290
Meruert Makhmutova
Oblast akims; their deputies; and akims of cities, rural settlements, and auls are recognized as political civil servants at the regional level. The grounds and the procedure for dismissal of a political civil servant are defined by the president. Akims of oblasts and of Almaty and Astana, akims of cities and rayons, and akims of city rayons are assigned to their positions by akims of higher ranks, as agreed upon with the president and the prime minister. Dismissal of deputies of oblast akims and akims of cities and rayons is carried out only after coordination with the chief of the president’s administration and government. All the other positions in the executive department are recognized as administrative, and they make up some 96 to 97 percent of the total number of civil servants. Administrative civil servants are divided into A, B, C, D, and E categories. Local-level administrative civil servants are in category D if they work for agencies of local government departments and category E if they work for local executive bodies (Baimenov 2000). Mandatory competition has been introduced for entrance to and promotion in the administrative civil service. This condition is aimed at allowing citizens to exercise the right to equal access to civil service employment. The competition is conducted by a public agency that has a vacant position or by the Agency for Civil Service in an open or closed form, after the competition is advertised in the national media. Any citizen of the country may take part in an open competition. Only administrative employees are admitted to closed competitions. In the case of the maslikhats, the activities of civil servants are carried out in compliance with the Law on Civil Service. The activities of civil servants are not terminated even if the term of office of the maslikhat is terminated or new deputies are selected. This procedure ensures organizational, legal, logistical, and other support for the maslikhat and its agencies. It renders assistance to deputies in discharging their commissions. The maslikhat is a public institution, financed from the local budget. Limits on the number of its public service staff members are established in accordance with the number of deputies—a proportion of one employee for every three to seven deputies.
An Overall Assessment of Local Government Finances The operating system of local finances does not create incentives for accountability for ensuring local public services. Local authorities are accountable only to higher government bodies and do not actually depend on the opinion of citizens. Actually, akims who allow an offense or are
