worried or sometimes irritated.

Grandma Zina with her remodeled jacket crossed my mind firsthand when I was reading the news about Lukashenka’s session dedicated to optimization of his administration.

– There is a need for reinforced control over the process of the red tape reduction,” — Lukashenka would proclaim.

He, in particular, underlined the unacceptability of a situation when complaints eventually return to the instances which the people complained about: “I will consider it a hard core bureaucracy at the very least”.

So, let us compare this with Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s speech 7 years ago:

— The red tape is multifaced and nine-lived… The upper echelons of the authorities easily send the citizens’ resorts down to the local authorities, or, as they say, ping-pong the people around the great circle of instances. As for the local authorities, they get away with people’s complaints by scornful formal replies, or, even worse, by sending the complaints for the reaction of those whom the people complained at.”

Seven years have passed, the story has remained unchanged. Nothing has changed – neither the details, nor the intonation.

For 23 years, the Belarusian citizens have been forced to listen to this story about struggling with bureaucracy, with various details.

2016: “The state will say goodbye to red tapists”.

2015: “There is a need for further red-tape reduction in the government system”.

2012: “The hard core bureaucracy has gained such a refined character during the years of its polishing, that they started presenting it as protection of the state’s interests.”

2011. “The state leader criticized the managers of different levels for thriftlessness and red tape.”

2010: “It’s time to finish with inflexibility and bureaucracy”. “Our work on red tape reduction has been started not today, but it has not brought any results yet.”

2009: “We will free our people from going round the offices, bureaurcracy and red tape.

2008: “The state apparatus is drowning in bureaucracy.”

On and on, the same things. Proclaiming the need to struggle against bureaucracy again and again, the state leader has obviously forgotten that he adopted the Directive #2 on red ta[pe reduction back in 2006, and in 2015 he developed it so that “the red tape reduction process would gain universal character.”

Speaking about how many times Lukashenka mentioned reduction and optimization of the state apparatus, we have to say that, if he had kept his promises, there would have been no more than 3 officials in the country (just like in his residence).

1994: “Half of the state apparatus officials should be laid-off. Also, we need to reduce half of the ministries and institutions. 10-12 ministries would be enough for Belarus.”

2012: “We will have to handle a considerable reduction in the state structures, by some 25-30% I think.”

2014: “The country’s state apparatus can be cut twofold.”

2017: A decision to lay-off “about 30% of the state officials”.

For information: for the time of Lukashenka's rule the state apparatus has not only failed to reduce, but has even increased. Belarus is also a leader in the number of ministries among the neighboring countries: it has 24 ministries and 7 state committees, which can be equated to the ministries (for example - the KGB, the Borderline Committee, the Customs Committee).

It remains unclear whether Lukashenka’s memory fails again and again and he forgets about his promises, or he has doubts in other people’s memory, but the fact is – the Belarusians have to listen to his stories about the struggle with bureaucracy on and on and on. Just like we listen to the stories about Grandma Zina’s jacket.

Sviatlana Miatsiolkina, Solidarity