Kyiv, October 8, 2014. The Kyiv City Council will undergo rules changes in order to function more efficiently and discourage corruption. These reforms will inspire more transparency in the local political process and will encourage citizen input in city government. This was stated at Ukraine Crisis Media Center by Oleksiy Reznikov, Secretary of the Kyiv City Council.
“Corruption has different faces and thus there must be different ways to deal with this disease,” said Reznikov. New regulations will seek to decrease the incentives for corruption, and prevent backroom deals. One such regulation will mandate the members of the city council come forward with any potential conflicts of interest in particular pieces of legislation. “We introduce the new norm according to which a member of the council who is interested in a certain resolution is required to state any conflict on interests and inform the secretary or chair of the municipal council,” he said. Any council member with a conflict of interest will be have to abstain from voting.
Bills adopted by the city council will also be discussed more transparently. For one, the budget proposal will be discussed openly with residents of Kyiv. “The new procedure will be presented by the head of the budget commission. Once it becomes public there will be a way the public can participate via our site,” stated Reznikov. He also promised that the budget for the upcoming fiscal year will be as accurate as possible, unlike in years past, which required frequent changes to projections.
Reznikov admitted that the challenges would continue. The city government’s ability to make changes will in part rely on the actions of parliament following the election on October 26. The Kyiv city government is still waiting for a promised 1.8 billion hryvnia from the central government. Major reforms still need to be made when it comes to land documentation, as only 17 percent of Kyiv’s land is properly accounted for. This is a very important source of funds for the city budget,” said Reznikov.
